In the 21st century, sports are flourishing with the progress of human civilization, and one of the major trends in modern sports is depoliticization.

But in the second half of the last century, during the Cold War, sports, especially the Olympic movement, were inevitably linked to politics, and the competition on the sports field became a continuation of the Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Therefore, when the capitalist countries represented by the United States collectively boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in the Soviet Union, four years later in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, the Soviet Union also led a group of socialist countries to refuse to participate in the Olympic Games.

However, at the 1984 Olympic Games held in the United States, there was one team that attracted everyone's attention, that is, the Olympic delegation of the Republic of China, which was also in the socialist camp and was the second largest socialist country in the world.

The historical reasons and context for this are deep and complex, but there are two movements that have played a crucial role in this historic process.

One is China's national sport, table tennis.

In 1971, before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, a U.S. table tennis delegation and a small group of American journalists arrived in Beijing, becoming the first Americans to be allowed to enter China since 1949.

After that, the two sides played a friendly table tennis match, which was attended by China's national leaders as spectators.

The friendly exchanges between the table tennis teams of the two countries have also become an important symbol in the process of promoting the normalization of relations between China and the United States.

Then, in 1972, then-US President Richard Nixon crossed the Pacific Ocean to visit China, normalizing Sino-US relations.

This diplomatic activity, which uses table tennis as the "vanguard", has also been named "table tennis diplomacy" in history. ”

However, after 1972, China and the United States only normalized relations and did not formally establish diplomatic relations until the late 70s, with the changes in the world situation, the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States was put on the agenda of the foreign affairs of the two countries.

It was at this time that another sport played the role that table tennis played in 1971, and that was a big-ball sport – basketball.

In 1978, the Chinese national men's basketball team visited the United States, the most powerful basketball country, along with the women's basketball team.

At that time, the country represented by Zhang Weiping?? The national men's basketball team went to New York, Los Angeles, Greensboro, Washington, New York and other cities, and played several friendly games with American college basketball teams, such as the famous UCLA, Wake Forest Devils Deacons and other teams.

Then, on January 1, 1979, China and the United States formally established diplomatic relations and had legal diplomatic relations.

Although it cannot be said that the 1971 friendly table tennis match and the 1978 basketball match promoted the progress of Sino-US relations, we have to admit that the two events did serve as a test field for normal exchanges between the two countries, and also showed that there are similarities between competitive sports, which is an activity of "both competition and cooperation", and national diplomacy.

Later, after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in 1979, the 1978 NBA championship team, the Washington Bullets from the capital of the United States, was invited to visit China, and sports once again became the lubricant for exchanges between the two countries.

Of course, in the friendly match between China and the United States, the Bullets team beat the Chinese team without temper, and it also allowed Chinese basketball players to see the highest level of the world's strongest basketball country for the first time.

The hand of time has been set to 1985, more than 7 years have passed since the last Chinese men's basketball team visited the United States, and the men's basketball players have retired one after another, and a new wave of men's basketball players have begun to fight for the cause of Chinese basketball, but their coach is still the famous Qian Chenghai Qian Qian.

This time, they received an invitation from the NBA to travel to the United States for a week-long basketball visit during the NBA offseason.

Unlike the 1978 visit full of political implications, this visit will be the first step of the NBA business empire to reach out to Chinese mainland, and it will be full of strong commercial atmosphere.

It's just that for the Chinese men's basketball team, they don't know what the shrewd Jewish lawyer on the other side thinks, and Qian Chenghai's guidance mainly hopes that the boys of the men's basketball team can go to the United States to see the highest level of the most powerful basketball country, and hope that they can have a qualitative improvement in their vision and spirit.

When the Chinese men's basketball team arrived in New York by plane, it was mid-June 1985, when the NBA Finals had just died down and the draft had not yet begun.

In addition to the members, staff, and coaches of the national team, there are also some elite players from various local teams, who have the opportunity to be selected for the new national team to participate in the 1986 Men's World Basketball Championships.

"Xiaolu, do you see, this is Lao Mei's taxi, which is much better than your Xiali in Beijing...... It's just that this color is a little ugly, a little yellow. Sitting on the bus to the destination hotel, a tall man with glasses said to a small man with pin-like hair next to him, like a hedgehog.

"The most bullish thing in Beijing is Citroen rental, that decoration ~ that feeling...... However, it is indeed worse than the yellow skin in the United States, you say that our yellow skin is full of small bread, but they have a big car here...... There are so many cars in the United States, I really don't know when Beijing will become like this. The little man with the hedgehog head called "Little Deer" is a player from Beijing Shougang, Min Lulei.

Of course, he did not know that in a few decades, Beijing would be overcrowded with cars, even more terrible than New York.

Sitting next to him is the main inside line of the men's basketball team, Song Tao, a big man from Shandong.

Because Min Lulei belongs to the "expanded" personnel, he was not selected for the official men's basketball team, and he did not represent the national team in the 1984 Olympic Games before, so everything is new after arriving in the United States.

Although Song Tao also did not participate in the official competition of the 1984 Olympic Games, he was the flag bearer of the Chinese Olympic delegation at the entrance ceremony that year.

The reason is that before Song Tao officially participated in the competition, the list had been determined, but an old player found head coach Qian Chenghai to guide, hoping to participate in an Olympic Games before retiring, so he wanted the new players to let go.

Song Tao became the youngest player in the men's basketball team at that time, so he was naturally temporarily retired from the "ideological work", and as compensation, he had a good time at the opening ceremony as the flag bearer of the team.

Because of this, he is not surprised by many new things in New York.

When the group of 15 arrived at the InterContinental Hotel on East 48th Street in New York, which the NBA had arranged for the men's basketball team, it was time for New Yorkers to have dinner.

"Oh maa, this hotel is high-end...... How much does it cost to stay for one night? Min Lulei looked up at the palatial Intercontinental Hotel after getting out of the car and couldn't help asking.

"Why do you care so much, anyway, it's not for us to pay for it...... However, this hotel is much better than the Olympic Village in Los Angeles, and it is said to be a four-star hotel. Song Tao couldn't help but think of the experience of living in the Olympic Village.

"This thing is only four stars? How do I feel that it is so much more upscale than the five-star in Beijing? This capitalist country is really rotten......" Min Lulei couldn't help but sigh.

The two of them hurriedly followed everyone into the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel.

There's a reason why the N.B.A. has the word "Intercontinental" in its name, which means that the hotel also regularly takes on foreign customers, including those from China.

Therefore, when the Chinese men's basketball team entered the hall and listened to what the waiters said, they found that they could speak some simple Chinese.

"The hotel staff here have to go through special foreign language training, and now that there are more and more Chinese guests, Chinese is already a must-have communication language for them." The accompanying interpreter listened to the explanation of the NBA's pick-up staff.

When the players of the national team were arranged in their respective rooms to relax a little after a long journey, the time to assemble was again, because in the evening in a small auditorium in the hotel, the NBA official will hold a grand reception ceremony for the Chinese men's basketball team.

"Hey Song Tao, I heard that we have a Chinese who is playing in the United States now, it is said that he is playing quite well, which place is he on the team, why have I never heard of it before?" Min Lulei has always maintained a strong curiosity about everything, and as a newcomer to the team, he has always had a good relationship with the equally young Song Tao.

"I heard from the translator that there is indeed a Chinese player who plays in the NBA, and he is quite famous, and it is said that he has entered the All-Star! I wonder if he'll be here tonight...... Hey, door translator, what is the situation of the Chinese who plays in the NBA in the United States? Song Tao stepped forward and asked a person.

The translator of the door is the translator of the men's basketball team this time, Men Lei, a guy with thick glasses and a scholar's face.

"Well, I just heard from a friend in the United States, it is said that he immigrated from China, studied all the way from high school and college in the United States, and later won a college league championship, and then entered the NBA, I heard that he is very good."

In China, which has not yet fully opened up, the news of the Chinese men's basketball team players about Gan Guoyang, a player from the mainland of the motherland, is all "said and heard", and there is no accurate information at all.

"It's said again, I don't know how many catties and taels he can have?" Lu Jinqing, who has the title of "Desperate San Lang" in the men's basketball team, said after hearing that he has always been not afraid of heaven and earth.

"Well, it must be great to be able to play in the United States, Chinese don't look down on Chinese, you will know when the time comes." Let's go, they're waiting for us. Head coach Qian Chenghai said.

Qian Chenghai has rich experience in international competitions, and he doesn't know much about Gan Guoyang, but his many dealings with American teams have made him understand that American basketball and China are not at the same level at all.