Where Have You Gone, Lei Feng?

During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, little-known Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang shattered the myth that Asian athletes couldn't excel in track events. Mr. Liu won the gold, and tied the world record, by running the 110-meter hurdles in 12.91 seconds.

Euphoric Chinese audiences dubbed him the 'yellow bullet' and celebrated him as a new breed of Chinese hero: the global champion.

More such heroes could be on the way this summer in Beijing. As China seeks to assert itself globally, Olympians have the compelling ability to show that Chinese are among the best in the world.

Traditionally, hero making has been the job of the state -- and most state heroes are idealized former leaders and soldiers who exemplified the Communist ideals. But in an era of reform and commercialized media, China's emerging icons are looking less like heroes of the state than heroes of the people. From athletes to nimble and wealthy entrepreneurs, today's Chinese heroes are exalted for both global achievements and peoples' ability to relate to their success.

One such person is Jack Ma, a 43-year-old former teacher who is considered a hero by many in China because of his success in the country's fast-growing Internet business. 'Many years ago, all of the heroes were made by the government,' says Mr. Ma, CEO of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group. 'Today, people make you a hero. The things you achieve make you a hero. That is a huge change.'

The Chinese state used to be good at creating heroes, the centerpiece of any successful propaganda machine. The 1960s gave birth to Lei Feng, a celebrated revolutionary soldier whose selfless actions were described relentlessly in school lessons and propaganda posters and have even taken on a mythical quality. To this day, the Chinese phrase huo Lei Feng (literally, living Lei Feng) describes any selfless Chinese person.

Communist heroes were usually idealized, perfect people, and, more often than not, dead. According to legend, Mr. Lei died in 1962 at the age of 21, after being hit by a falling telephone pole.

But China's government hasn't been very successful in creating current-day cultural heroes the population, especially younger people, can relate to. While mainland Chinese television programs and movies are filled with heroes, most are dead emperors and military leaders. Many of the living entertainment icons that Chinese admire have been imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

A recent survey of about 2,000 people age 18 to 24 in China's biggest cities found that of the top 10 most popular Chinese pop stars, only two were from mainland China, according to research firm Synovate, a unit of London-based Aegis Group PLC. The No. 1 music idol is Taiwanese singer Jay Chou, whose music combines traditional Chinese styles with American rhythm and blues.

Nobody spends quite as much time fretting over China's dearth of modern-day heroes as advertising executives, especially as companies try to use icons to pitch products to China's rapidly growing consumer class.

Matching up Chinese icons and heroes to brands can be a big challenge because there just aren't enough. Often, it seems that the same few icons end up endorsing almost everything. For instance, Mr. Chou, the pop idol, is in Chinese ads for Motorola, Levi's, Pepsi and China Mobile to name a few.

The core problem, according to ad agencies, is that traditionally in China heroes must be winners first and foremost. 'Heroes in the West are the personification of individualism -- people with the courage to challenge convention and strike their own equation,' says Tom Doctoroff, the Shanghai-based North Asia CEO of WPP Group's JWT ad agency. But in China, he adds, 'How they win doesn't matter quite as much as that they win -- especially if they do so for the nation.'

That has been the essence of the iconic success of professional basketball player Yao Ming. The 27-year-old National Basketball Association player is treated as a national treasure. Though he wasn't the first Chinese player to join the NBA, he was the first to dominate in it -- showing that Chinese are among the world's best.

Mr. Yao works as a pitchman for a half-dozen Chinese companies, most of which trade on the nationalistic pride he inspires. When he announced an injury in February that raised questions about his ability to perform during the Summer Olympics, the Chinese public and news media were nearly driven to hysteria.

Mr. Yao's rise stems, however, from the concerted efforts of the state sports system. His mother is the former captain of the women's national basketball team and he was groomed from an early age to be a player. 'The sporting authorities in Shanghai knew of his arrival before he was born,' says Brook Larmer, the author of the biography 'Operation Yao Ming.'

But the sources for potential heroes in China are starting to expand.

Take Mr. Ma, the businessman. He stars in a popular Chinese version of 'The Apprentice,' in which he dispenses advice to entrepreneurs who aspire to be like him. And at public speeches, hordes of people try to shake his hand. They see Mr. Ma as the person who conquered China's Internet space -- and even beat out large foreign players in the market, like eBay Inc. Yahoo Inc. handed over the reins of its Chinese Web site and $1 billion to Alibaba in exchange for a 39% stake in the company.

Yet what makes him different from heroes of the past is that people also can relate to his kind of success. They can conceivably see themselves doing what he has done. 'Jack is not beautiful, and does not have a rich father -- but he succeeds,' Mr. Ma says, referring to himself in the third person. 'That is the Chinese dream.' He adds that 'if I can succeed, then 80% of young people in China can succeed.'

Mr. Liu, the gold-medal-winning hurdler, is seen as both a hero for the nation who wins gold, and a populist hero who embodies the greater individuality prized by younger Chinese. One important factor: The sport at which he excels wasn't chosen by the state. Originally a high-jumper, Mr. Liu made an unusual switch into hurdling at age 15, after his original sports school had given up on him.

He also is admired for the way he conducts himself off the field. Mr. Liu is known as a spunky, everyday kid who exudes a kind of personality that also isn't handed down by the state. On a victory lap through Hong Kong after his 2004 win, he sang for adoring fans.

And more such icons are expected to come out of this summer's Games.

One is Yi Jianlian, a basketball player who built his career in China with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, a private team, after being spotted by a scout while playing a pickup game in the southern city of Shenzhen. His parents, both retired handball players, were reluctant to let him pursue basketball.

Last year, the power forward was the sixth overall pick for the NBA draft -- he ended up with the Milwaukee Bucks. When his team played Mr. Yao's Houston Rockets in December, an audience of roughly 200 million Chinese fans tuned in to watch on Chinese television.

Like Mr. Yao, Mr. Yi (pronounced Eee) knows that his fans in China want winners. 'People all have high expectations, and we do not want to disappoint them,' he said in a recent interview. 'You can't call me a hero at present, but I will do my best in return for fans' support.'

That said, his Chinese fans appear willing to accept that being heroic doesn't necessarily mean being victorious. The Chinese Olympic basketball team, even with the participation of Messrs. Yao and Yi, isn't expected to medal.

In the past, the government might have tried to hide an image of a top athlete falling or failing, says Liana Chang, the senior strategic planner of the Shanghai office of advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy. 'Now people would embrace it,' she says. 'They would say, 'I know what that feels like. That is what makes them a person.''

Mr. Yi's career is being managed, in part, by the William Morris Agency, one of the U.S.'s most powerful image makers. Nike Inc. stores in China already are selling shoes featuring Mr. Yi's own version of the Air Jordan logo, a scorpion that doubles as a stylized 'Yi.'

In a recent Nike TV ad in China, Mr. Yi says: 'You can join the national team. You can win three successive championships. You can become the MVP. But these are not enough, because you can become the next you.'

Even the Chinese government seems to be more willing to show the individuality of the nation's new crop of heroes, at least when it comes to sports, with stories about the human side of athletes. China Central Television, China's state-run national broadcaster, has been producing packages about Olympic heroes.

'It's a shift in how people relate to these public figures,' says Ms. Chang. 'It is almost impossible for a two-dimensional icon to exist anymore.'


Geoffrey A. Fowler

    2004年雅典夏季奥运会期间，名不见经传的中国跨栏选手刘翔打破了亚洲运动员无法在
径赛项目中取胜的偏见，他赢得了金牌，并以110米栏12.91秒的成绩平了世界纪录。

欣喜若狂的中国观众称他为“黄色子弹”，并将他奉为新一类中国式英雄：世界冠军。

今年夏天，北京会涌现更多刘翔式的英雄人物。由于中国正力图向全世界证明自己，奥运会选手无疑可以藉此机会将中国人的优秀展现在世人面前。

传统上，制造英雄是政府的事──大多数国家英雄都是理想化了的前任领导人和实践了共产主义理想的军人们。但在当前这个改革和媒体商业化的年代里，与其说中国的新兴偶像是国家英雄，莫如说他们更像是人民英雄。从运动员到睿智而富有的企业家，如今的中国英雄因世界性的成就以及成功背后的个人能力而倍受推崇。

43岁的马云(Jack Ma)就是其中之一。曾任教师的马云因在中国迅速发展的互联网行业里取得的成功而被许多中国人视为英雄人物。任中国电子商务公司阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group)首席执行长的马云说，多年前，所有的英雄都是政府造就的，而现在，民众让你成为英雄，你所取得的成绩让你成为英雄，那是个巨大的变化。

中国政府曾经擅长“创造”英雄，这是所有成功的宣传机器的工作重点。20世纪60年代诞生了雷锋这个革命战士的英雄形像，学校课本及宣传海报一度不断地描绘他无私奉献的事迹，为他披上了神话的色彩。直到今天，中国还有“活雷锋”的说法，用来形容无私的人。

共产主义的英雄通常都是理想化的、完美无缺的人，而且他们往往都已逝世了。雷锋死于1962年，年仅21岁，死因是被一根倒塌的电线杆击中。

但在创造能让民众、尤其是年轻人认同的当代文化英雄方面，中国政府做得并不是很成功。虽然中国大陆的电视节目和电影中满是英雄，但大多是已不在人世的皇帝和军事领导人。中国人所崇拜的许多娱乐偶像都是来自香港和台湾。

据伦敦Aegis Group PLC旗下研究公司Synovate提供的信息，最近针对中国大城市年龄18－24岁的2,000位年轻人所进行的一项调查发现，中国10大最受欢迎的流行明星只有两位来自中国大陆。排名第一的音乐偶像是台湾歌手周杰伦(Jay Chou)，他的音乐综合了传统的中国风和美国节奏布鲁斯。

面对中国缺乏现代英雄人物的状况，广告从业人员可能是最着急的，特别是那些想借偶像之力来向中国迅速壮大的消费阶层推广产品的公司。


将中国的偶像和英雄人物与品牌对应是个很大的挑战，因为可以担此重任的人实在是太少了。似乎少数几个偶像人物就会为几乎一切产品代言。比如说，流行偶像周杰伦代言的广告就有摩托罗拉(Motorola)、Levi's、百事(Pepsi)和中国移动(China Mobile)等等。

在广告公司看来，关键问题是中国传统的英雄首先要是胜利者。WPP Group旗下的JWT广告公司驻上海的北亚首席执行长唐锐涛(Tom Doctoroff)说：“西方的英雄是个人主义的化身，即有勇气挑战传统、实现自我价值的人。而在中国，他们获得胜利的过程并不像获胜这个结果那么重要，特别是在他们是为了国家而这样做的情况下。”

那正是职业篮球运动员姚明的成功本质。这位27岁的NBA球员被视为国宝。虽然他并非首位加盟NBA的中国球员，但却是首位在该赛事中占据显著地位的中国球员──由此显示出中国人在世界范围内都堪称优秀。

姚明为六七家中国公司担任代言人，它们当中绝大多数都以他所激发的民族自豪感为卖点。今年2月姚明宣布受伤，这样一来他在北京奥运会期间能不能上场都成问题，中国民众和新闻媒体为此简直发了狂。

不过，姚明的崛起源于整个政府体育系统的共同努力。他的母亲曾是中国女子篮球队的队长，他从很小的时候就被选中成为一名球员。《姚明传》的作者布鲁克•拉尔默(Brook Larmer)说：“在姚明出生之前，上海体育部门就知道会有他这个人了。”

但中国产生英雄的潜在源头正在扩大。

企业家马云就是其中之一。他参与了广受欢迎的中国版《飞黄腾达》(The Apprentice)节目，给那些立志要像他一样的企业家们提供建议。在公共演讲时，许多人都想跟他握手。他们认为马云不仅征服了中国的网络空间，甚至还打败了eBay Inc.等诸多重量级外国对手。为了获得阿里巴巴39%的股份，雅虎公司(Yahoo Inc.)不仅将其中国网站的控制权交于前者，还支付了10亿美元。

但他与“旧式”英雄的不同之处在于，人们可以把自己和马云的这种成功联系起来；他们能设想自己做到马云所做的。马云以第三人称评价自己道：马云不帅，也没有有钱的爸爸，但他却成功了；那就是中国梦。他补充说，如果我能成功，那中国80%的年轻人都能成功。

跨栏冠军刘翔被视为赢得金牌的国家英雄，同时也是一个流行偶像，在他身上体现出了年轻人所重视的个性。这其中一个重要因素是：他所擅长的体育运动并非由政府为他选择的。刘翔最初是个跳高运动员，15岁那年他原来的体校放弃了他，他因此转向了跨栏项目，这在运动员中是不多见的。

他在运动场外的为人处事方式也受到推崇。刘翔以朝气蓬勃的邻家男孩形象著称，散发着一种未被政府体制所影响的个性。2004年夺金后，在香港的一场庆功会上，刘翔还为“翔迷”一展歌喉。

预计在今年夏天的奥运会上将出现更多这类偶像人物。

这里面可能就有易建联。这位篮球运动员在华南城市深圳参加选秀时被一位球探看中，后在中国广东宏远俱乐部开始了自己的职业生涯。他的父母均为退役手球运动员，都不太愿意让他从事篮球运动。

去年，这位大前锋成了NBA选秀的第六名，最终进入密尔沃基雄鹿队(Milwaukee Bucks)。去年12月，当他所在的队与姚明所在的休斯敦火箭队(Houston Rockets)对决时，大约有2亿中国球迷观看了中国的电视转播。

跟姚明一样，易建联也知道他的中国球迷想要胜利者。他最近接受采访时说，人们都抱有很高的期望，我们不想让他们失望。现在我还不能被称为英雄，但我会尽全力回报球迷的支持。

这样说来，他的中国球迷似乎也愿意接受不以成败论英雄的观点。就算有姚明和易建联，中国奥运篮球队也无望夺得奖牌。

广告公司Wieden + Kennedy上海分公司的资深策略规划师阿枪(Liana Chang)说，过去政府可能会试图不让顶级运动员落败的形象为外人所见，而现在人们会接受这样的场面。他们会说：“我知道那是什么滋味。那让他们成为活生生的人。”

易建联的职业生涯部分是由美国最有影响力的形象公司William Morris Agency打理。耐克公司(Nike Inc.)在中国的店铺已经在销售有易建联专属标志的球鞋，那是一只天蝎，同时也是一个个性化的“Yi”字。

在耐克最近在中国的一个电视广告中，易建联说：“你可以入选国家队。你可以连夺三次冠军。你可以成为MVP。但这还不够，因为你可以是不断走向下一步的自己。”

就连中国政府似乎也更愿意通过讲述运动员人性方面的故事来展示新生代偶像们的个性，至少是在体育方面是这样。中国国家级电视台中央电视台(CCTV)一直在录制关于奥运英雄的节目。

阿枪说，人们对这些公众人物产生认同的方式产生了变化，一个死板而没有立体感的偶像几乎已经不可能再存在了。


Geoffrey A. Fowler