A Brief Comparison between Chinese and American Basketball Culture

高佳

Chinese culture advocates collectivism and team spirit，while the United States culture advocates individualism and heroism.These two kinds of cultural backgrounds make different results in the field of basketball.

Chinese traditional culture pays more attention to the collective consciousness and team consciousness;the collective interest is higher than all;the theory of “the sacrifice of ego” is widely spread.“Great harmony” is the typical method of Confucianism in ancient China.Chinese people tend to be consistent with the collective，and minority should serve for the majority”.Every person is like a group of screws on the big machine，the single screw is often not very successful.But what must be mentioned is there still exists a large gap in the fitness and skills between Chinese players and American players，and cooperation and spirit of team are indeed in a certain extent compensate for this defect.At present collectivism of Chinese basketball culture is not useless.In this situation，the quality of the players are relatively low，Chinese basketball teams have to regard collectivism as key point of development.So the coaches in China tend to play 2-3 Zone defence.

American basketball culture has its unique connotation and spirit.Western countries pay more attention to the analysis，thinking and exploration.These factors have caused the western culture to pay more attention to the individual and its development.For the individualism，the differences between eastern and western culture are very obvious.In Chinese traditional culture，people usually consider that individualism is selfish with strong derogatory overtones，on the contrary，individualism is highly praised in western culture.After continuous research and development，individualism has already evolved into a philosophy faction.these people who work hard are national heroes，of course，a strong personal heroism is one of the heroes’ necessary qualities.So the hero saving world also appears in the western world through legends and dream.Individualism is embodied in the basketball court，which is more like the mark of American basketball.American players like fast break and man to man，which shows personal speed and skills on the pitch.Player’s body seems like full of competitor and domineering， which was quite different from Chinese basketball players.

There is still a big gap between China and America in field of basketball，but Chinese basketball is performing a brilliant chapter.Many foreign basketball players come to China to play，improving the development of Chinese basketball.Chinese basketball has been the leader in Asia.

As basketball interpreters，we should make a devotion for the development of Chinese basketball.

Bibliography

[1]金賽英，《NBA各隊主要進攻戰術打法特點之研究》，北京：北京體育大學學報，2004

[2]吳瑞，《中美籃球的文化差異性探究》，長沙：湖南城市學院學報，2009

指導教師：張森