http://s10/middle/642f13c7gb698dd725409&690Youth Parliament to Yao Ming" TITLE="姚明当政协常委的荒谬，UK Youth Parliament to Yao Ming" />
中国人民政治协商会议上海市第十一届委员会增选姚明等为常委

    看到以上消息，不知大家的感觉是什么。或者多少年来这样的事情太多了，大家见怪不怪了。明星运动员在中国成为人大和政协的委员、甚至担任更高的职位这已是中国的一大特色。

    说姚明为中国篮球争了光我毫无疑问。我当初还特地赶到Oakland去为他加油，虽然火箭最后输给了表现平平的勇士队。虽然姚明的节奏和速度好像都不属于NBA一样，但不能求全责备。毕竟作为亚洲人他在NBA的表现是史无前例的。而且他人也不错，没有那些NBA球员的恶习。

    至于姚明退役要开创自己的葡萄酒品牌，这也是他自己的自由。虽然我并不认为有多少人在品酒上要和他关联起来。

    但把他选为政协常委，这有点玩笑。因为这不是姚明个人的事情。这是所谓人民的嘱托。姚明的参政议政能力是从来没有得到过证实的。一个没有得到过证实其实力的人难道可以随随便便当常委吗？这不是玩笑嘛。比如我是不是可以也去打NBA啊？肯定不行。

    选姚明做常委无非是说上海政协无人了，上海无人了。这对上海人是莫大的侮辱。肯定不是上海无人啦。我就认识上海很多有见识的人，参政议政能力应该比姚明强很多。

    不知道科比、乔丹、伍兹、勒布朗这些巨星是如何作想的。他们为何进不了美国国会，甚至所在州的州议会做一个议员。

    当然上海这种安排很可能是赶鸭子上架。姚明不是主动的，而是所谓盛情难却。但这同样不能成为借口。除非想说政协代表其实是任何智商的人都可以担当的职位，何必当真。

    中国明星代表缺席会议，提案质量差是有证据的。难道我们的政协不想去改一改这一形象。而真正把自己永久变成说了也白说的机构吗？让百姓不把你当回事吗？

From UK Youth Parliament to Yao Ming

By Chen Weihua

On Tuesday, the C-SPAN was broadcasting the UK Youth Parliament Debate held in the House of the Commons and moderated by speaker John Bercow. The eloquence, substance and seriousness displayed by many teenager members are stunning as they argue everything from child poverty and school bullying to green energy and better and cheaper public transport.

In fact, the quality of the discourse contrasts to the sometime babble in the US Congress, broadcast live on C-SPAN channels on a daily basis.

It also reminds me of what’s happening last Sunday in Shanghai, where retired NBA star Yao Ming was elected to the standing committee of the Shanghai Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (Shanghai CPPCC), a political advisory group to the local government.

Like many Chinese, I love Yao Ming and travelled all the way to Oakland years ago to watch the game between Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. Despite his often lack of speed and nimbleness in the magic NBA world, Yao was undoubtedly the greatest Asian basketball player.

While feeling sad to see him retiring from NBA on July 20 last year, I am glad that he has found things he likes and is good at, owning and running the Shanghai Sharks Basketball Club, where he first rose to stardom. It’s also exciting to see him starting the Shanghai Jiao Tong University two months ago, majoring in business administration.

In late November, he launched the Yao Family Wines, putting his name Yao Ming on 1,775 yuan (US $289) per bottle Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Although I have never heard of Yao’s palate for good wines, it is totally his choice as many rich people like to have their names on the label.

Since then, Yao has also become deputy director of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association and Vice Chairman of Shanghai Sports Federation.

But something starts bothering me since he was elected to the standing committee of the political advisory group, becoming its youngest and tallest member ever. The 31-year old Yao does not have any proven track record of doing the job of advising the government, nor can I remember the last time he ever did anything relevant. Yet he has been chosen to the core of the advisory.

To me, that is like picking me to play center for the Houston Rockets. It’s not going to look good.

I like to believe that Yao was rushed to the standing committee by some local officials who think movie and sports stars can make their group more eye-catching. They also use such membership as reward to local stars and celebrities regardless the heavy responsibility such membership implies on behalf of the people.

Yao is certainly not the first. Olympic gold medal hurdler Liu Xiang, also from Shanghai, has already become a delegate to the national advisory group. However, Liu was reportedly of missing numerous sessions last year. The only bill he submitted was also suspected of being written by his proxy. Frequent absence and poor quality of bills put forward by those pop star delegates are nothing new.

There is no doubt that someone as influential as Yao can do a lot of good things for the society. But that does not mean he has to be brought in a political advisory group which totally falls out of his expertise.

After all, top charitable and socially-conscious American stars such as Angelina Jolie, Lance Armstrong and Michael Jordan have neither become US Congressmen or even members of their local state assembly. But that has not prevented them from doing good causes year after year.

I hope to prove myself wrong and am really looking forward to hearing Yao talking about his passion in the political advisory group, or the Shanghai officials explaining the seriousness in Yao’s election.