ONCE UPON A TIME, THEY LAUGH AT YAO BIN. NOW YAO BIN LAUGHS AT YOU
THIS BE A YAO BIN/CHINAR LOVE APPRECIATION POST
If you don't know who Yao Bin is, kill yourself. But no, please don't (SUICIDE IS SRS BSNS). Come with me as we take an educational journey through the history of Chinese figure skating.
Yao Bin was born in 1957 in a magical city in China called Harbin. China's only skating club is located in Harbin, and Harbin produces magical skating bbs. Yao Bin and his partner Luan Bo were the first pair ever to represent China in world figure skating competitions, but sadly they did not do so well. You see, China was and still is under the rule of this little thing called communism. Though old Soviet used to scoff at China's "soft communism," we say STFU YOU'RE NOT EVEN COMMUNISTS ANYMORE. Anyway, China had little interaction with the outside world so Yao and Luan had to look at photographs to try and cobble together a program. The results were a DISASTUH. Most famously, at the 1980 World Championships my poor bb Yao Bin said that they skated so poorly that he could hear people laughing at them. Things didn't improve much by the 1984 Olympics:
Click to viewAfter the 1984 Olympics, Yao Bin retired and because we are a stubborn people he was like FU ALL CHINA IS GONNA RULE THE WORLD. He became a figure skating coach specializing in pairs. After the success of Chen Lu, the strongest female skater China has ever had, in the 90's, Yao Bin began crafting his plan to take over the world (sentence is grammar fail but whatever).
If you don't know the top three pairs from China, you should know them after this post. They are the reason you should stan Yao Bin and follow him to the depths of the earth and ocean and moon and back. First, the beloved Golden Duo of Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo. They are beloved in China and around the world because 1)they are QT, 2)they can skate, and 3)they are QT. Zhao proposed to Shen on March 21, 2007 on the ice at the end of their performance at the 2007 World Championship. But being the adorable person she is, Shen didn't understand why Zhao was kneeling in front of her so she also knelt down to support him. See them be all giggly and cute together in this video:
Shen/Zhao have participated in FOUR Olympics under two different scoring systems and have two bronze medals and one gold medal. They came out of retirement and a cozy married life to brave the rigors of cafeteria food and separate bedrooms (CHINA SAYS NO SEX FOR YOU) at the dorms in Harbin. All their sacrifices have been worth it though, as they finally won gold at the 2010 Olympics at the ages of 31 and 36.
The next pair, Zhang Dan (the female) and Zhang Hao (the male), are fierce in their own right. You may remember them from the crazy situation at the 2006 Olympics, where Zhang Dan fell badly on an attempted quad throw. The music was stopped and Yao Bin clearly did not want her to continue skating. However, that damn Chinese pride resurfaced and Zhang/Zhang continued. They nailed the rest of their elements and were awarded the silver medal. Though they have seemingly been overshadowed by Shen/Zhao and most recently, Pang/Tong, they are still beautiful and artistic.
They also have enough gold medals from other competitions to build a house of gold. They are still young though, at 24 and 25, which means that they have at least two more Olympics to go if they want to continue. They are also the first Chinese pair to win Jr. Worlds, twice.
Finally, the lovely Pang Qing and Tong Jian. Now, Tong is not as aesthetically pleasing as Zhao or Zhang at first look. BUT the more you watch, the cuter he gets. Not only because of his beautiful skating but also the way he looks and treats Pang (they have confirmed that they are dating). He is also adorbs when he smiles.
At the 2010 Olympics, Shen/Zhao may have stolen the show with their amazing short program, but it was Pang and Tong who delivered the best at the free skate, jumping from fourth to second place. In fact, due to Pang and Tong's surprising and remarkable performance, this was the first time a Russian or Soviet pair had failed to make the podium.
Look at their beautiful SP at Worlds:
Yao Bin also coaches the future of Chinese pair skating, Sui Wenjing (the 14-year old who looks like she is 6) and Han Cao. They are the 2010 Jr. World champions (the second Chinese pair after Zhang/Zhang to win Jr. worlds) and completed a quad throw (although it was a bit two-footed, it is amazing)
If the program is any indication, they have at least four or five Olympics to go. Because the Chinese are superhuman and can bounce back from injury with a bit of traditional medicine, discipline, and Western medicine.
ALSO THE CHINESE HAVE THE BEST COSTUMES AND IF YOU DISAGREE COME AT ME BITCHES.
This is Yao Bin's greatest accomplishment:
The Chinese president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao thank you for your time and laugh at your pitiful American pairs
Let me know if you have any questions about China in general, I will try to answer.