{"id":439,"date":"2008-05-05T19:05:30","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T11:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parforchina.com\/blog\/?p=439"},"modified":"2016-05-16T11:58:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T15:58:14","slug":"cnncom-story-focuses-on-par-for-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/cnncom-story-focuses-on-par-for-china\/","title":{"rendered":"CNN.com focuses on Par for China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Par for China<\/em>, Zhou Xunshu and I shared the spotlight on CNN.com today with Steven Jiang’s story entitled “Green dreams of China’s golfers<\/a>,” part of Jiang’s Beijing Journal<\/a> series leading up to the Olympic Games in Beijing this August. Here’s a snippet:<\/p>\n

But ample access to Chinese professional golfers — many of whom appreciate the rare attention — has drawn Washburn deeply into their fascinating world.<\/p>\n

“They are poor men playing the rich man’s game,” Washburn observed. “If they were not playing golf, they would be working in the field farming.”<\/p>\n

This is the case of Zhou Xunshu, a 35-year-old pro golfer Washburn befriended during his first China Tour assignment, who grew up in a mountain village in the country’s impoverished southwest.<\/p>\n

Like many of his peers, Zhou stumbled upon golf when he left his hometown to pursue a better life in the big cities. He became a security guard on a golf course in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou before even realizing the sport’s existence.<\/p>\n

The mundane job sparked Zhou’s interest in the strange game — he started sneaking out at night, rolling balls on the green and working on his swings with a broken club.<\/p>\n

It was not until six years later at the age of 29, however, that Zhou was able to practice semi-regularly when a sympathetic manager allowed him play on the course in early mornings.<\/p>\n

By the time Washburn met him, it was already Zhou’s second year on the tour.<\/p>\n

This season, Zhou — who makes less than $1,000 per month as a driving range instructor and has to cover his own tour expenses — placed 9th among 91 players after three events, earning him some $5,600.<\/p>\n

“What sets him apart is he is not just playing for the prize money — he is driven and wants to be one of the best,” Washburn said.<\/p>\n

“His is the ultimate underdog story.”<\/p>\n

Washburn is turning the story to a book about golf in China, having followed Zhou from the courses to his wedding and even his remote home village.<\/p>\n

Hoping to bring attention and help to players like Zhou, Washburn nevertheless insists his book — titled “Par for China” — is not just about golf but about the country seen through the sport.<\/p>\n

“Golf is a barometer for China’s political and economic rise,” he said. “It’s a symbol of so many issues affecting the country now — the gap between the rich and the poor, environmental problems, land use, official corruption and historical prejudice.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Par for China<\/em>, Zhou Xunshu and I shared the spotlight on CNN.com in “Green dreams of China’s golfers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,24],"tags":[25,4,31,32,5,7,33,19,21,34,35,20],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-featured","tag-book","tag-china","tag-cnn","tag-cnncom","tag-danwashburn","tag-golf","tag-media","tag-parforchina","tag-press","tag-stevenjiang","tag-websites","tag-zhouxunshu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2135,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/2135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}