Yes, there's hockey in China. Not great hockey. Not meticulously organized hockey, but hockey nonetheless. Rudy Kong's book, Dragons, Donkeys, and Dust, is a romp through China as a Canadian physical education teacher who just happens to love hockey. (OK, maybe not so hard to understand because Kong is, after all, Canadian. Need I say more?)
While searching for topics on hockey during this quickly ending off-season (and it can't end fast enough), I found a delightful book by Rudy Kong on his experiences as a teacher in China. And of all the experiences he had in China, the most delightful chapter is where he talks about playing hockey in China.
His chapter on hockey, "Buddha Loves Hockey", is all about the authors' discovery of the few locals who love hockey (and that unfailingly means they love Igor Larionov, a retired Russian hockey player known as The Professor, won 3 Stanley Cups with the Red Wrings and is a Hockey Hall of Famer) and Kong's introduction of the sport to his students and his community.
Kong writes, "When I arrived in China for work in 1998, I had no idea there was any hockey played in the Middle Kingdom." Rudy Kong is now back in Canada, but he taught in China for 12 years.
Kong says he wrote his book in a little green notebook that he bought for his daughter to do her holiday homework. He says, "While sitting at the pool with our friends, the Colorados, in Bangkok’s famed Atlanta hotel—famed for it’s slightly dilapidated old time luxury at budget prices—I told a story and someone said, “You should write a book.” And that was it."
On hockey, his writing and experiences are priceless. It almost makes me want to go to China, (however, I don't do cold weather. I'm a Texan).
Wang Jun invited Rudy Kong and his "team", a ragtag accumulation of ex-pat teachers and locals that he could scrounge up. Much of their uniform was improvised.
"The Chinese players all put on their hockey gear but we had none to put on. I wore jeans, a Team Canada jersey over a sweater, ski gloves, and a Cowichan knit toque.”
"Goalies are brave at the best of times but Jeff was going armed only with home-made foam ball hockey pads, a baseball catcher’s chest protector and face mask (which a puck could have easily passed through), a baseball glove, and 20 year old regular players’ skates. Most importantly, he stuffed a plastic cup, which formerly held instant noodles, down the front of his pants."
CBC's China correspondent Anthony Germain says the "book is filled with fantastic anecdotes . . . . some marvelously critical, others just very charming." And I agree. I just discovered this book today, and it's already paid for. I can't wait to read it.
If you love hockey, you'll love this chapter, and the rest of the book is just as delightful and entertaining.
Read the chapter "Buddha Loves Hockey" for free on Kong's website, Bing Long Books. Bing Long Books is a brand new independent publisher of important literary and other work by, and of interest to, the English speaking community in China and Asia. Find Rudy Kong on Facebook.
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