On this special occasion of International Women's Day, we had an in-depth conversation with three Shanghai-based Chinese women's soccer players - Li Jiayue, Zhao Lina and Yang Lina - who won the Asian Cup last month, on the topic of women.
They, and the many women they represent, are engaged in occupations that are atypical in traditional thinking. However, it is a group of female soccer players who have vividly demonstrated the courageous and enterprising qualities of Chinese women in this era.
First of all, they have challenged the centuries-old aesthetic standard of "white, young and thin". Whether it's Zhao Lina with her tall legs or Wang Frost with her short hair, they have injected new vitality into the aesthetics of the new era.
Secondly, they have overturned the old image of Chinese women's soccer. You won't see the stereotypical image of "earning a meager income but fighting for the country" in them, which was the image of the old women's soccer team at the end of the last century. Many of them would even say: why must women be described as flowers? Isn't that a bit outdated?
As the new era of female soccer players, although equal pay for equal work in soccer has not yet been realized, many of them have lived a life with houses and cars by virtue of their own efforts, and some of the absolute mainstays have even earned millions of dollars a year for a long time. We will not compare their incomes with men's soccer or in any other way, as Wang Frost said -
"When will you support women's soccer from a perspective that is no longer about satirizing men's soccer? When your support is something that will see not only us in the national team, but also the other women soccer players playing in the clubs, and give them a sense of meaning to continue playing, then Chinese women's soccer will be really strong in the future."
In this festival belonging to women, let's listen to their voices and feel their lives.
Dreams, because they are not yet accomplished, are especially precious.
In the days following the desegregation, your social activities have been almost uninterrupted, how do you feel about these kinds of social activities and the sudden outburst of attention following the women's soccer championship?
Li Jiayue: I've been very busy since I came back. In addition to giving interviews, I also went back to my alma mater to cheer for the children learning soccer and share my experience. Although it is very tiring, these are what I should do. I hope to take the opportunity of winning the Asian Cup to do some positive publicity for women's soccer, so that more people can participate in this sport.
Lena Zhao: No rest at all, busier than on the team. I've been interviewed, photographed, and preached. A few days ago, together with Liu Xiang and Li Na, they attended a charity dinner to encourage more girls to break through the limitations and participate in sports. I think all these activities are full of positive energy, and I'm willing to participate in them. I hope that through my own interpretation, more people will realize that soccer is not only a male sport, but women's bravery, self-confidence and sunshine on the field are also extremely beautiful.
China's women's soccer team's win at the Asian Cup has sparked great enthusiasm in the country, what kind of impact do you hope this win will have for the long-term development of women's soccer?
Zhao Lina: After winning the championship, I rose more than 2 million fans on various platforms, which was totally out of my expectation. In fact, in the last one or two years, I've put a lot of effort into making short videos. I spend almost all of my days off shooting instructional videos and other types of videos ...... All I want is to be a window between the women's soccer team and the fans, so that the outside world can see more of our coaches and athletes.
I actually wish I could have seen this day earlier (referring to the large number of fans paying attention to women's soccer) ...... But women's soccer had very little attention prior to the Asian Cup, and that attention usually ebbs and flows with major tournaments. Before this championship, people paid more of a passive attention to the women's soccer team, the media reported something and people went to check it out, and very few people actively paid attention. I hope that the people who are concerned about us through the championship will pay more attention to us for a longer period of time, encourage and tolerate us more, and accept the different personalities of each athlete.
Lena Yang: I always remember that the most attendance we had for a Shanghai women's soccer game was about 5,000 people. It was 2016, and our home ground was in Hongkou Stadium, so many Shenhua fans would come to cheer for us. It was an attendance we couldn't even imagine, and we all felt so happy as players. Before that, we had only one or two hundred spectators at our home stadium in Shanghai. A few years ago, the attention of the women's soccer team came up a little bit, and by the time of the epidemic, there were about 2,000 fans at home. I'm looking forward to seeing how many spectators show up for games when the league reverts to a home and away system. I hope that people won't just pay attention to us because of one championship, but will always care about us and like us.
Li Jiayue: The attention from the outside world is one aspect, on the other hand, we also need to work hard and become stronger ourselves. If we can keep producing good results, this kind of attention will continue. For me, I still dream of winning the gold medal in the Asian Games, and I also dream of playing in the World Cup and reaching the quarterfinals. I've heard a saying before: a dream is called a dream because it hasn't been accomplished yet, and if it's accomplished, it's not a dream anymore.
In this society, many men and women have "age phobia", as players, your career is shorter than ordinary people, do you have this concern? As players, your careers are shorter than the average person's. Do you have any worries about this? When you step off the field, will your life be limited because of your age?
Li Jiayue: I'll be 32 in a few months, but so what? I'm still dreaming of a bigger stage and higher achievements. I have no worries about age, many of my sisters above us who played soccer retired at a very young age, not because of physical reasons, but because that's what everyone did at the time. That's a shame, obviously still in good shape, but you set limits for yourself. For me it's simple, if I can play and want to play, I'll keep playing.
Lena Zhao: When I was much younger, like in my early 20s, I would always set a lot of limits for myself, such as playing until a few years old and then I could retire, until a few years old and then I could go and get married and have kids, but the older I get, the more I find myself cut off from soccer. For example, if I stop recently and don't train or play, I feel empty. I think I've been looked at differently since I chose soccer in the first place, so let's just break all the restrictions.
It's okay. You can make people cry.
Some of society's traditional prejudices would suggest that women who play soccer don't look like women. Do you guys feel like women?
Li Jiayue: I may not be a woman in the traditional sense, but I feel like a woman. First of all, there is a problem of how to characterize, I think the general standard is outdated. In this day and age, no one stipulates that you must have long hair and white skin to be considered woman enough. Don't confident, sunny, healthy women smell good?
I think it's great that I live in a time that embraces diversity and that definitions of what it means to be a woman are being broken down all the time, which is a great thing. As long as you're good enough and confident enough, I think all are great looking women.
Lena Yang: I played soccer with the boys when I was a kid, and then when I got to about fourth grade, I switched to the women's soccer team. Until then, I didn't realize that I was a little girl because there was no concept of gender difference, and I had the same hair style. Then Coach Qian Hui brought me to the girls' team, and that's when I started living on campus. From then on, I began to realize that I was also a little girl.
Lena Zhao: I've always known that I'm girly, my personality and hobbies are on the girly side. In fact, my character is not manly, or very birdlike, but only looks very big.
Compared to the average woman in society, you and men don't have the opportunity to go to school or work together, does this lead to a lack of understanding of men? Do you feel confused and unsure about how to get along with men?
Lina Yang: In my elementary and middle school years, it was Director Qian who brought us together, and she would let us play against many boys' teams, and they basically couldn't beat us. For a long time, I felt like there was a competitive relationship between me and the boys, but maybe it was because I grew up in such an environment that I felt like I had a brotherly relationship with the boys.
Li Jiayue: Although I lack the daily interactions like men studying and working together, I have a lot of male friends, and I even feel that I may be able to communicate with men better than ordinary girls out there, because we are all closer in personality.
Your upbringing may have made you realize your femininity a little later. When did you realize that you were a girl too, that there would be times when you were soft and hurt, and that you needed someone to love and protect you?
Lena Yang: For us soccer players, physical injuries are something we've been used to for a long time. I remember the earliest days of training on a yellow sand field, where there was no grass at all. When I fell down, my skin was split open and the yellow sand and dirt were embedded in my flesh. My mother was so distressed that she cried as she sterilized me. I didn't mind, I was the kind of person who didn't shed tears when I was growing up. After I became a professional player, I broke the back of my head once in a game, had seven stitches in my eyebrow, and broke my nose once, but I didn't say a word.
In 2013, my grandfather passed away. I was encouraged to play all the way down by my grandfather, and his greatest wish was to see me make a name for myself, play for the national team, and become the pride of my family. His death was a big blow to me, plus at that time I came back from the National Youth Football League, changed coaches after the Shanghai National Games, and the old players came back to the team, so I had very few chances to play. So I was in a very bad state of mind, but my character is always very strong, and I won't let others see my vulnerable side. I was very confused, and I did want to retire for a while, but then after the water coach came on the team, he kept giving me opportunities to play, so I felt that my heart was warming up to soccer again.
Li Jiayue: A person, even the strongest and most powerful, will have hard times and need comfort. This has nothing to do with what profession you are in, or even gender. I've encountered too many of these situations on the soccer field, like the 2015 World Cup, where I had been a starter, but suddenly became a substitute in the World Cup, and didn't play for a minute. At that time, I really couldn't accept it. Other people may only be able to comfort me emotionally, but ultimately I have to come out on my own.
Zhao Lina: I have a long time is also a person who will not show himself in front of outsiders, I even watch a movie if the person sitting next to me is not familiar with, to see touched by the place will also be forced to hold back tears. And then aggrieved, I can't let go of my defenses in front of people, hard to hold back to a person when secretly shedding tears. But as I grew older, I realized that it seemed as if shedding tears became a more natural thing, crying when I wanted to, not going to hold it back until I was alone. "It's okay, you can let yourself be seen shedding tears" is a precious discovery that age has brought me.
What do you guys think is the most accented thing you've done since you were kids?
Li Jiayue: chose to play soccer for this thing.
Lena Zhao: In her national team uniform, standing in front of the goal.
Lena Yang: I always remember the moment I walked out of the real estate transaction center that day after finishing the paperwork for my family's house purchase, I stood in the sun and felt so sure of my existence. It was one of the things I was most proud of.
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