With International Women's Day approaching, we had an in-depth conversation with three Shanghai-based Chinese women's soccer players - Li Jiayue, Zhao Lina and Yang Lina - who have just won the Asian Cup, on the topic of women.
They, and the large group of women behind them, are engaged in professions that are atypical of women in traditional concepts. However, in these female soccer players, we see many of the qualities that make Chinese women positive and progressive in the new era.
First of all, their existence has challenged the centuries-old aesthetic standard of "white, young and thin". Whether it is the tall and leggy Zhao Lina or the short-haired and sharp Wang Frost, they have added a new dimension to the aesthetics of the new era.
Secondly, they have also overturned the old image of Chinese women's soccer. You won't see the image of "earning a meager income and competing for the country", which belonged to the old women's soccer team at the end of the last century. The new generation of women's soccer players do not want to be bound by the words "Clanging Roses" anymore. Some of them even questioned: "Why do we have to use flowers to describe women? Isn't it a bit outdated?"
As female soccer players who have grown up in the 21st century, they have not yet achieved equal pay for equal work in soccer, but many of them have realized a life with a house and a car by their own efforts, and some of the main players even earn more than a million dollars a year. We will not compare their income with men's soccer, as Wang Frost said:
"When we support women's soccer from a perspective that is no longer meant to satirize men's soccer, and when our support can see club women's soccer players outside of the national team and give them a sense of what it means to continue to play, then China's women's soccer team will be truly strong."
On women's day, let's listen to their voices and experience their lives.
Dreams, precious because they are unfinished
After the quarantine was lifted, your social activities were almost uninterrupted. How do you feel about these activities and the sudden outpouring 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 encourage my younger siblings. It's hard work, but that's what I should do. I hope to use the opportunity of winning this championship to do positive publicity for women's soccer and attract more people to participate in this sport.
Zhao Lina: No breaks at all, busier than on the team. Interviewed, filmed, preached, and a few days ago attended a charity dinner with tennis star Li Na and swimming champion Liu Xiang, encouraging girls to break through the limitations and participate in sports. I think all these activities are full of positive energy, and I am willing to participate in them. I hope that through my efforts, more people will realize that soccer is not only a male sport, but that the beauty of women's bravery, self-confidence and sunshine on the field is equally fascinating.
China's women's soccer team's victory in the Asian Cup has stirred up great enthusiasm in the country. What kind of impact do you hope this victory will have on the long-term development of China's women's soccer team?
Zhao Lina: After winning the championship, my fan base grew by more than 2 million, which was totally unexpected. In fact, I have invested a lot of energy in short videos in the last one or two years, and almost all of my time off has been spent on shooting instructional videos. I hope to be a window connecting women's soccer and fans, so that the outside world can know more about our coaches and athletes.
I was actually expecting more attention, but women's soccer had very little attention before the Asian Cup, and that attention usually ebbs and flows with the big games. Prior to winning the championship, the attention on women's soccer was more passive, with very few people actively paying attention. I hope this championship win will give us more sustained and wider attention and encouragement.
Lena Yang: I remember in 2016, the attendance of a Shanghai women's soccer game was at most 5,000 people. At that time, our home ground was at Hongkou Stadium and many Shenhua fans would come to support us. It was an unprecedented attendance and we all felt very happy. Before that, our home matches at VSU were often attended by only one or two hundred people. In the past few years, the attention of women's soccer has gradually increased, and by the time of the epidemic, we were able to have about 2,000 fans at home. I'm looking forward to seeing how many spectators will come to games when the league reverts to a home-and-away system. Hopefully people will continue to follow us, and not just because of one championship.
Li Jiayue: Outside attention is important, but we have to work hard and become stronger ourselves. If we can keep achieving good results, this attention will continue. For me, I dream of getting a gold medal at the Asian Games, and I dream of playing in the World Cup and reaching the quarterfinals. I've heard the saying that a dream is precious because it's unfinished, and if it's finished, it's no longer a dream.
In our society, many people have "age phobia". As athletes, your careers are shorter than the average person's, so do you have any concerns about this? After retirement, will your life be limited because of your age?
Li Jiayue: I'm turning 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 in our team retired very young, not because of physical reasons, but because everyone did. That's a shame, obviously being in great shape, but setting limits for yourself. For me, I'll keep playing as long as I can and want to.
Lena Zhao: When I was in my 20s, I always set a lot of limitations for myself, such as playing until I was a few years old and then retiring, and getting married and having children at a few years old. But as I got older, I realized that my love for soccer grew deeper and deeper. For example, if I stop and don't train or play recently, I feel empty as a human being. I think I've been looked at differently from the beginning when I chose soccer, so let's just break all the limitations.
It's okay. You can make people cry.
Some traditional prejudices think 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. In this day and age, no one says you have to have long hair and white skin to be considered a woman. Don't confident, sunny, healthy women smell good?
I feel like I'm living in a great time that embraces diversity and definitions of what it means to be a woman are being broken down all the time. That's a very good 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 I didn't switch to the women's soccer team until I was in the fourth grade. At that time, I didn't realize that I was a girl because there was no such concept of gender difference, and I also had a brushed head. Then Coach Qian Hui brought me to the girls' team, and I started to live in the school. From then on, I began to realize that I was a little girl.
Lena Zhao: I've known that I'm a girl since I was a child, and my personality and hobbies are very feminine. In fact, my personality is not like that of a male soccer player, I'm still very gentle, I just look bigger.
Compared to ordinary women, you don't have the opportunity to go to school or work together with men, 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: During my elementary and middle school years, Coach Qian often took us to play against the boys' soccer team, 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 of reading and working with men, I have many male friends, and I even feel that I may be able to communicate with men better than the average girl 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 have long been commonplace. I remember the earliest time I trained on a yellow sand field, I fell and broke my flesh, and the yellow sand and soil were embedded in my flesh. My mother was so distressed that she cried as she sterilized me. But I didn't care, I never shed a tear since I was a kid. 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, enter the national team, and become the pride of my family. His death was a big blow to me, plus at that time, when I came back from the National Youth League, the coach was changed after the Shanghai National Games, and the old players came back to the team, I had very few chances to play. So I was in a very bad state of mind at the time, but I have a very strong character and wouldn't let others see my vulnerable side. I was very confused, and I did want to retire for a while, but then after Shui came on the team, he kept giving me opportunities to play, and I felt my heart warming up to soccer again.
Li Jiayue: A person, even the strongest, will have hard times and need comfort. This has nothing to do with what profession you are in, or even with gender. There are too many situations like this on the soccer field, like the 2015 World Cup, I had been a starter before, but suddenly I became a substitute in the World Cup, I didn't even play a minute. At that time, I really couldn't accept it. Other people may only be able to comfort you emotionally, but ultimately you have to come out on your own.
Zhao Lina: I have a long time is also a person who will not show himself in front of people, 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 remember the moment I walked out of the real estate transaction center after finishing the paperwork for my family's house that day, 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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