‘Bamboo basket tennis boy’: China’s Wa ethnic teen carrying racquets in traditional holder to honour culture an internet sensation
- Wang Fa was born into a peasant family in southwestern Yunnan province on the Myanmar border, an area home to the Wa ethnic group
- He won in the Under 14 male category at the 2022 Asics Tennis Junior Tour held in Guangzhou, southern China, at the end of August
A picture of a 14-year-old boy carrying a bamboo basket with two tennis racquets on his back has gone viral in China after he won a national tennis competition.
Wang Fa has been dubbed the “bamboo basket tennis teenager” for being one of the first pro-tennis players from the Wa ethnic group in remote southwestern China.
Wang won in the Under 14 boys’ singles category at the 2022 Asics Tennis Junior Tour held in Guangzhou, southern China, at the end of August.
“Tennis can change my life,” Wang told state media outlet CCTV. “If it weren’t for tennis, I’d still be helping out my family with farm work back at home.”
Wang was born into a peasant family in Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County, Yunnan. The county borders Myanmar and is home to the Wa ethnic group who mostly live in mountainous areas, with a total population of 430,000, according to China’s National Ethnic Affairs Commission.
“We always carried bamboo baskets when we worked in the field. This is a symbolic farming tool of the Wa ethnic group. I carried my racquet in this basket to honour my hometown,” said Wang.
Six years ago, Wang and nine other boys and girls from his village were selected by coach Zhang Xiaohong to start tennis training in Kunming, capital city of the province.
Zhang has more than two decades of tennis training experience and established the charity Wild Elephant Club in 2014 to focus on providing free training for promising young tennis players from ethnic groups in Yunnan.
The coach visited Wang’s village in 2016 to audition young children and was impressed by Wang after the boy excelled in running and throwing and catching balls.
Zhang said the tryout lasted only 10 minutes, but that it took hours to eventually convince parents in the village to agree to let their children play tennis as locals had never heard of the sport before and some suspected Zhang might be a swindler.
Bamboo baskets are the traditional containers used to carry things like vegetables, meat, ploughing tools and even babies among ethnic groups in southwestern China. Local residents like to carry a bamboo basket on their back so that their hands are free to hold things in the meanwhile.
Wang said he was not interested in playing tennis at first and did not want to continue training after returning home during the holidays in early 2017.
Zhang cited the successful careers of Chinese female player Li Na and famous Swiss player Roger Federer to persuade Wang not to give up.
Wang was especially fascinated by Federer’s story and when he returned to training he was more devoted than before, said Zhang.
The coach said his young players are sensible and live a thrifty life. They don’t ask to change their shoes until they’ve worn holes in them and due to limited funds, many tennis balls that have begun coming apart stay in use.
Wang has attended a series of tennis matches across the mainland in the past few years.
He said before being selected to play tennis, he knew nothing of the outside world and could not speak Mandarin.
“Later I made a lot of friends and learned a lot of things. I’ve also travelled to many cities of the country,” said Wang.
“I hope to become a great athlete like Federer and be the pride of my parents,” he said.
