Yesterday I said that the reason Chinese players have long dominated table tennis and badminton is because these two sports have low commercial value and a low level of professionalization, giving Chinese professional players a unique advantage due to the support of the system. Let me imagine a super-rich person in the world who allocates $40 billion to host a major table tennis or badminton tournament for 20 consecutive years, with an annual prize of $2 billion.
I predict that Chinese athletes will maintain a significant advantage for the first five years, gradually diminishing from the fifth to the tenth year. Winning will become more difficult between the tenth and fifteenth years, and they will fall out of the top tier between the fifteenth and twentyth years. Of course, this is just my personal speculation, and you are welcome to disagree or refute it, but my speculation is based on some evidence.
A prime example is the Chinese women's football team. Its most glorious period was in the 1990s, when the domestic sports teams provided professional training for a group of female football players. At that time, women's football wasn't very developed abroad; it was mainly played in schools or as a hobby. Chinese professional athletes had a significant advantage, reaching the semi-finals of the 1995 World Cup and finishing as runners-up in the 1999 World Cup, narrowly missing the championship by losing to the host nation, the United States, on penalties.
Back then, the whole country praised the Chinese women's football team, saying that while the Chinese men weren't up to par, the women had stood up for themselves. Oh, and by the way, Tian Zhen even has a classic song called "The Resilient Rose," which is about women's football. Across the millennium, other countries gradually began to pay attention to the development of women's football. Actually, it wasn't very commercialized; they just did a little bit of work on it and started playing it seriously as a professional sport. After that, the level of women's football worldwide improved significantly, and the Chinese women's football team lost its advantage.
They reached the quarterfinals twice, in 2003 and 2007, but then faded into obscurity. Currently, they're roughly ranked among the top four in Asia and around 15-20 in the world. This is only because many countries don't play women's football; otherwise, it's hard to say they're significantly stronger than the Chinese men's team.
I previously looked up the income levels of professional table tennis and badminton players abroad. World-class players earn $1-2 million USD, but there are only one or two (like Viktor Axelsen and Tomokazu Harimoto). Top-tier players (top 10) earn $500,000-1 million USD annually during their prime, and below that, it's in the $100,000-300,000 USD range. This salary is only slightly higher than that of ordinary workers in Europe and America, and considering that athletes' careers are largely short-lived, it's really not very attractive.
The purpose of making sports a profession is, of course, to make more money. Therefore, talented people with outstanding physical abilities, experienced coaches, and expensive training resources abroad tend to concentrate on highly commercialized sports, such as football, basketball, rugby, baseball, tennis, golf, boxing, mixed martial arts, and motorsports. If we consider competitive sports in a broader sense, we can also add e-sports.
Top athletes in these sports can earn astronomical sums of money, and first-tier athletes are winners in both fame and fortune. Even the numerous second- and third-tier athletes can make a living as professionals. Looking at the Chinese athletes who have achieved success and high market value in these popular sports, the first tier consists of three people: Yao Ming, Li Na, and Zhang Weili. The second tier includes Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Zhilei.
At this point, I suspect some will argue that while Liu Xiang, Gu Ailing, Sun Yingsha, Wang Chuqin, and Lin Dan certainly earn high incomes—tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan annually—their earnings don't come from their sport itself. Instead, they owe a debt to the massive Chinese commercial market. For example, only 0.4% of Gu Ailing's annual income comes from competition prize money; the rest is from arbitrage profits from gold medals.
If they weren't Chinese athletes, or not Chinese athletes of this era, they would hardly earn that much money.
Unlike Yao Ming, Li Na, and Zhang Weili, whom I mentioned earlier, their athletic achievements are invaluable assets. Regardless of their nationality or era, they would all be superstars, achieving both fame and fortune, and holding historical significance.
There used to be frequent online debates about whether Yao Ming or Liu Xiang was China's most outstanding athlete. In my opinion, the answer to this question is obvious. 
There are also a few other miscellaneous things.
1. Many people have been asking about overseas income tax these past few days. Note that this isn't just about stock trading. Last year, the tax authorities showed me their work reports, which included transactions in various bank accounts. I also had to pay tax on the income from a maturing investment insurance policy. They calculate it annually, and there's no way to offset losses across years. So, you have to pay it; there's no point in haggling with your salesperson. Delaying it won't do you any good; the late payment penalty is 18% annually, and it will almost double in three years. Even if you lose money in stocks, the dividends are taxed separately. If you feel this rule is unfavorable, you can liquidate your Hong Kong stocks and switch to the Stock Connect program, which is currently tax-free.
2. Ren Xiaomin, a star salesperson at Taikang Life Insurance, is suspected of fraud and has been placed under investigation by Qingdao police. Media reports indicate the amount involved is between 300 and 400 million yuan. She was quite famous; four or five years ago, she was a top sales performer cultivated by Taikang and a celebrity in the insurance industry. Unexpectedly, her private fund-sharing scheme collapsed. News reports state that she privately lent money to clients, offering very high interest rates. The scheme grew increasingly large, with one client even lending her 150 million yuan. When the money couldn't be redeemed upon maturity, the company collapsed.
The news report didn't specify where her money went. I asked AI, and they said it was used to cover client expenses, provide commissions, boost sales targets, and some was lost on her own investments. This is a bit surprising. Even top salespeople are putting their own money into insurance sales to achieve their goals? Selling insurance is going way too far…
This incident serves as a warning: no matter how prestigious someone's public image may seem, never engage in off-balance-sheet private wealth management. Do you remember the recent collapse of the fund pool run by Mei Xiangrong, the founder of Yingke Law Firm? Many people invest money thinking that a celebrity, backed by Taikang or Yingke, is safe, only to discover it's a charlatan operating under false pretenses when it all falls apart.
3. I saw a news report the other day about a resettlement housing complex with over 500 households, but only about 20 households paid their property management fees. The property management company had to suspend services, and the elevators on the 20-plus floors were out of service. Actually, it's not just resettlement housing; even in better communities, many people refuse to pay their property management fees, but the proportions are relatively controllable and don't affect the overall service. I've previously advised everyone to avoid buying high-rise apartments if possible. With an aging population and a net population decrease in the future, the vacancy rate of these high-rises will increase, and property management fees will definitely not be collected in full. The service quality will be terrible, and they will gradually become the next version of urban slums.
That's all for tonight, have a great weekend!
Original Article: View Chinese Version
