All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from the Internet

Growing up, I had the privilege of learning to play tennis at a country club with professional instruction. I spent a couple of years going to clinic every afternoon after school and during the summers. I was no prodigy, but I developed a competitive game.

So I played tennis the other night with my colleagues Denis, Robin and Moses (apologies for the crappy pic made with a crappy phone; I am in pain witout my Treo). I was looking forward to "schooling" them in tennis (especially after they schooled me in ping pong and badminton).

However, I was quickly put to the test with these guys. After Robin pounded the 10th or so rocket forehand pass down the line on me, I had asked him where he had learned to play. Did he have a coach? Did he learn at college? "No," he said. "I learned from downloading videos off the Internet."

Tennis is not an especially popular sport in China, but like most any hobby or sport, you can find plenty of information and communities on BBS and blogs.


You can find discussions on BMX, hiking....even belly dancing (the dancer at Zahara Middle Eastern restaurant in Shanghai also learned her moves from the Internet, she told us last time we were there). Like their counterparts in the West, Chinese netizens are using the 'net to find the long tail.