Tenberal correspondent Simon Wong reports:

The Chinese national football team has not played in a FIFA World Cup since 2002, only as South Korea and Japan - the strongest local rivalries - is hosting the World Cup. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the Chinese is did not even get through Group Stage and fallen into world's 56th from 50th, and over the years, we have seen even higher dips. In the world 2nd largest country with 1.4 billion people, China ranked 91st globally.

As expected, the Chinese did not play in the FIFA World Cup 2026, in Mexico, United States and Canada. But, ironically, its pro-communist China state media claimed that China has "participated" in the World Cup in a slightly different way, as the Chinese are "everywhere except for on the field" (as well as spies).

Undoubtedly, China is one of the world largest manufacturer and in fact, many of the World Cup merchandise, souvenirs, and even match balls featuring smart chips are predominantly manufactured in Chinese hubs like Yiwu. On the side of the pitch, we see commercial advertisment with a clear Chinese domination: Hisense, Lenovo, and Mengniu, from electronics to energy drinks, all by the Chinese. The Chinese referee like Ma Ning and Fu Ming are here as well and all they don't have are players that can play at the elite level, certainly not.

The rising team of this World Cup, Cabo Verde (or Cape Verde) is also partly sponsored by the Chinese state as part of their wider African "Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)", widely knwon by its previosu name "One Belt, One Road). Back in 2014, the Chinese has funded the construction of a 15,000 seater football stadium Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde in Paria, with local Chinese staff on-site as well, even their star goalkeeper was wearing Chinese-made gloves for the game. Obviously, the Cabo Verde team reached the world stage not only because of the Chinese sponsor, but most importantly, their efforts as a team that gained them entry to Round of 32. Afterwards, the team has also invited the Chinese for a friendly but this has been rejected or officially "postponed" as it is widely believed that China is afraid of losing to a country that they first funded of, embarassingly, as they feared that history reappeared for their historic defeat of 2-1 against Hong Kong football team in January 1, 2024, furthermore, the Chinese gets even more scared and it was a closed-door friendly against the world's 156th.

As we have seen, China is really everywhere, from football to being next to your house (well, you will never know that you are being spied on). But, why, in a country with 1.4 billion people, no one can play good football and bring their nation to the World Cup. The answer is simple, asian parenting. Chinese parents often considered success in academic educational path as the only way to be successful and gain enough money for a stable future, and football careers are often viewed as a high-risk career with a short window of opportunity and uncertain rewards, since only few can reach the top level. Conversely, European families tended to be highly supportive of a sporting career and sports is often treated as a recreational activities, allowing children to show their talents and for a transition to a competitive level, but there are almost no clubs for Chinese children at a beginner and amateur level, it relies on sporting academies and rich families to apply for it in the first place, in regular schooling, there are less than 1 hour of PE per week and focused merely on athletics and calisthenics, despite a recent increase under the "Health First" objective. In esscence, European families promote a sports-for-all directive but sports in China are very competitive.

Also, children are faced in an "either-or" option, where they cannot be dedicated fully to a sport career and obliged to a full-time study as well, espeiclaly under the Chinese' rigourous education system. Even worse, China Communist Party, from a local to the national level, has suffered from a serious corruption and fiananical insecurities, which had undermined public trust and parents would more likely to discourage them to persue their sporting dream.

Therefore, the lives of children and even the international reputation of China is rooted on the every day decision of the parents, in China, parents have strongly discouraged their children from persuing their dreams, and promote the dual path of following the academic career for a more successful life, but that might not be the case, successful does not necessarily mean being rich and getting a family, it is about happiness: the freedom of doing what you want, representing your country is an honour, it is the real happiness for many, and that is the only purpose of life. So parents, next time, give yourself the courage to enjoy, to let them flourish freely and do what they should do because this is nothing other than life; life that we all need.

How China "participated in the World Cup," as its state media said.

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