From Wall Street Journal:
Five weeks before the Olympic Games kick off in Beijing, China already has a new sports hero: tennis star Zheng Jie.
Ms. Zheng, dubbed the “golden flower” by China’s media, is set to make sports history as the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal when she meets Serena Williams at Wimbledon Thursday. Her recent grass-court victories, coupled with pledges to donate her share of the Wimbledon and French Open prize money to the earthquake-relief efforts have made her something of an icon. One recent headline on a popular Chinese web site, Sina.com reads: “Zheng Jie makes the world remember Sichuan once again!!!!!”
With less than 40 days before the Olympic Games kick off in Beijing, Ms. Zheng’s success is a piece of good news in a year that’s been beset by troubles for China, including riots in Tibet, an international torch relay marred by protests and the May 12 Sichuan earthquake. Ms. Zheng’s hometown is Chengdu, Sichuan’s provincial capital, where her family still lives, and she started her sports career at the city’s tennis academy.
