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Tim Zha

Professor Marie Webb

Ling 12 section 200 MW 11am

19 February 2019

Hupu the Basketball Community

As China’s economy booms, there is an increasing demand for entertainment. Coupled

with the fact that this is a country with 1.4 billion population, huge markets could arise literally

in one night. Such phenomenon was so prominent during the first decade of the 21st century as

a list of industries saw themselves suddenly being forced to the middle of the stage, including

movies, music, domestic travelling, and most of all, National Basketball Association (NBA). As an

international sport, basketball is never a stranger to the people in the ancient empire of the

east. During its early stage in this ancient country, it was a form of physical exercise that could

be seen in almost every school, from rich neighborhood to rural countryside. Not until Chinese

players such as Yao Ming made their ways across the ocean and generated a huge impact in

NBA did people started to watch basketball for pleasure. Media immediately kicked in, and

started broadcasting about the events on courts, which in turns resulted in millions of people

considering themselves as a basketball fan. That was the time when Hupu （虎扑） came into

being. It established itself as a forum website, but gradually developed into the symbol of

“professional basketball fans.” In my perspective, the website exemplifies the idea of Discourse

Community (DC) brought out by Swales. In short, a DC is a group of people with shared aim, and

by using communication, unique writing genres, proper nouns, and internal rankings as tools,

the organization could ultimately move towards the goal (464). Hupu, in general, has the goal of
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establishing a fan base for basketball in China (Zhang); also, since it is a forum website, people

are able to talk to each other in pursuit of the goal. Many special types of writing are involved,

and specific terms of basketball fill the main pages; levels are also assigned based on

knowledge. Through engaging in the activities inside, basketball fans could enjoy every aspect

of this sport and gain professional knowledge at the same time.

First and foremost, according to Swales, in order to be considered a DC, the group

should stick to a basic target, and this target must be accessible for every member (472). In

Hupu, we often do not directly contribute to the goal of popularizing the sport. Instead, the

entire DC is separated into several divisions, each concerning a small part of this sport and

having a more specific and well-stated sub-goal such as discussing games, ranking of players,

analyzing games, translating professional sports articles and videos (usually from major US

sports websites), learning specific moves by a star player, and getting the most updated news.

For my DC (translation), the goal is posted on the top of the division main page so that

everyone could see it. The post made it clear that this is the place for quality translation and

responsible translator to create masterpieces that will later on be publicized or posted on the

web’s main page. Following the well-defined aim, a few names and their personal contact

information is listed---they are the administrators, they are the once to explain the objective,

and they decide whether you are qualified for the division or not based on your understanding

of the main term. In this set up, people who want to take part in the division must undergo a

process of familiarizing themselves with the target. It also guarantees the people who are

already in have a clear mind of what they are responsible for, and thus enjoy the unique

blending of translation art and professional sport.

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Just like Reddit, Hupu started as a forum website dedicated to basketball. In its early

days, the only mean of communication was the site itself. When someone needs to talk about a

topic or ask a question, he simply posts it on the web’s main page or in his division main page.

People willing to answer back simply replies under the post. Such mechanism still serves as the

main way of intercommunication today, even with the fact that other online talking form has

appeared on the website in recent years. This is probably due to relatively few restrictions

comparing to others. One-to-one message was introduced around the year 2010, when the

entire community saw a tremendous influx of new members. The demand for private direct

communication experienced a growth. Though it could facilitate conversation and bring a

certain degree of convenience, the system tends to block down inappropriate information. For

example, members in my division often need to translate complicated quotations in a sports

article, and sometimes we have to ask the administrators directly on how to make the

meanings clear. The quotation might contain a large amount of vulgar words which could not

go through the system. In such cases, members would rather turn to posting, hoping the

administrators could see it. Meanwhile, another reason for the thriving of posting is that it has

gone through self-evolution. In 2014, the posting word limit was removed; previous to that, it

was 800 words (Zhang). Suddenly, a new trend appeared in my division. People would post

their first draft inside the division webpage and let others comment on their work.

Subsequently, they would make changes according to those reviews before publishing the final

draft. In this way, it is no longer just a communication tool, but also a place for feedback. The

development of post-answering changed the entire landscape, as it creates a better working

environment for each division to flourish.

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Furthermore, a DC has to have one or more genres of writing in order to approach the

goal (Swales 472). For a sports website, four genres are very common, namely analysis, news,

translations and tutorial (Zhang). The one I am most familiar with is translation, as I am a

member of the translation division. The articles that are being translated comes from American

or British sports website, and the writers are all experts in their respective fields. For example,

we often took the essays by Mark Stein, who is one of the top writers in basketball. In his

writings, detailed analysis about a certain play by a player could be analyzed in great detail, so

much so that every movement is under scrutinized. My job is simply restating his idea and his

thoughts about the play in another language, so that those who love basketball could get the

information. According to my observations, the other types of writing also have their own

division. The inner mechanisms of these divisions are similar to mine, and all the articles they

produced would also appear on the main page. I would sometimes visit the part of the main

page with many tutorials, where famous moves are being broken down such that common

people would be able to learn about them. Analysis and news are also important, as they give

people an overview of what is going on in the basketball world in a broader and narrower scale.

The four genres over time attracted millions of Chinese viewers, which contributes to making

basketball the second most popular sport in China just before soccer.

Swales’ also stated that the use of lexis are vital for DC (473). In Hupu, lexes are more

than the words themselves. It is a symbol of the levels of expertise in the community (Zhang).

My DC is similar to the knowledge-based hierarchy in Jahren’s hospital DC; the Pharm D at top

and the runners at the bottom (33). Only the experts among experts could finally become

administrators in the divisions. The administrators, thus in theory, are expected to answer
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every question and should have a deeper understanding of some common proper nouns. For

example, when normal members like me talk about the center position, we are usually referring

to the tallest players on court. However, for administrators, they should be able to make it clear

that large body weight and diameter are also key traits for a typical center (Vaquera et el. 100).

In reality, it is almost impossible for them to be like a walking encyclopedia; however, they have

to at least know about a wide variety of sources that contains all the lexes. For my division,

since we do not get into contact with these special words every now and then, Wikipedia or

other online encyclopedias are more than enough for normal members to clarify the terms;

while there isn’t a professional dictionary dedicated to basketball, the administrators decided

to create one themselves relying on their years and even decades of translating experience.

Just recently, they made it accessible for everyone in my division. I have used it for a few weeks

now, I really appreciate their work, and I improved my professional vocabulary a lot just by

searching through the dictionary. Hence, it makes sense for people with a good mastery of

lexes be the leaders, since they are able to use their understandings to help others.

Last but not lease, since Hupu has a clearly stated goal, a good mechanism for

communication and information, many writing type, special words, and a hierarchy, it is clear

that it satisfies all the requirement of a DC by Swales.

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Works Cited

Jahren, Hope. Lab Girl. New York: Vintage Books, 2017. Print.

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Writing about Writing: A College

Reader, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011, pp.

466-479. Originally published in Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research

Settings, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 21-32.

Vaquera, Alejandro, et el. “Anthropometric Characteristics of Spanish Professional

Basketball Players.” Journal of Human Kinetics, vol46, no.1, Jul 10. 2015,

pp.99-106, doi.org/10.1515/hukin-2015-0038. Accessed Mar 1. 2019.

Zhang, Jacky, “Re: Hupu interview.” Received by Tim Zha, Feb 21. 2019.