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Jonathan Powell

Young people share their experience of the mainland
Name Wendy Yu
Age 32
Job Director, international television and digital media, NBA
Location Beijing
The popularity of the National Basketball Association  (NBA) in China was established long before Yao Ming ventured across the Pacific. With the development of digital media and satellite television, the  league has been cultivating its fan base in Asia for  more than a decade. As the NBA's director of international television and digital media in Beijing, Wendy Yu is working at the heart of the phenomenon.
The 32-year-old first joined as co-ordinator, international television in 2000, a regional position based in Hong Kong.
'I transferred to the mainland in 2004 when the NBA decided to bring the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings over here to play the first NBA pre-season games in Beijing and Shanghai,' said Ms Yu. 'I was asked to help organise the Shanghai game. At the time we didn't have a Shanghai operation, and so, along with a colleague, we opened a new office there. It was a great experience for me, and since then our business has expanded tremendously. I moved to Beijing this year, and am now heading up the TV and digital media business with a team of 10.'
Ms Yu, a commerce and psychology graduate from the University of Toronto in Canada, oversees the development of content and the sales and distribution of NBA and WNBA (women's league) programming in mainland China and Taiwan. The former Diocesan Girls' School in Hong Kong pupil also oversees the creation and distribution of new media and wireless content, and the development of programming for the NBA's broadcast partners in the region.
'Our working environment is very dynamic. There are so many opportunities here but so little time. We try to accomplish as much as we can every day, and communicate frequently with our head office in New York. My mainland colleagues have a different way of thinking, but they are very sharp and eager to learn.'
Ms Yu had the full support of her family prior to her mainland move. 'They saw it as a good learning experience for me. They were a little concerned about safety, but actually Beijing is as safe as any major city in the world.'



Thriving in a dynamic work environment