Chinese hip-hop king gets his shot at Bryant

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Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant took on the king of Chinese hip-hop over the weekend in Shanghai.

Bryant met Jay Chou in the "Express your true self" basketball and music festival on Saturday, a benefit program organized by Sprite.

Bryant's Uncontainable Yellow team defeated Chou's Refreshing Green team, 107-82.

This year's event also extended an invitation for local fans to participate and a chance to play alongside Chou and Bryant.

"With all the celebrities, entertainers and so forth, we didn't really know what to expect from the game," Bryant told reporters at halftime. "And being that this is the second time, everybody has had a year to train and practice and come back as much better players. That's pretty cool."

The show began with a performance by the NBA Secret Service Dunkers, a trick team. The audience erupted when Chou emerged with a basketball in hand while Bryant clutched a guitar.

Bryant wowed the crowd with a series of impressive plays, though Chou held his own.

The event raised more than 2.6 million yuan ($408,900), which will go toward the building and improvement of sports and basketball facilities at the Project Hope schools in China's underprivileged regions.

Last year's 2.2 million yuan went toward building basketball courts in 32 schools and sponsoring sports equipment in 30 schools.

Fresh off his Olympic gold medal, Bryant took part in commercial activities in a number of Chinese cities over the past week.

Bryant said he had a perfect performance in London.

"I had to give myself a (score of) 10," he said. "I did what I was supposed to do. My job was to beat the best players on the other team and try to stop them from scoring the ball.

And if the opportunity presents itself to score baskets for my team, I was able to do that."

The London Games will be his last Olympics, he reiterated.

"In terms of the next Olympics, this was it for me," he said. "This is the last Olympics for me."

Bryant also said he was excited about the recent reshuffling of the Lakers.

"We've got some new and talented players, but there's a lot of work to be done and we're all excited to get back to Los Angeles and get started," he said. "It should be fun."

Questions

1. How much money did the event raise?

2. What was the name of the basketball and music festival held on Saturday?

3. With the money last years event raised, how many basket ball courts were built at schools?

Answers

1. More than 2.6 million yuan.

2. Express your true self.

3. 32.

About the broadcaster:

Rosie Tuck is a copy editor at the China Daily website. She was born in New Zealand and graduated from Auckland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Communications studies majoring in journalism and television. In New Zealand she was working as a junior reporter for the New Zealand state broadcaster TVNZ. She is in Beijing on an Asia New Zealand Foundation grant, working as a journalist in the English news department at the China Daily website.