Why read this: This BBC News feature gives Mandarin-L1 readers a chance to read an English business profile that sits on the C1/C2 boundary while drawing on a story they already know — China's late-1980s economic opening and the rise of its export manufacturers. The article uses Anta's growth into a global sportswear contender as a case through which students meet the working vocabulary of brand strategy, supply-chain economics and Sino-Western politics. Because the cultural schema is familiar, attention can be spent on the language: dense British-journalism idiom, nominalised strategy terms, and the implicit-contrast moves that carry the writer's argument. For graded reading, it is a productive piece — readers come away with a defensible opinion about whether Anta really stands a chance against Nike, and with a sharper ear for how feature journalism builds that case.
What to notice: Three pinch points repay close reading. First, idiom and phrasal-verb density: 'take on,' 'spell out,' 'stand out,' 'go on to,' 'eye markets,' 'toe the line,' 'home turf,' 'zero-sum game.' Several appear with senses that diverge sharply from the literal — students who read only the surface will miss the argumentative spine. Second, the heavy nominalisation of business-strategy passages — 'controlling stake,' 'multi-brand strategy,' 'perception challenge,' 'market share' — where verb-driven Chinese habits do not transfer cleanly. Third, the implicit-contrast structure: Anta's 12,000 China shops set against Nike's 1,000 worldwide; Anta's celebrity signings set against Nike's Jordan deal; Eileen Gu's 'polarising' status set against the unspoken political stakes. These contrasts are never spelled out for the reader, who is trusted to compute them.
Skills practised: Readers practise tracking a non-linear chronology that jumps among the late 1980s, 1991, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2019 and the present, while holding a single referent ('the company,' 'the firm,' 'the brand') across shifting noun phrases. They practise resolving multi-source attribution — Fei Qin, Wei Kan, the Anta spokesperson — without explicit signposting, and weighing each voice's credibility. They practise reading for argument rather than fact: distinguishing what the article asserts from what it implies, and noticing where it hedges with 'may,' 'could,' or 'tends to.' Vocabulary work centres on idiomatic phrasal verbs, business-strategy nominalisations, and the cultural-political subtext of phrases like 'made in China.' The comprehension questions push readers from inference into argument construction, which is the C1 cognitive move.
"The Chinese sports brand taking on Nike and Adidas"
"How a high school dropout with 600 pairs of shoes built a sportswear empire to rival the West"
Tap any green word in the article to see its meaning.
In the late 1980s, when China's economy was just beginning to open, a determined high-school dropout named Ding Shizhong loaded 600 pairs of shoes onto a train to Beijing. The shoes had been made in a relative's factory, and the seventeen-year-old planned to sell every last pair. The proceeds bankrolledbankroll: To fund a project; to underwrite something. — 资助；出资 his first workshop. Ding became one of China's many newly minted: freshly created or just becoming what is described — 新出现的；新晋的 entrepreneurs, building a fledglingfledgling: An immature, naïve or inexperienced person. — 新手；初出茅庐者 business as capitalismcapitalism: An economic and political system in which trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than by the state. — 资本主义 took off under the watchful eye: close, careful supervision or attention — 严密注视；监管 of the Communist Party.
Four decades on, that workshop has matured into Anta — a sportswear powerhouse that, as the largest shareholdershareholder: a person who owns shares in a company — 股东 of Amer Sports, overseesoversee: to watch over and direct the execution of a task, project, or organisation — 监督；监管 a stable of international brands including Arc'teryx and Salomon. This year it bought a 29% stake in Puma. Now Anta is trying to take on the likes of: well-known examples in the same category as — 像…这样的；…之流 Nike and Adidas — an ambition Ding spelled out: stated clearly and explicitly — 明确表示；阐明 in 2005: "We don't want to be the Nike of China, but the Anta of the world."
Anta is not yet a household name: a brand or person known to almost everyone — 家喻户晓的名字 in the West, but it operates more than 12,000 shops across China and sponsors top athletes such as freestyle skier Eileen Gu. In February it opened its first US outletoutlet: a means of expressing one's talents, energy, or emotions; a shop or store; a point from which goods are sold or distributed — 出口；排泄口；经销店；途径 — a flagshipflagship: The most important one out of a related group. — 旗舰（最重要的一家／一款） store in upscaleupscale: Marked by wealth or quality; high-class; upmarket. — 高档的；高端的 Beverly Hills. The push abroad arrives as Donald Trump pursues tariffstariff: A system of government-imposed duties levied on imported or exported goods; a list of such duties, or the duties themselves — 关税；关税制度 to revive American manufacturing, underscoringunderscore: To emphasize or draw attention to. — 强调；凸显 just how essential and competitive Chinese supply chain: the network of companies and steps that make and deliver a product — 供应链 have become.
Anta's rise — its name means "safe steps" — is not unique. Decades of being the world's factory have allowed several ambitious Chinese firms to challenge the very brands they once supplied. Founded in 1991, Anta began far from the glitz and glamour: shiny attractiveness and exciting style associated with wealth or fame — 奢华浮夸；光鲜亮丽 of Beverly Hills, in Jinjiang, a coastalcoastal: Relating to or situated near the coast; of or by the sea. — 沿海的；海岸的 city in Fujian. Once a quiet agriculturalagricultural: Relating to the science or practice of farming. — 农业的；农学的 county, Jinjiang became the shoe capital: the city most famous for making a particular product (here, shoes) — 鞋都；…之都 of the world, swollenswell: To become bigger, especially due to being engorged. — 膨胀；肿胀 by an influx of investment: a large arrival of money flowing into a place — 投资潮；资金涌入 from sneaker giants: very large, dominant sportswear-shoe companies — 运动鞋巨头 seeking overseas factories that could bring down: reduce or lower (a cost, price, or level) — 降低；压低 production costs.
Foreign customers flocked to: came in large numbers, eagerly — 蜂拥而至 strike deals: reach business agreements — 达成交易 with these eastern-coast hubs, where suppliers of laces, soles, fabric and logistics firms clusteredcluster: To form a cluster or group — 聚集；成群 together. By 2005, Fujian alone produced nearly a fifth of the world's shoes. The country reapedreap: To obtain or receive as a reward, in a good or a bad sense. — 获得（回报）；收获 more than income, says University of Bath associate professor Fei Qin: "They learned not only how to make more, but how to produce better, faster and more consistently."
It was on these streets that Anta grew. While churningchurn: To produce excessive and sometimes undesirable or unproductive activity or motion — 乱腾 out shoes in bulkbulk: The mass or magnitude of something large; the greater part of something. — 大量；大部分；体积 for Western labels, the company quietly worked at getting its name out: becoming better known to the public — 打响知名度；让更多人知道 at home, opening retail outlets and partnering with national basketball and table tennis competitions. In 2007 it listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising HKD3.5bn — a record then for a Chinese sports company. Brandingbranding: The promotion of a commercial brand of product in order to give it greater publicity and sales. — 品牌推广；品牌塑造 consultant Wei Kan recalls that Anta stood out: was clearly noticeable or impressive among others — 显得突出；引人注目 for its fully fledged: completely developed; with all the features expected — 成熟完备的；羽翼丰满的 production hub: a center where all the parts of making a product are concentrated — 生产中枢；制造中心, which let it design and sell faster than rivals.
Firms that begin as subcontractorssubcontractor: A contractor hired by a general contractor employed by the contractor rather than the original owner. — 分包商；承包方, Kan argues, naturally go on to: move forward to do something more significant — 进而做更大的事 bigger things. Xiaomi started as an Android customiser before making phones and electric vehicles; DJI built camera geargear: Equipment or apparatus used for a particular purpose; or a toothed wheel in machinery. — 装备；齿轮；用具 before dominating consumer drones; BYD supplied batteries to Tesla before becoming the world's top EV manufacturermanufacturer: One that manufactures — 制造商. Anta is now eyeing markets: looking at markets with intent to enter or compete — 盯上；瞄准 in the West, with more than 460 outlets abroad and plans for 1,000 across South East Asia within three years — even though Nike still leads on global market share: the percentage of total sales in a market that one company holds — 市场份额.
scaling up: growing a business to be much bigger or operate in more places — 规模扩张 beyond China brings a familiar perception challenge: Chinese products are still often dismissed as cheap or copycat goods: products that copy a more famous brand's design — 仿冒品；山寨货. Anta's answer is what it calls a multi-brand strategy: a business plan based on owning and selling many separate brands — 多品牌战略. It bought the rights to Fila in China in 2009, then in 2019 took a controlling stake: a share large enough to control the decisions of a company — 控股权；控制权 in Finland's Amer Sports, gaining Arc'teryx, Salomon and Wilson — whose tennis balls are used in NBA arenasarena: A large enclosed area used for sports or entertainment, or a field of activity or debate. — 竞技场；舞台；领域. Such acquisitionsacquisition: The process of obtaining or purchasing something, especially assets or a company — 收购；获得；习得 let Anta sidestepsidestep: to avoid a difficult question, problem, or person by acting indirectly — 回避 buyers who may be wary of a "made in China" brand: a product known to be manufactured in China; here used to refer to the negative perception some Western consumers carry — “中国制造” 的品牌（含贬义联想） brand and reach them through trusted Western labels.
Celebrity sponsorships remain another hurdle. Nike's groundbreaking deal: an agreement so new and important it changes the industry — 开创性合约 with Michael Jordan in the 1980s redefined sneaker culture; Anta has signed Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving but no comparablecomparable: (often with to) Able to be compared (to) — 可比的；可相提并论的 cultural coupcoup: A sudden, illegal seizure of power from a government; also, a notably successful achievement. — 政变；了不起的成就. Being a Chinese brand also carries political baggage. Anta brand ambassador: a famous person who is paid to officially represent a brand — 品牌代言人 Eileen Gu became a polarising figure: a person who divides public opinion sharply, with strong supporters and critics — 引发两极分化的人物 when her decision to represent China at the Olympics came under scrutiny: was carefully examined and questioned by many people — 受到审视/审查. Companies that grow this large, Kan adds, must learn to toe the line: carefully follow the rules or stay between two sides without offending either — 谨守界限；走钢丝 between Beijing and the West.
Anta's timing, however, looks favourablefavourable: Expressing approval or support; advantageous or beneficial. — 有利的；赞成的；良好的. Nike is fighting to revive sales since its e-commerce push: a major effort to sell products online — 电商扩张行动 backfiredbackfired: produced a result opposite to the one intended — 事与愿违；适得其反 post-Covid, and demand inside China has slowed too. "The question isn't whether Anta will raise their profile: make themselves more widely known or noticed — 提升知名度," one analyst observes. "It's whether competitors can adapt quickly enough to defend their home turf: the area where a company or person is most established and strongest — 主场；老地盘." An Anta spokesperson is more measured: "The global sportswear landscape is not a zero-sum game: a situation where one side's gain must equal the other side's loss — 零和博弈. We're confident sports lovers will recognise Anta's innovations and brand value."
In the late 1980s, when China's economy was just beginning to open, a determined high-school dropout named Ding Shizhong loaded 600 pairs of shoes onto a train to Beijing. The shoes had been made in a relative's factory, and the seventeen-year-old planned to sell every last pair. The proceeds bankrolledbankroll: To fund a project; to underwrite something. — 资助；出资 his first workshop. Ding became one of China's many newly minted: freshly created or just becoming what is described — 新出现的；新晋的 entrepreneurs, building a fledglingfledgling: An immature, naïve or inexperienced person. — 新手；初出茅庐者 business as capitalismcapitalism: An economic and political system in which trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than by the state. — 资本主义 took off under the watchful eye: close, careful supervision or attention — 严密注视；监管 of the Communist Party.
Four decades on, that workshop has matured into Anta — a sportswear powerhouse that, as the largest shareholdershareholder: a person who owns shares in a company — 股东 of Amer Sports, overseesoversee: to watch over and direct the execution of a task, project, or organisation — 监督；监管 a stable of international brands including Arc'teryx and Salomon. This year it bought a 29% stake in Puma. Now Anta is trying to take on the likes of: well-known examples in the same category as — 像…这样的；…之流 Nike and Adidas — an ambition Ding spelled out: stated clearly and explicitly — 明确表示；阐明 in 2005: "We don't want to be the Nike of China, but the Anta of the world."
Anta is not yet a household name: a brand or person known to almost everyone — 家喻户晓的名字 in the West, but it operates more than 12,000 shops across China and sponsors top athletes such as freestyle skier Eileen Gu. In February it opened its first US outletoutlet: a means of expressing one's talents, energy, or emotions; a shop or store; a point from which goods are sold or distributed — 出口；排泄口；经销店；途径 — a flagshipflagship: The most important one out of a related group. — 旗舰（最重要的一家／一款） store in upscaleupscale: Marked by wealth or quality; high-class; upmarket. — 高档的；高端的 Beverly Hills. The push abroad arrives as Donald Trump pursues tariffstariff: A system of government-imposed duties levied on imported or exported goods; a list of such duties, or the duties themselves — 关税；关税制度 to revive American manufacturing, underscoringunderscore: To emphasize or draw attention to. — 强调；凸显 just how essential and competitive Chinese supply chain: the network of companies and steps that make and deliver a product — 供应链 have become.
Anta's rise — its name means "safe steps" — is not unique. Decades of being the world's factory have allowed several ambitious Chinese firms to challenge the very brands they once supplied. Founded in 1991, Anta began far from the glitz and glamour: shiny attractiveness and exciting style associated with wealth or fame — 奢华浮夸；光鲜亮丽 of Beverly Hills, in Jinjiang, a coastalcoastal: Relating to or situated near the coast; of or by the sea. — 沿海的；海岸的 city in Fujian. Once a quiet agriculturalagricultural: Relating to the science or practice of farming. — 农业的；农学的 county, Jinjiang became the shoe capital: the city most famous for making a particular product (here, shoes) — 鞋都；…之都 of the world, swollenswell: To become bigger, especially due to being engorged. — 膨胀；肿胀 by an influx of investment: a large arrival of money flowing into a place — 投资潮；资金涌入 from sneaker giants: very large, dominant sportswear-shoe companies — 运动鞋巨头 seeking overseas factories that could bring down: reduce or lower (a cost, price, or level) — 降低；压低 production costs.
Foreign customers flocked to: came in large numbers, eagerly — 蜂拥而至 strike deals: reach business agreements — 达成交易 with these eastern-coast hubs, where suppliers of laces, soles, fabric and logistics firms clusteredcluster: To form a cluster or group — 聚集；成群 together. By 2005, Fujian alone produced nearly a fifth of the world's shoes. The country reapedreap: To obtain or receive as a reward, in a good or a bad sense. — 获得（回报）；收获 more than income, says University of Bath associate professor Fei Qin: "They learned not only how to make more, but how to produce better, faster and more consistently."
It was on these streets that Anta grew. While churningchurn: To produce excessive and sometimes undesirable or unproductive activity or motion — 乱腾 out shoes in bulkbulk: The mass or magnitude of something large; the greater part of something. — 大量；大部分；体积 for Western labels, the company quietly worked at getting its name out: becoming better known to the public — 打响知名度；让更多人知道 at home, opening retail outlets and partnering with national basketball and table tennis competitions. In 2007 it listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising HKD3.5bn — a record then for a Chinese sports company. Brandingbranding: The promotion of a commercial brand of product in order to give it greater publicity and sales. — 品牌推广；品牌塑造 consultant Wei Kan recalls that Anta stood out: was clearly noticeable or impressive among others — 显得突出；引人注目 for its fully fledged: completely developed; with all the features expected — 成熟完备的；羽翼丰满的 production hub: a center where all the parts of making a product are concentrated — 生产中枢；制造中心, which let it design and sell faster than rivals.
Firms that begin as subcontractorssubcontractor: A contractor hired by a general contractor employed by the contractor rather than the original owner. — 分包商；承包方, Kan argues, naturally go on to: move forward to do something more significant — 进而做更大的事 bigger things. Xiaomi started as an Android customiser before making phones and electric vehicles; DJI built camera geargear: Equipment or apparatus used for a particular purpose; or a toothed wheel in machinery. — 装备；齿轮；用具 before dominating consumer drones; BYD supplied batteries to Tesla before becoming the world's top EV manufacturermanufacturer: One that manufactures — 制造商. Anta is now eyeing markets: looking at markets with intent to enter or compete — 盯上；瞄准 in the West, with more than 460 outlets abroad and plans for 1,000 across South East Asia within three years — even though Nike still leads on global market share: the percentage of total sales in a market that one company holds — 市场份额.
scaling up: growing a business to be much bigger or operate in more places — 规模扩张 beyond China brings a familiar perception challenge: Chinese products are still often dismissed as cheap or copycat goods: products that copy a more famous brand's design — 仿冒品；山寨货. Anta's answer is what it calls a multi-brand strategy: a business plan based on owning and selling many separate brands — 多品牌战略. It bought the rights to Fila in China in 2009, then in 2019 took a controlling stake: a share large enough to control the decisions of a company — 控股权；控制权 in Finland's Amer Sports, gaining Arc'teryx, Salomon and Wilson — whose tennis balls are used in NBA arenasarena: A large enclosed area used for sports or entertainment, or a field of activity or debate. — 竞技场；舞台；领域. Such acquisitionsacquisition: The process of obtaining or purchasing something, especially assets or a company — 收购；获得；习得 let Anta sidestepsidestep: to avoid a difficult question, problem, or person by acting indirectly — 回避 buyers who may be wary of a "made in China" brand: a product known to be manufactured in China; here used to refer to the negative perception some Western consumers carry — “中国制造” 的品牌（含贬义联想） brand and reach them through trusted Western labels.
Celebrity sponsorships remain another hurdle. Nike's groundbreaking deal: an agreement so new and important it changes the industry — 开创性合约 with Michael Jordan in the 1980s redefined sneaker culture; Anta has signed Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving but no comparablecomparable: (often with to) Able to be compared (to) — 可比的；可相提并论的 cultural coupcoup: A sudden, illegal seizure of power from a government; also, a notably successful achievement. — 政变；了不起的成就. Being a Chinese brand also carries political baggage. Anta brand ambassador: a famous person who is paid to officially represent a brand — 品牌代言人 Eileen Gu became a polarising figure: a person who divides public opinion sharply, with strong supporters and critics — 引发两极分化的人物 when her decision to represent China at the Olympics came under scrutiny: was carefully examined and questioned by many people — 受到审视/审查. Companies that grow this large, Kan adds, must learn to toe the line: carefully follow the rules or stay between two sides without offending either — 谨守界限；走钢丝 between Beijing and the West.
Anta's timing, however, looks favourablefavourable: Expressing approval or support; advantageous or beneficial. — 有利的；赞成的；良好的. Nike is fighting to revive sales since its e-commerce push: a major effort to sell products online — 电商扩张行动 backfiredbackfired: produced a result opposite to the one intended — 事与愿违；适得其反 post-Covid, and demand inside China has slowed too. "The question isn't whether Anta will raise their profile: make themselves more widely known or noticed — 提升知名度," one analyst observes. "It's whether competitors can adapt quickly enough to defend their home turf: the area where a company or person is most established and strongest — 主场；老地盘." An Anta spokesperson is more measured: "The global sportswear landscape is not a zero-sum game: a situation where one side's gain must equal the other side's loss — 零和博弈. We're confident sports lovers will recognise Anta's innovations and brand value."
Questions
Check your understanding
- 01
Which of the following best captures the article's overall argument about Anta's global push?
- 02
Why does the article devote substantial space to Jinjiang and the eastern-coast clusters before returning to Anta itself?
- 03
What is the most defensible inference about Anta's multi-brand strategy from the evidence presented?
- 04
Argue whether Anta's multi-brand strategy is a strength or a vulnerability in its bid to rival Nike and Adidas. Use at least three specific pieces of evidence from the article in your answer.
Suggested length: ~100 words
- 05
Assess the claim that Anta is in 'a favourable position abroad.' What evidence does the article supply, and what important counter-evidence does it leave under-examined?
Suggested length: ~100 words
Questions
Check your understanding
- 01
Which of the following best captures the article's overall argument about Anta's global push?
- 02
Why does the article devote substantial space to Jinjiang and the eastern-coast clusters before returning to Anta itself?
- 03
What is the most defensible inference about Anta's multi-brand strategy from the evidence presented?
- 04
Argue whether Anta's multi-brand strategy is a strength or a vulnerability in its bid to rival Nike and Adidas. Use at least three specific pieces of evidence from the article in your answer.
Suggested length: ~100 words
- 05
Assess the claim that Anta is in 'a favourable position abroad.' What evidence does the article supply, and what important counter-evidence does it leave under-examined?
Suggested length: ~100 words