Yao is the most popular player in China and since China has more people than Taiwan, Japan, and Korea combined by definition, Yao is absoutely the most popular player in "Asia." of course by that definition Yao is also by far the most popular player in the US... take that for what it's worth. we lump all of those people over together there but considering that china and korea have history as old as the ancient Hebrews and even the "new kid on the block" Japan has a national identity that goes back 500 years, they dont really think of themselves as "Asian" like we do as an overall identity. In short, most of "Asia" couldn't care less about Yao. Japan has their baseball stars, MMA and sumo. Korea has soccer, golf and starcraft. and Taiwan has baseball. Like politics, all sports are local. Everyone over there has their own thing going on. How many kids do you see in Shanghai with Chien Ming Wang jerseys? And it's not like Dice-K gets much daily attention on CCTV despite the fact he's an "Asian" World Series winner. Hines Ward is a huge star in Korea. How many people in Taiwan have even heard of him... or even the Steelers as a team? In basically in every case, outside their native countries, "Asian" stars are much more popular and visible here in the US than anywhere else in Asia. And the guys who are truly sports icons throughout Asia are the same guys as in the US: tiger woods, lebron, garnett, david beckham, allen iverson
Answer is pretty obvious. If yao wasn't playing in the NBA, the game wouldn't have been as popular in china.
I don't know whether he's popular or not, but I do see a lot of Rocket's game on the local sports station, it has way more than any other teams.
haha, I like the post, Taiwan huh... But I still think Yao is the most popular current player in mainland China, the second one I guess is Kobe, then TMac etc.
Hurray for rampant jingoism. China is the new America. Same old ignorant crop of people being grown there as this place had fifty-sixty years ago, and one hundred twenty years ago in England.
I don't think NBA is all that popular in Asia except for the Philippines. Soccer and baseball have far more fans than NBA.
I assume you mean China, not all of Asia. Without Yao, interest wouldn't be as high, but it would still be pretty big in Asia. The Philippines, for example, is basketball crazy, it's pretty much the biggest sport there.
Taiwan is part of China. Don't confuse people here. Yao Ming >>> Wang Chien-Ming. Yao is also > Matsuzaka
Don't take me wrong here. I am a big Wang Chien-Ming fan. I wish Yao can be as tough as Wang. However, to be quite honest, in the last 10 years, the only asian player near as much impact as Yao, on the court and off the court, was Nakata. He probably generated more $$ than Yao did, but he is still way behind Yao by miles away since Yao just step his prime.
Before Yao came, the Rockets game got broadcasted in China maybe several times a year at most, now, it's about 30-40 games a year. People get to watch a lot more games of the other teams as well. Jerseys sales don't tell the whole story. Girls don't buy jerseys, middle aged men don't buy jerseys. They didn't care about the NBA before Yao came. Now some of them watch the games. Yao doesn't sell the most jerseys, but he catches the most eyes. Kobe and LeBron wouldn't cause traffic jams in the streets, Yao will. Yao brought NBA to China, or vice versa. He could've ringed David Stern and threatens to go back if officiating continued to suck a few years ago, but maybe it's late now. The NBA already established itself in China, with Yao being the spearhead.
TaiWan belongs to China,Like HongKong and Marco.no Doubt(Dude ,if you have any doubt,Pls ture to history books,don't show your ignorance) In China ,even in Asia,the first game is football.But M.J makes more Chinese start to enjoy NBA,then YaoMing pushes NBA into millions millions families(even young kids),at same time millions millions chinese start to be fans of Kobe ,iverson,T-mac ,Lebron and more. simply take Yi jian Lian as a example,before only fews show interest in Bucks,Redd? what's that, the same situation like Houston Rockets before Yao. For foreigner sports star,no doubt Beckham is the most popular in Asia once,but now maybe Ronaldnho,Messi,but whatever ,old ones went away,new stars come,only the popular is times
Yao's Jersey dont sell well doesnt mean he is not popular among asia. there r still many ppl in asia dont no Yao, or dont think Yao a good player out of politics or any other reasons. but at least most chinese are proud of him .if u do the questionnaire he is DEFINITELY the most popular guy. just think about the all-star game, how many times he's been the NO.1?
Basketball is not the most popular sport in Asia so the most popular player in Asia is not from basketball sport. It's from soccer probably.
Taiwan is basically like a small state What the people wear there is hardly a good indicator of what the entire Asian community prefer Also this whole jersey thing has been beaten to death. I always laugh at the NBA analysts who kept talking about "Hey did you know Yao's jersey is not the most popular in China?!" last year Common sense is rare these days
