NBA center Yao Ming serves kids food at a party before Thanksgiving on Nov 21. Yao and his teammates on the Houston Rockets held a party for more than 100 children from US military families to celebrate the holiday. SONG QIONG / XINHUA

BEIJING - For Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, two images from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games remain unforgettable.

One was when Chinese basketball player Yao Ming led the Chinese delegation during the opening ceremony while holding the hand of 9-year-old Lin Hao, a survivor of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a scene he believes conveyed human emotion.

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The other is star hurdler Liu Xiang pulling out of the preliminary race due to a foot injury and his coach, Sun Haiping, with tears in his eyes, describing how much hard work Liu had done to prepare for the Olympics, a scene that saddened Orlins.

"There have always been fears over China's rise in the US. But the images conveyed better than thousands of words that we are all the same," Orlins said during the China International Sports Leadership Forum last month in Beijing.

"I think the sports relationship is expanding between the two countries and it makes the foundation for a stronger political relationship."

Sports started to play a big role in China-US ties even before the countries set up a diplomatic relationship.

In 1971, a US table tennis team was invited to visit China, thawing ties that had been frozen since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.

Following closely on the heels of ping-pong diplomacy, the Washington Bullets created history by becoming the first NBA team to visit China after its owner Abe Pollin accepted an invitation from late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

Since then, sports exchanges have blossomed between the two countries, leading, for example, to the huge popularity of the NBA in China.

Such popularity can best be exemplified by the eye-catching match-up at the Beijing Olympics between the Chinese and US national teams. China fielded a starting lineup with two players - Yao and Yi Jianlian - playing in the NBA and one other, Liu Wei, who once trained with the NBA's Sacramento Kings. The US, on the other hand, was a combination of NBA big shots such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

The Aug 10, 2008 game, which the US won 101-70, attracted a stunning 1 billion TV views in the world and 186 million alone in China.

"The game is a perfect summary of Sino-US cooperation in the field of basketball over the years," said Li Yuanwei, China's basketball chief at the time.

"We're approaching a historic sporting moment - the basketball equivalent of the so-called ping-pong diplomacy of 1971. People in the US and China will be paying close attention to this game, but not for the differences this time. They will instead tune in to see what the two nations have in common - a shared passion for basketball."

NBA games and programming are now available in the world's most populous nation on 51 television and digital media outlets including China Central Television, which has aired NBA games since 1987.

Also, China is the NBA's largest overseas market with a record 1.6 billion viewers watching NBA television programming during the 2008-09 season. And of the 16 NBA marketing partners of the 2008-09 season, six were from China, plus three Chinese promotional partners.

"We're very optimistic about the sports business opportunities in China. The sports market has become more sophisticated here, especially following the Beijing Olympics, and this has created even more opportunities for us to develop the game, reach our fans, and create value for our current and potential business partners," said Steve Richard, NBA China CEO.

On the court, the popularity of the NBA led to the emergence of Yao. The Shanghai player was drafted No 1 by the Houston Rockets in 2002 and gradually grew into an all-star center, and more importantly, a national hero in China.

Apart from his basketball skills, Yao wins the hearts of people with his humor, hard-working attitude and humbleness, making him the most recognized Chinese in the US.

"I don't know if my backbone is long enough to set up a bridge between China and the US, but I'm willing and I'll try my best to increase the mutual understanding between the two peoples," Yao told China Daily in an exclusive interview last August.

His influence was so big that even US President Barack Obama quoted his words.

"As a new president and also as a basketball fan, I have learned from the words of Yao Ming, who said: 'No matter whether you are new or an old team member, you need time to adjust to one another,'" the president said at the time.

China Daily