Yao Ming scores a dunk

in Chicago’s Chinatown
CHICAGO (KRT) – Hordes of NBA scouts have been studying videos of every move that Chinese basketball star Yao Ming made at his Chicago workouts last week.
But Erica Chung, the executive director of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, has been on a different mission. She’s out to learn which restaurant sent food to the towering athlete while he was holed up in a hotel.
“I’ll find out somehow,” Chung said. “I’m sure someone will tell me eventually. That would be a big deal in the Chinese community.”
Everything Ming did during his four-day Chicago stay was big – how could it not be at 7-foot-5 – and no one followed him closer than the 35,000 or so Chinese Americans living there. The local Chinese media, not used to having a sports star from the mainland in their midst, was just as interested in his visit as everyone else in the press.
“(Tennis star) Michael Chang was big in the community, and there always seems to be someone in figure skating, but they’ve almost become stereotypes,” Chung said. “This visit was even more pertinent because May happens to be Asian Heritage Month in Chicago.”
The two Chinese-language dailies that circulate here, Sing Tao Daily and World Journal – both of which are published elsewhere but have Chicago offices – carried stories on Ming from the moment he landed at O’Hare until he departed. “The Chinese community is very, very excited because they really like basketball,” Sing Tao bureau chief Michelle Teo said.

– Mike Conklin

Chicago Tribune