Chinese bastketball star and Shanghai native Yao Ming of NBA's Houston Rockets answers a question during a news conference in Shanghai October 12, 2004, ahead of the first ever NBA games to be held in mainland China. (Reuters)

Yao Ming is back in his hometown on business. And that's exactly the point for the NBA, which is eyeing all sorts of marketing possibilities in a country of 1.3 billion.

Yao and the Houston Rockets face the Sacramento Kings in an exhibition game Thursday, and Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy intends to limit his 7-foot-6 center to 22-28 minutes because of the grueling months ahead.

But Van Gundy still hopes to showcase Yao during the first game between NBA teams in China, where basketball has taken a higher profile since Yao became an international star.

"I know he wants to play very, very well here and I want to give his fans the opportunity to see him play," Van Gundy said Tuesday. "I want to play him because he's in his hometown. But I don't want to overplay him, given that it's only the second exhibition game and we have a long season ahead of us."

Yao played 17 minutes in the Rockets' preseason game Sunday at home against Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat. He joined Tracy McGrady and the rest of the Rockets in a light workout Tuesday at their hotel health club.

A practice at the Shanghai city gym was called off because of problems getting the team's luggage. A regular practice was scheduled for Wednesday.

"I'm here on business and I want to play well," said Yao, who was selected for Shanghai's youth team at age 14 and later played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese professional league.

Houston's games against the Kings come 25 years after Wes Unseld and the former Washington Bullets visited Shanghai to play the Chinese national team. While soccer remains popular among all sectors of Chinese society, basketball has become the sport of choice among teenage boys and men in their 20s.

Shanghai has refurbished the 10,000-seat city gym that was built in the days of Mao Zedong's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, putting in an NBA regulation floor, giant TV screens and additional dressing rooms and office space.

The NBA visit is part of a recent wave of Western sports coming to China, where economic growth is creating millions of new consumers. Formula One racing debuted in Shanghai in September, and China already is gearing up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

(Agencies)

exhibition game : a game whose outcome is not recorded in the season's standing（表演賽）

workout : the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit（測驗）

refurbish: make brighter and prettier（再磨光，刷新）