China sports star in Aids campaign

By Francis Markus
BBC, Shanghai

Yao Ming stands well over two metres tall

China's basketball star Yao Ming is to take centre stage in the first National Basketball Association game to be played in China, later on Thursday.

The pre-season game in Yao's home town, Shanghai, will pit his Houston Rockets against the Sacramento Kings.

A coalition of anti-Aids groups hopes to use his superstar profile to raise awareness of the disease in China.

The country claims fewer than 1m HIV and Aids patients, but the UN warns that number could rise rapidly.

Yao Ming is a sporting icon in China. He is a powerful role model for Chinese youth, and a gift to the propaganda chieftains and big business sponsors.

Now Aids activists are hoping that the 24-year-old star will also help to raise understanding of the disease among Chinese people.

Yao and the HIV-positive US basketball hero Magic Johnson have filmed a TV Aids awareness spot in which they practice together, embrace and share a meal.

The aim is to combat widespread prejudice showing that you cannot catch HIV from any of those things.

Yet hours before the game was to be played, health ministry and television station officials still could not confirm when the spots might be shown.

By contrast, the video showing Yao Ming in various guises promoting Shanghai's image has been running repeatedly for hours.