By YUAN YE

Publisher: Long River Press

Author: C. F. Xiao

Translator: Philip Robyn

Pages: 254

On the first page of C.F. Xiao's biography of NBA superstar Yao Ming he asks: "Who in the world does not recognize Yao Ming?" This is a good question. Provided you have a television and read the news, it's impossible to be unaware of China's favorite son. This biography reads like a collection of interesting stories; more than praising Yao's on-court skills, Xiao's book celebrates his laid-back sense of humor and keen work ethic.

Yao Ming was born in 1980, four years after the end of the "cultural revolution" and two years after China adopted the open door policy. The story begins much earlier, with his grandparents' wedding in Zhenze, Yao's ancestral hometown in Jiangsu Province. Xiao paints Yao's roots by describing the town's history and his grandparents' move to Shanghai, where the turbulent political atmosphere obscured many talented people. Yao's grandfather, who was enormous and athletic enough to have been a hoopster in his own right, was one. But the Yao family athleticism prevailed and Yao Ming's mother and father both became basketball players. As a child, Yao was quiet and shy. He preferred making model ships and airplanes to playing basketball until his athletic parents introduced him to the exciting world of sports.

Xiao's writing is detailed; his well-selected sources illustrate vividly the path of this star. His account of Yao's formative years also touches upon changes in China's basketball scene and aspects of the whole sports institution and as well as China as a whole.

"In the eyes of ten different people there are ten different Yao Mings," says the author in his afterword. "All I can but do is to write about a person as close to the real Yao Ming as possible." Accented with rarely seen photos and play-by-play appendixes, Yao Ming: The Road to the NBA presents a full-length authentic look at this young man of great hopes and expectations.

About the author: Chunfei Xiao was born in 1972 in Hunan Province. He worked as a reporter for the China Sports News and the Guangxi branch of the Xinhua News Agency after graduation in 1994 and is currently a reporter for the Shanghai branch of the Xinhua News Agency.

About the translator: Philip Robyn has translated and edited many Chinese books, including scientific and technical writings in such diverse fields as geology, astronomy, medicine, and engineering. He has traveled extensively in China and is an avid student of Chinese martial arts.