So I take it Yao is walking the line now, being something of a unifier. Houston ownership protested the events in Hong Kong that took contro ofl well ahead of the promised transition period's end, perhaps because they understood the ramifications for Macao as well. But they, and Yao quickly folded.
The Han ethnic folks in China, including Xi and probably most of the CCP, are pretty flagrant believers in themselves as the best of humans. Yao is not Han. I'm sure that Chinese national pride has a lot to do with Yao's superstardom in the Chinese mind as a whole, but a lot of ethnic minorities are probably even more enthusiastic, as well as the Taiwan nationalists and the very large overseas communities of Singapore and the Philppines.
Basketball is huge in the Philippines, even if the Filipino's are not "huge". You can hardly make it from your front door to the bus stop without going across a basketball "court" in the street or skirting a pickup game.
