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HANGZHOU, China-Millions of Chinese basketball fans who were upset about the retirement of Yao Ming, are excited to see another even more shining star, Jeremy Lin, rising from the N．B．A and becoming a household name all across China．
“We are amazed by Lin Shuhao's magic performance and should cheer him on, ” one Internet user wrote．
“His sport shirts have sold out, even including the counterfeit(仿制品)ones, ” said Zheng Xiaojun, a 24-year-old clerk．
Lin's amazing success over the last month has caught the imagination of the Chinese．He has been particularly popular here in northern Zhejiang province, from which his grandmother went to Taiwan in the late 1940s．
Cai Qi, a well-known micro blogger, posted a message on micro blog over the weekend stating that Lin's hometown is Jiaxing, a city near Hangzhou where Lin's grandmother grew up．
Cai Qi's nephew Yu Guohua, a 56-year-old factory worker, is Lin's closest relative still living in northern Zhejiang．He said in a telephone interview that Lin had come to play basketball with the Jiaxing High School team last May and had been surrounded by admirers．
Yu said he did not have a chance to meet Lin in the crowd, but managed to speak with his family．“His father was very supportive of Lin's playing basketball, but his grandmother was not, for fear he would be injured, ” Yu said．
Lin may owe his height, 6 feet 3 inches, to his grandmother's family, Yu said．Chen Weiji, the father of Lin's grandmother, was well over 6 feet and all of Chen's children were tall as well, he said．
The N．B．A．believes that 300 million people in China play basketball．The retirement last year of Yao Ming took its main Asian draw away from the N．B．A．But Lin's appearance has helped the league remain a hot topic of Chinese online chatter．
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