Chinese star center Yao Ming is excited about making a homecoming with his National Basketball Association (NBA) teammates next week when he and the Houston Rockets play two exhibitions against Sacramento.

The NBA clubs are set to arrive Tuesday in China and play October 14 in Shanghai and October 17 in Beijing.

They will be the first NBA games in China, the first games there by any American sports league in fact, and the first Chinese appearance by an NBA club since Washington played China’s national team there in 1979.

A quarter-century later, China boasts its own superstar in 2.26m center Yao, who appeared here promoting a new biography and said he hopes his NBA teammates will enjoy their reception.

"I hope they can feel the passion of the Chinese fans," Yao said in an NBA website posting. "The days leading up to the games will be crazy."

Yao said he feels the responsibility of social pressures as well as sporting ones by being China’s first sports superstar in a global league.