BEIJING -- Although he scored just two points in Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, Yao Ming was a smash hit with Chinese fans who relished the attention heaped on the country's first basketball star.

Fans watched in restaurants and stores as the game, shown at mid-morning Monday in China, was carried live by state television in a broadcast available to some 300 million homes.

"The NBA game was more wonderful because of Yao Ming,'' said Fei Fusheng, a member of the fan club for Yao's former team, the Shanghai Sharks. Fei watched in a Shanghai bar with other fan club members as the West team defeated the East 155-145 in double overtime.

Yao, a 7-foot-6 rookie center, made his only basket 65 seconds into the game when his Houston Rockets teammate fed him an alley-oop pass for a dunk. Yao didn't attempt another shot in the game and played 17 minutes.

Chinese Web sites carried updates every few minutes.

During breaks in the game, state television showed scenes of Chinese fans in Shanghai restaurants and elsewhere watching the broadcast.

Yao's All-Star game appearance also raised hopes for promoting Chinese basketball. The NBA publishes a Chinese-language version of its magazine and is considering staging exhibition games in the country.

"Yao Ming has taken Chinese basketball onto the world stage,'' said Li Yaoming, deputy executive manager of the Sharks. "Yao Ming is also serving as a bridge for the NBA to open up the big Asian markets they have dreamed for years.''

Yao played for the Sharks until last year, when he went to the Houston Rockets as the overall No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. He adjusted quickly to the NBA game, and the fans selected Yao to start for the West team ahead of Shaquille O'Neal.

Fei said that despite scoring only one basket in Sunday night's game, Yao performed well.

"No matter how many points he scored, you could obviously tell that the team's defense would have been weakened if Yao Ming weren't there,'' Fei said. "He should play longer next time.''