File photo of Shen Zijie.
China's 18-year-old basketball center Shen Zijie, who was trained in the United States, has been widely considered as a potiential successor to former NBA legend Yao Ming.
Boasting the height of 2.07m and the arm span of 2.20m, Shen, who is competing in the ongoing China's National Youth Games, is nicknamed "Chinese Bird" by his fans.
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Shen is a lethal combination of height, quickness and athleticism.
Shen was a bench player of Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) giants Dongguan Leopards, but when he suffered a serious injury two years ago, his club splashed out over 200,000 Chinese yuan (about 31,250 U.S. dollars) for an 8-day treatment.
So far, Shen has been put on the first string for the upcoming CBA season. Fans expect him to be a rising star in the center-lacking league.
Shen started his basketball career at the age of 12. His first coach Dai Yixin was the mentor of another Chinese basketball star Yi Jianlian.
When Shen was 16, his family sent him to the training camps in the United States. Each three-month session cost the family more than 300,000 yuan (47,250 dollars).
"American coaches taught my son what professional spirit is. Their trainings were systematic and included diet, physical recovery and so on. My son told me that the American training camp was the international talents' live show of their best. Young players improved very fast there," said Shen's father Shen Bin.
Perhaps Shen is a star here already. He was the flagbearer of the Shenzhen city delegation in the opening ceremony of the National Youth Games on Sunday. He led his team to the quarterfinal with a 110-63 lopsided victory on Tuesday. Many volunteers and spectators chased him for photographs or autographs.
"I will try my best in the Youth Games. I will spare no effort of course, because this is my only chance to take part in a Youth Game," Shen told Xinhua after the game in which he earned five dunks.
Shen is expected to partner with Zhou Qi, another famous Chinese player, in the national team.
"If you want to achieve something, you must get started," Shen said while talking about his CBA prospect.
"Starting from the bench, I will look for opportunities patiently," he added.
