Opinion | Kobe Bryant is hugely popular in the mainland even outdoing Yao Ming

You don't have to go far around this town to understand the wanton lust for brand labels among  mainlanders. Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton  - it's basically all mainland money that allows those top labels to pay the criminally high retail rent they do in areas like Central and Canton Road. It's the ultimate irony that while "made in China" is now OK for most of the world, it's not OK for the people who are actually made in China. They want the top foreign labels and nothing but.

It's no different with sports, where even Versace  and Prada take a back seat to Brand Kobe. The maniacal devotion among mainlanders towards Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is a bit perplexing on the surface. Sure, he's an all-time great. But so, too, are LeBron James  and Michael Jordan.

And yet when they visit China, it's a big deal but it's not even remotely close to the pandemonium of Kobemania. Bryant has more or less been making annual pilgrimages to China since the late 1990s and has endeared himself to the populace like no other western athlete or entertainer.

As his Lakers prepared to play the Golden State Warriors in exhibition games in Beijing and Shanghai (both won by the Warriors), the reasons for Bryant's immense popularity was a prominent topic. It was left  to the country's true king of basketball to perfectly sum it all up. "He's handsome," said Yao Ming. "That helps."

As a basketball player, Yao is a national icon revered just as much for his groundbreaking career as his enduring class. But while Yao's appearances are popular,  Bryant's are a wild stampede. When the China games were announced  in March, tickets were snapped up immediately. One month later, Bryant was in the midst of driving his struggling Lakers team to the eighth and final play-off spot by playing an absurd amount of minutes every game when a torn Achilles tendon ended his, and basically the Lakers, season. The prognosis for recovery was anywhere from six to nine months and that is why the most popular player in China  was not on the court this past week. He was sitting on the bench in Beijing and Shanghai looking handsome in a suit, much to the chagrin of his legion of mainland fans.

Once the youngest player to ever appear in an NBA game,  Bryant is now an ancient 35. He has played almost 1,500 NBA games over the last 17 years, more than anyone. Regardless of his fanatical training regimen it has to take its toll at some point.