Chongqing Times, February 14, 2011

To mark Valentine's Day, the Chongqing Times reports on a matchmaking event held in the city over the weekend. 1,600 participants were selected from 3,318 online applications, but the event ended up pairing off just 4 couples.

In the upper right corner is a picture of China's newest basketball sensation. Zhou Qi (周琦), a 15-year-old from Henan, led China to a surprise 67:66 win over host Turkey at the Turk Telecom Under-16 tournament. Zhou scored 30 points, made 17 rebounds and had 8 blocks during the game.

Standing 2.15 meters tall, Zhou invites comparisons to some famous names. The paper quotes Asia Basket: "He certainly shows the promise of following Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi as a dominant Chinese center."

Is he really that good? The paper offers evidence in three areas:

1. His stats: In the semifinal game against Germany, Zhou scored 41 points, grabbed 28 rebounds and made 15 blocks. Against France, he scored 29 points and made 7 rebounds. His tournament averages: 20.86 points (#2), 10.3 rebounds (tie for #4) and 5.4 blocks (#1).
2. Comparison to past stars. Zhou resembles Wang Zhizhi, who as a 15-year-old played for China at the Under-16s in Greece and ranked #2 in points scored, #2 in rebounds, and #1 in total blocks. The paper asserts that Zhou's performance is better than Yao Ming's was at 15, and he's got an enormous arm span. He's also pretty quick.
3. He's good looking. Yi Jianlian had better watch out.