The Wukesong Arena, the most modern basketball stadium in China and one of the bests in the world, not only serves as the host of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games basketball tournament, but also gives taste of NBA matches to the Chinese audience who have never been to the United States.

Big four-side screen is hanging down in the middle of the roof with over 200-meter-long flashing screen circling around the seat area. Basketball fans could watching the cheer dancing team performing with hip-hop music when they are drinking Coca Cola and eating fast food, just as the Americans doing in a regular NBA game.

"I felt like I was in an NBA court," South Korea's coach Jung Duk Hwa said after Saturday's game at the 2008 Good Luck Beijing women's basketball internationals here.

Lisa Lislie, Los Angeles Sparks' center of the WNBA, said the Wukesong Arena has all the first-class service and hardware facilities. "The court, light, locker-room and the bathroom, even the hotels nearby, are very good here. It's one of the best stadiums in the world," Lislie said.

"The Chinese should be proud of themselves to build such a wonderful arena," U.S. coach Anne Donova said.

The stadium, which has 18,000 capacity and 12,000 during the Olympics, will host the men's and women's basketball tournaments from Aug. 9-27 at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Chen Sirao, vice general manager of the Wukesong Culture and Sports Center Ltd., said the constructors had on-site search of NBA stadiums and got advices of American experts during construction from March of 2005 to January of 2008.

"The original blueprint was conducted by Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, which had lots of modern innovations. The NBA gave us lots of help to make the arena more suitable for the further marketing," Chen said.

The lower parts of the seat areas have more flat angle, compared to traditional Chinese indoor stadiums, which is better for the viewing scope of audiences in the higher sections.

The center big screen is the most advanced type in the world, which is widely used in NBA stadiums.

"Experts who have experiences of building Toyota Center (Houston Rockets home court) gave us many advices on the decorations of the VIP box, the materials of the seats and the elevators. We have the most comfortable seats in the Olympic stadiums. We have one of the most luxury VIP boxes." Chen added.

Chen said the Wukesong Arena will transform into a mercantile gear of the nearby communities after the Olympics.

Some commercial establishments are under construction to the north of the arena and the culture square at the front, which occupies more than half of the arena areas, will open to neighborhood as a recreation park.

The NBA China has signed a multiple-year contract with the company to set up Wukesong Arena as a base of NBA activities in China. The 2008 NBA preseason games are scheduled to be played here in October.

"The arena will be a good host of the Olympic basketball tournaments, and it'll be another symbol of stadiums of modern marketing concepts after the Games," Chen vowed.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2008)