Chicago ? Hordes of NBA scouts have been studying video of every move that Chinese basketball star Yao Ming made at his Chicago workouts last week.

But Erica Chung, the executive director of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, has been on a different mission. She’s out to learn which restaurant sent food to the athlete at his hotel.

“I’ll find out somehow,” said Chung. “I’m sure someone will tell me eventually. That would be a big deal in the Chinese community.”

Everything Ming did during his four-day Chicago stay was big how could it not be at 7-foot-5 and no one followed him closer than the 35,000 or so Chinese-Americans living here. The local Chinese media, not used to having an athlete from the mainland in their midst, was as interested in his visit as everyone else.

“Michael Chang was big in the community, and there always seems to be someone in figure skating, but they’ve almost become stereotypes,” Chung said.

“This visit was even more pertinent because May happens to be Asian Heritage Month in Chicago.”

The two Chinese-language dailies that circulate here, Sing Tao Daily and World Journal both of which are published elsewhere but have Chicago offices carried stories on Ming from the moment he landed at O’Hare until he departed.

“The Chinese community is very, very excited because they really like basketball,” said Sing Tao bureau chief Michelle Teo.

The Chicago Chinese News, one of Chinatown’s five weeklies, was ahead of the pack on this story, however. Editor Danny Lee, a self-proclaimed basketball nut, was among the handful from the ethnic media to attend the Loyola University workout (Ming had another, unpublicized outing at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute) and, in one day no small feat for a once-a-week newspaper — put together a 112-page color spread in time for Friday’s publication.

“This is big news, especially in my paper,” said Lee. “I hope he signs with Chicago. He is the best player in China and I think he could be in the NBA.

“In China, he’s called the ‘Great Wall.”‘

Yvonne Lau, head of Loyola University’s Asian & Asian-American Studies Program, noted Asian women generally are portrayed more favorably than men in the media, especially on TV and in Hollywood.

“Asian men are either seen as nerdy or they’re a martial arts expert,” Lau said. “They do the research and they’re the technicians, but they never solve the problems. And, they’re never seen as tall.”

Yao will have no problem with the height factor, but it’s problematic whether he will end up playing for the Bulls a team that already has two 7-foot players.

Lee said he thinks Yao favors playing in a big city where there is a large Chinese community to make him more comfortable.

Chicago would have no trouble fulfilling that requirement.

After talking to people in the player’s entourage, Lee learned that one of Yao’s big concerns was whether he could find the hot and spicy dishes here that he favors.

Apparently he could, since no complaints were reported in the newspaper.