Weifang, China » When the Hawaii men’s basketball team announced an organized tour of China and invited fans to be a part of it, Walter Fairfax Jr. knew he was in.

He visited the country 25 years ago, and curiosity demanded he take a return trip.

"When I came it was just fields, and a million bicycles and two cars," said Fairfax, 68, a retired businessman. "They were plowing the fields with oxen. I wanted to see how much of a change there was.

"I had no idea. I expected progress, but this blows my mind."

Fairfax’s sentiments were echoed by many of the eight other UH fans who made the trek. Some are alums, some aren’t, but all share a love of UH hoops. A few have followed the program religiously since the Fabulous Five days of the early 1970s, others in more recent years.

Following the Rainbow Warriors to another continent and culture was a leap of faith they were happy to make.

AT ABOUT THE midpoint of the Warriors to Asia tour, the travel group has passed through the cities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Qingdao and Weifang.

Each stop has impressed with startling modernization of everything from the highway system to the cleanliness of cities, the skyscrapers and coordination.

If you name a specific WAC tournament, chances are Kona Smith, 72, has been to it to support UH. Nothing’s really compared to the sights he’s seen over the past week, though.

"It’s almost like having a park along all the streets and highways. Quite remarkable," said Smith, a UH hoops diehard since he arrived in Hawaii from New York when he was 26. "One of my first thoughts was, you don’t see graffiti at all."

China has been criticized for human rights issues, but that’s been far from the minds of the Hawaii visitors on the tour stops so far.

People just seem to go about their business. For Aileen Yanagihara, 64, a retired teacher, it was one thing to hear the population figure (1.4 billion) of China, and another to see them striding past you en masse at every turn.

"I know we were told there’s a lot of people, millions and millions and millions of people here," said Yanagihara, who made her first basketball road trip with her husband, Bruce. "But just to be among them, it’s still kind of awesome to see how many people there are in China."

The populace itself has changed considerably over the years, said UH fan Al Won, 69. A retired member of the Air Force, Won tripped to China in the 1960s.

He recalled how the men were dressed all in green, blue or gray uniforms, while the women were in pastel colors.

"(The men) had the neat little hats with the red star on it (the Red Army). That used to be very, very popular with the citizenship here. But none of that anymore," Won said. "And they’re more friendly. When they saw the basketball players they approached them and took pictures with them."

In turn, the fans have been impressed with the UH players’ diplomacy in dealing with a new and unfamiliar culture. Junior forward Hauns Brereton, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, has led the way.

"The enjoyable thing is watching the players getting exposed to a new culture," said Stanford Yuen, 68, an advisor with the Navy at Pearl Harbor. "The food, the side streets, negotiating."

UH booster club president Tom Ishii considered their behavior a tribute to the UH coaches.

"I’ve been around players before, but these guys make it a point to come up and say hello and thank you," said Ishii, 71. "They’re really pretty darn good ambassadors from Hawaii."

To this point, the trip has been almost entirely sightseeing for the fans and practices for the players. Sure, there was a visit to Vander Joaquim’s game with the Angolan national team against Russia soon after the party’s arrival, and UH’s scrimmage against Team Australia of the World University Games a few days ago, but now it’s game time. UH’s four exhibitions lined up against Chinese Basketball Association teams over the next five days represent a big part of why the Rainbow Warriors are here.

"I want to see a real live game and see how they perform under the lights," said Norman Tyau, 68, an accountant. He has faith that UH can perform with a 10-man roster, possibly nine if senior guard Zane Johnson is unable to play on his sprained ankle.

"If they don’t run out of gas, they’ll do well. That first scrimmage or practice game against Australia (an 80-70 loss), they ran out of gas in the last 8 minutes I guess," Tyau said. "Otherwise, they’ll hold their own."

UH was to play Shandong of the CBA tonight.