NBA: Houston Rockets Star Jeremy Lin Recalls Memories of Taiwan

NBA star Jeremy Lin may be hitting it big on the NBA scene these days, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten his Taiwan roots.

In an interview with CSN Houston, Lin, who grew up in Palo Alto, Calif., as the son of Chinese and Taiwan immigrants, talked about his Chinese skills, his ability to speak Mandarin and his favorite memories of visiting Taiwan. Lin talked about speaking in Mandarin Chinese, a second language, which he is able to speak but is still working on speaking with fluidity.

"Yeah, I have some Chinese conversations," Lin said. "During the season, I don't have as many, but I've been trying to keep in touch with some of my friends from overseas and just speak regularly, like through text message, but in audio message, so we have a little app that allows me to communicate with my friends overseas and I see them every summer when I go over there, so I told them, just speak Chinese to me and I'll speak Chinese back to you. Don't make fun of me and I'll work on it."

Lin's popularity exploded last year during his remarkable breakout season with the New York Knicks, where he came off the bench during a critical time for the Knicks and had an explosive February month that helped the Knicks get on a winning streak and head towards the playoffs.

In particular, his presence with the Houston Rockets this year during the NBA playoffs--even though he missed two critical games during the first round thanks to a chest injury--helped to boost playoff ratings in China. According to Forbes, since Lin emerged as a star last season, video streams of the NBA in China expanded an astronomical 169 percent over the 2011-12 season from 1.2 billion to 3.2 billion. NBA merchandise has also risen by huge numbers in China and Taiwan, where the citizens may feel connected to Lin given his parents' origins and connection to both countries.

Even now that his schedule has become more busy since going from struggling ballplayer to key starter for the up-and-coming Rockets, Lin has made it an annual event to return to Taiwan and visit friends and family he still has there.

His favorite part of returning to Taiwan, Lin says, is the food.

"I've got to get that food," Lin said. "Eat that food. And I need to go to the night market. Last year (when he visited), things were a little too crazy, so I didn't get a chance to go. It was a busy time out there, but this year, I've got to find a way to get to night market. That's my favorite thing."