Kunming (China), July 25: David Beckham and his Real Madrid teammates landed today in China, greeted by folk dancers with elephants and cheering fans hoping for a glimpse of the Spanish soccer powerhouse's newest player. The team is due to work out in Kunming, in the mountains of China's southwest, before launching an Asian Promotional Tour with a match on August 2 against an all-star Chinese team. The game will be Beckham's first with Real Madrid.
About 400 fans lined the street to the training camp as Beckham and his teammates, looking tired after a flight from Madrid and wearing garlands of flowers presented by a Chinese welcoming committee, arrived by bus from the airport.
Madrid's 25-player lineup also includes stars Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raul Gonzalez and Roberto Carlos. The festivities included folk dancers, musicians playing drums and cymbals and four elephants. Fans waved signs saying "Beckham I love you!" and "Figo crazy for you" and red flags with the logo of Madrid's Asian tour.

"I am so excited. I have no words to (describe) that I saw Beckham today," said Liao wending, a 22-year-old factory worker who took the day off to see the team arrive.

"I'm so moved, I was screaming and shouting as he walked by."

Fans in white Real Madrid T-shirts reached out toward the players as they approached the training camp. Some players stopped to shake hands, but the increasingly press-shy Beckham, surrounded by a dozen Chinese photographers, just gave a slight smile.

"He's so handsome and he has so much class and breeding," said Deng Fang, 26, a tobacco factory employee and cheerleader for the Kunming soccer team.

Bureau Report.