SHANGHAI, March 6 (Xinhua) -- China's 25-year-old basketball star Yao Ming, who plays for Houston Rockets in the NBA league, has topped Forbes' Chinese celebrity rankings for the fourth straight year.

    Since its inception in 2004, the Forbes' Chinese Celebrity list has ranked China's actors, actresses, singers and athletes, according to their press coverage, web hits and commercial value in the previous year.

    The list shows that Yao had a pre-tax income of 260 million yuan (about 32.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2006 and hurdler Liu Xiang took second spot with a pre-tax income of 58 million yuan (about 7.25 million U.S. dollars).

    Director Zhang Yimou is number three and actresses Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li were fourth and fifth.

    Hao Bing, a compiler of the Forbes' list, said that it aimed to record the development of China's entertainment and sports industries, and evaluate the commercial value of celebrities.