They like numbers at Manchester United. Fifty million fans worldwide, 76,000 tickets sold at Old Trafford, £56.5million for a shirt sponsorship deal, £27million for Wayne Rooney.
It's all very impressive but it doesn't actually mean a great deal. So, here's a few more.
In China, there are 650,000 recorded cases of HIV and 70,000 new cases annually. Sixty percent of people in the most populous country on the planet believe people suffering from HIV should be isolated from the rest of society. The same percentage said they were not willing to work with anyone suffering from the illness.
These numbers do mean something.
They also explain why a 15-year-old boy 'named' Lan Lan to protect his real identity, sat next to Ryan Giggs in Guangzhou this afternoon, looked him in the eye and told him if anyone ever asked what was wrong with his mother he would say: "She has a little bit of a cold. It is nothing serious and anyone who says otherwise is just gossiping."
You see, Lan Lan's mother is HIV positive. Having lost his father to the AIDS virus three years ago, there was already a stigma attached to this quiet young chap.
If the rest of the village where he lived had discovered his mother had the same illness, life would have become intolerable. So they moved, forcing Lan Lan to leave all his friends behind and start a new life, so his mother could seek treatment which may help keep her alive. Lan Lan was told about this less than 24 hours before Giggs walked into his life.
Also sat round the table was Rio Ferdinand, like Giggs, a £90,000-a-week footballer, a young man with more talent and wealth than any normal human being could ever dream of.
But what use is celebrity and status if you cannot do anything with it? Rio is a lot of things to a lot of people. In this setting, he is a natural. His sincerity and concern was obvious as he listened to the story of nine-year-old 'Mei Mei' and watched her draw a picture of a school she no longer attends.
Mei Mei choked back the tears as she explained how she walked two hours up a mountain to collect firewood, washed clothes in the little fish pond near her house, went out to buy food, then cook it because her mum is no longer well enough to do so.
Fear
Her mum is another AIDS victim. Her father died from it too. Not even her aunts and uncles have been told for fear of what the reaction might be.
As parents themselves, Giggs to two young children, Ferdinand to a boy, Lorenz, who celebrated his first birthday in his father's absence on July 24, it was impossible for these two Manchester United players not to be touched by these stories.
When Mei Mei went on to reveal one day she wished to become a doctor "so I can help people", it was enough to break the hardest of hearts.
"Manchester United's tours are not just about football or the amount of fans we have got," said Giggs.
"It is very important, as individuals and as a club, we get involved in campaigns like this.
"If people look at articles or tune in to TV programmes because they see our badge that can only be a good thing. We want to catch people's attention."
One hour may not seem like much but Ferdinand knows how significant those 60 little minutes can be.
"We want to try and help evaporate the stigma that comes with AIDS," he said.
"Lan Lan should be able to say exactly what is wrong with his mother. Why should he have to hide it, or lie about any problem in his family?
"But the most uplifting thing is that these kids still have dreams and aspirations. The strength they show is more than many people in the world who start off with so much more. They refuse to give up."
Eventually, after completing their drawings and enjoying a few ball games in the yard of United's team hotel, the two groups went their separate ways, Giggs and Ferdinand back to the land of luxury, Lan Lan and Mei Mei to their tragic lives.
The hope is all four remain touched and inspired and their meeting, however brief, can help trigger a change in attitude desperately needed in a country which, in economic terms, is maturing so fast.
"These are my dreams," Giggs wrote on his own drawing of the family he hopes for in a few years' time. "I hope your dreams and aspirations come true too."
The words may be simple but they resonate. And eventually, people must begin to hear.
sad article.