Sports fans and analysts in China say Port Adelaide and the AFL must be patient, persistent and realistic for their hope to capture a slice of China's sports market to come to fruition.

Port and the Gold Coast Suns will clash in Shanghai on Sunday.

Both have started their preparations, while around 5,000 fans are en route from Australia to watch the game.

Port Adelaide will unveil a new sponsor on the weekend, as part of a windfall of Chinese-linked sponsorship deals that the club says is the result of its two-year-old China push.

Well-connected Shanghai billionaire property developer Gui Guojie already sponsors the club, while Chinese-Australian mining businesswoman Sally Zou of AusGold is also an enthusiastic backer.

But coverage of the Shanghai clash in the Chinese media is minimal, and despite the state broadcaster CCTV already showing weekly AFL matches on one of its digital sports channels, recognition of the game is close to non-existent among China's 1.4 billion population.

Multiple football fans attending a Chinese Super League match in Beijing this week mistook Australian rules for "British rugby" when shown video of it.

Port Adelaide and Gold Coast will compete for the Shanghai Cup on Sunday. ( AAP: Tracey Nearmy )

And while Port Adelaide sees China as an uncontested market for AFL, the country has no shortage of other international sports trying to attract fans and investment.

"China in my opinion might be one of the least active sporting nations", said John Yan, a sports business entrepreneur and former journalist who advised the US NFL on its entry to the Chinese market.

"According to our traditional philosophy, kids and teenagers are not encouraged to participate in too many physical activities..

"Of course the overall picture is changing but it takes a long, long time and nowadays there are enough different types of sports in China."

After 10 years of trying, the NFL is still struggling to gain a proper toehold in China.

The Chinese crowd could be treated to a bit of rough and tumble between the two sides. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

Rugby too has little traction outside of former British colony Hong Kong, but a $US10 million investment by e-commerce giant Alibaba has recently given the sport reason for optimism.

Football and basketball remain the key mainstream sports, with European football the role model for a rapidly expanding domestic competition and junior training program that has the backing of the highest levels of government.

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"If they really want to enter into the daily life of kids here they have to knock on doors of all kinds of schools", said Mr Yan about Port Adelaide's China push.

So far, the club is bringing the game to children and teenagers through sponsoring a training program in 14 international schools in China.

Those involved say the signs so far are promising.

"The kids think Aussie rules is very free because there aren't many rules and they can use both hands and feet", said Zhang Hao, the manager of the Guangzhou Scorpions — a primarily Chinese amateur team that is part of AFL Asia's program.

"But overall this sport is not very popular, only a limited number of people know it, so we need more people here who stick with it for a long time.

"Then maybe it will have a better future."