Raymond reports that right after his 28th birthday yesterday (September 12), Yao Ming left Shanghai and arrived in Chengdu of Sichuan (the provincial capital) this afternoon to start his three-day visit to the earthquake-affected areas.

Click here for more photos of Yao’s visit.

Yao was greeted in the hotel conference room by Li Dengju, a standing member of the Sichuan Provincial Communist Party Committee, and was awarded 2 honors:

First, as the honorary committee member of the Sichuan Provincial Youth Federation

Second, an offer contract from the Sichuan Province as the Love Ambassador of Sichuan seismic teenagers in the affected areas.

Starting tomorrow, Yao will visit the most severely hit areas, including Dujiangyan, Qingchun and Mianyang.

Yao has also brought alot of mooncakes and plans to spend tomorrow night (September 14th, Sunday), which is the Mid-Autmn Festival, a major Chinese festival known for family reunions, together with the earthquake victims/children.

He will be present to lay the foundation for two primary schools in the two days of his stay in Sichuan, the proceeds of the construction of which will come out of Yao Foundation. The Foundation is ready to donate 10 million RMB for such endeavors, like building schools for the children in earthquake affected cities/counties.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 10:45 am and is filed under Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.