After arriving back in the U.S. from China on Friday the 22nd, Yao attended the Rockets-Hawks game on Monday night. He worked out at Toyota Center earlier in the day. Notice how Yao no longer needs crutches, but he’s still wearing his protective boot.

Click here for more photos from the game.

It’s clear the Rockets, who lost their second straight game at home and haven’t been playing very well lately, are really missing Yao these days. Some fans who thought the Rockets might not need Yao when they were hot earlier in the season are definitely thinking he would be a valuable asset to have now.

Yao returned to Houston from China a couple of days ago for a check-up on his foot. It’s unknown how long he’ll stay in Houston since his charity gala scheduled for this coming Saturday has been moved to March 28th. The reasons for the postponement are unknown, but I’m guessing the upcoming Rockets’ “Tux & Tennies” charity event scheduled during the All-Star break two weeks after Yao’s event made it necessary to spread things out a bit.

in the meantime, Raymond has translated one of the best interviews of Yao spoken in Chinese. The interview was recorded about 12 days ago but was recently released. If you understand Mandarin, you should definitely check out the video.

If you don’t understand the language, you can read Raymond’s translation here, who worked very hard on it because of the length of the interview.

In the interview, Yao talks about the following:

* What the 2010 Shanghai EXPO means to him.
* His injuries and the earliest possible timeframe for his return to the court
* The prospects of Chinese basketball in the post-Yao era
* His plan for the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks
* The changes he went through the past 10 years
* What money means to him

ANOTHER interview of Yao is also available. Click here for the video or here for Raymond’s translation and more photos from the interview session. The interview was recorded on January 7th, but aired January 23rd in China on Yang Lan’s One-on-One show. Part 2 airs January 30th.

Overall, if you’re a Yao fan and you understand Mandarin, you couldn’t find better interviews of Yao to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen video interviews of Yao that are this long and detailed. If you don’t understand Mandarin, Raymond’s translations are excellent.

For the first time, Yao sat on the bench with his players (John Lucas III at far left) and staff as he watched his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks win their 4th game in a row, and 10th overall, with a Wednesday night victory over the Quingdao Double Stars Hawks.

Click here for more photos of Yao on the bench, and here for details of the game.

The next day, Yao attended the 100 Day Countdown Celebration for the Shanghai 2010 EXPO since he is the Global Ambassador/Image Spokesperson for the Shanghai EXPO.

Click here for lots of colorful photos from the festivities. They know how to throw a shindig in China!

On Saturday, Yao (along with Mr Zhou Qifeng, the new president of Peking University) was a presenter at the 2009 CCTV/Anta Sports Personality Award Show in Beijing where he presented the Best Female Athlete of the Year award.

Yao Ming was also there as a nominee for the Special Contribution Award. He knew beforehand that he had little chance to win the award. He told CCTV reporters before entering the show that he did not know why he was nominated for the award in the first place. He said he was injured and sidelined for most of 2009 and did not think he had made any contribution to his sports and his team at all in 2009.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the awards ceremony.

The Shanghai Morning News also ran an interview of Yao the past couple of days. In this article that Raymond translated, Yao talks about the following:

– The progress of his rehabilitation. Since coming to China in mid-December, his workouts never stopped. He practiced and trained every morning for 3 hours, including biking, strength and conditioning exercises, jogging in the pool, etc. His personal trainer Anthony Falsone returned back to the U.S. last Wednesday. Yao returns in a few days to get a check-up on his foot.

– How he’ll have to change his style of play to fit in with the Rockets’ current style of play

– His aspirations for his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks

– His rationale for choosing Bob Donewald Jr. as the head coach for the Shanghai team

– His current feeling about becoming a father, including what it was like to see a sonogram of his baby due to be born in July.

Click here to read the entire interview.

Raymond reports the following from China…

Yao cheers on his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks to beat Wang ZhiZhi’s Bayi Fubong Rockets 119-113 in OT Wednesday night.

It was the first time a team of Yao’s had beaten a team with Wang ZhiZhi on it in almost 10 years. For more photos of Yao and details of the game, click here.

On Friday, Yao’s Sharks beat Fujian SBS Xunxin 116-102…

Click here for more details and photos from the game.

Between both games on Thursday night, Yao attended with his wife the show of Shanghainese comedian Zhou Libo…

Click here for more details and photos of their night at the show, and meeting with Zhou Libo afterwards.

Since promoting the Shanghai Expo in Los Angeles at the start of the New Year, Yao returned to China. Raymond reports that on Thursday, January 7th, Yao for the first time in months got rid of his crutches and appeared in the recording of a Phoenix TV talk show: “The Zhou Libo Show” ??·???, a talk show similar to some of the late night talk shows in the U.S. where the host Zhou Libo, a famous Shanghainese comedian that Yao Ming likes to watch, chats and crack jokes with his guests on news and happenings around the world and China.

Click here for more photos of Yao on the talk show.

Then on Saturday, January 9th, Yao shot a commercial and gave an interview (click here for the video, which is very slow to stream in the U.S.)

For the first time in public, Yao admitted there will be a new addition to his family. He thanked his fans for their support and good wishes, and asked that everyone give him and his wife some room while they rest and prepare for the arrival of their newborn child in a few months.

He also clarified the rumor that he can now walk normally without his crutches. He said he could now walk on his own for about 50 meters, but if it’s any longer than that, then his doctors advise that he still use the crutches.

Word has it that Yao and wife Ye Li are expecting their first child later this summer.

Click here for Raymond’s reports about all the buzz about it in China.

Here’s a story about it on NBA.com with a statement from his Chinese representative.

YaoMania should be getting a statement from Yao about it soon, so stay tuned.

Yao took a quick trip from China to Los Angeles a few days ago and made an appearance at the Rose Parade in Pasadena to help promote the Shanghai Expo, which had a float in the parade.

Reportedly Yao was going to ride on the float during the parade, but the spot where he was going to be was too high and too small for him, so he just kept it to giving interviews to the media.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the float before the parade began.