I was really impressed with the program that was printed for the Yao Ming Foundation Charity Gala held Sunday night in Houston. It was better than some programs I’ve seen for college and basketball National Championship games. Here are 12 pages from the program:

On the left side of the page, the text reads as follows:

Philanthropist and Houston Rockets’ star Yao Ming and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), presents the 2010 Yao Ming Foundation Gala presented by iTalk Global Communications, Inc., the new global telecom service provider.

Since he arrived in Houston as the NBA’s number one draft pick in 2002, Yao Ming has become an icon in two distinct cultures and on two continents. Today he symbolizes an important bridge between China and the United States both on and off the basketball court. The Yao Ming Foundation is partnering with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to assist in raising funds for the construction of a a new permanent gallery dedicated to the arts of China and has committed a portion of the proceeds from the March 28 event to help fund this important initiative.

Yao Ming has dedicated careful attention to his foundation since its inception in 2008, when he pledged two million dollars to rebuild schools devastated by the 8.9 earthquake in Sichuan province, China, from the beginning. Yao Ming has committed to covering administrative costs for the Foundation so that 100% of contributions received from the public are directed toward improving the lives of children. The efforts of his foundation have recently been extended to the local Houston community with the MFAH partnership and grants to rebuild four playgrounds in the Houston/Galveston area destroyed by Hurricane Ike. In the future, he plans to lend support to youth-oriented programs and scholarships in China and the United States.

The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery will open to the public in the Fall of 2010 as part of the museum’s new wing dedicated to Asian art. New permanent galleries for the arts of Korea, Indonesia, and India have recently opened to critical acclaim. The gallery for China, together with specially designed education and outreach programs, will introduce Chinese art to new and wider audiences. Promoting cultural understanding among the millions of school aged children, youth, and adults who visit the museum each year. The MFAH’s new Asian exhibitions will be different from traditional presentations of Asian art because they will combine ancient and modern objects. Contemporary photographs by Zhang Dali, Zhang Huan, and Huang Yan, which testify to the enduring traditions and the rapid pace of change in China, will appear alongside such historic treasures as an exquisitely carved limestone statuette of a Bodhisattva from the late 6th century among other important works of art. Conversations are also underway with contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang to create a site-specific commission for the gallery, underscoring the connection of the past to the present. Funds raised for the Arts of China gallery will be used for the required construction, the acquisition of new works of art, and the special commission by Cai Guo-Qiang.

On the right side of the page (underneath the photo of the statue), the text reads:

The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Arts of China Gallery at the MFAH will exhibit works of art dating from 3,000 B.C. to the present day. Introducing audiences to the richness of Chinese traditional art as well as to the work of some of the emerging and leading artists of our time. Historically, China is regarded as the cultural beacon of East Asia. It is a place where different traditions and ideologies — ink painting and calligraphy, to name a few — first took hold. Similarly, its art history is a vivid narrative of the resistance and assimilations of foreign cultures that influenced and complemented indigenous traditions.

Avalokitesvara. Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581) to Sui Dynasty (581-618). Carved limestone gift of T.T. & W.F. Chao Global Foundation in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Ting Tsung Chao, with additional funds provided by the Director’s Accession Fund.

Two young students stand amidst construction at Guan Ying Primary School. Their new school is being built on the site of the old one with funds from the Yao Ming Foundation.

Children happily pose for this photograph taken at the New Xueyan-Yao Foundation Hope School. The school, completed in 2009, is the first of six schools to be built with funds from The Yao Ming Foundation. The schools are designed and constructed to withstand strong earthquakes like the 8.0 magnitude Great Sichuan Earthquake that destroyed these students’ old school and killed thousands of their classmates.

A young boy eats lunch in his classroom at Guan Yin Primary School. The school has only a simple kitchen and no dining room. Leftover breakfast is reheated in an outdoor oven and served for lunch. Children study, play, and eat in their makeshift temporary classrooms. Guan Yin Primary School is being rebuilt with funds from The Yao Ming Foundation.

Left side of the page:

This view of Beichuan is 99 miles from the epicenter of the 8.0 magnitude earthquake. Beichaun County in Sichuan province used to be home to 160,000 people. Most of them lived in the now-forsaken town of the same name. Nestled in one of the world’s most beautiful river valleys, everyone is now gone, either dead or having abandoned their flattened home. Beichuan will be rebuilt on a new site. The original Beichuan will remain as a memorial to the more than 90,000 people who died.

Right side of the page:

The town of Beichuan Qiang, autonomous County in Sichuan China, is located in an ethnically diverse mountainous region of Sichuan. 56.7& of the population is Qiang, a Sino-Tibetan people related to Tibetians, and 40.1% are Han Chinese. This Qiang woman stands near an iron fence that surrounds the now ruined Beichuan middle school campus. The fence has become a memorial wall where people burn candles, light incense, and place flowers and messages to express condolences to those who died.

Right side of the page:

This mischievous boy was in one of the two main buildings on the Beichuan Middle School campus on May 12, 2008. Only moments before the great Sichuan earthquake struck, he ran out of the building followed by a teacher. Seconds later the upper floors collapsed on the lower ones, killing most of the young children whose classrooms were on those lower floors.

As an emerging leader in the new global telecom service, iTalkBB shares the common mission with The Yao Ming Foundation to help children and facilitate the cultural communication between the U.S. and China. iTalkBB looks forward to working with The Yao Ming Foundation in the future.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 6:09 am and is filed under Charity work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.