Okay, I’ve finally been able to get my first video I’ve shot and edited from China and Taipei up on Youtube. It was a long road getting around the Chinese firewall, but hopefully my new method will continue to work as I edit and post more videos from the Yao Foundation Charity tour over the past couple of weeks.

The first video below was shot by me last Tuesday in Taipei where Yao had his first public practice on a basketball court. You’ll see a media circus where tons of Taiwanese videographers and reporters were there waiting for him. They were probably allowed in to help promote the charity game that was to be played in Taipei the following evening, which sounds fine to me all in the name of trying to raise more money for Yao’s foundation. You’ll see how they swarm around him, but Yao takes it all in stride.

Then you’ll see Yao shooting the basketball from different angles on the court. He has no walking boot on his left foot like he did last September when we shot video of him at Toyota Center’s practice court, he doesn’t appear to have any problem shooting jumpers and landing on his feet, and he is extremely accurate making most of his shots.

You’ll also notice about two dozen schoolchildren in the background sitting cross-legged on the sidelines, being very respectful watching Yao’s workout. At one point, you’ll see them all cheer Yao in unison, and Yao acknowledging them with a wave. After his workout, Yao goes over to them to pose for a group photo.

I was able to ride with Yao in the van on the way back to his hotel. I can tell you the van didn’t have any air conditioning on a hot and humid day in Taipei, but that didn’t bother Yao or the Chinese organizers with him. Yao continued to sweat from his workout (and we all were), but there wasn’t one complaint from Yao or anyone else. One thing I’ve learned on this trip is that many Taiwanese and Chinese live in a climate much hotter than Houston and don’t always have adequate A/C in the vehicles in which they’re riding, but they don’t complain about it. They’re used to it. Conversely, this former Houstonian (and many other Americans reading this) couldn’t imagine being in a car with no A/C with a heat index over 100 degrees and not saying at least something about trying to get the A/C to work.

Finally, you’ll see Yao get out of the van and being accompanied by a phalanx of security as he makes his way to the hotel elevators.

The next video I plan to post in the next day or two is of Yao going through actual drills on a basketball court with some of the NBA players who came on his charity tour with him. It’s even better than the video above, so keep an eye out for it! You can follow YaoMingMania on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yaomingmania or at Facebook.com/YaoMania. You can also follow Yao on Facebook at Facebook.com/Yao, although this kind of backstory can be read only on the sites that have “mania” in the handle.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 2:04 am and is filed under China, Injury and rehab, Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.