Yao has asked the Naismith Hall of Fame to withdraw his name from consideration for entry into the prestigious fraternity. There are two ways a player can be nominated: either as a player, requiring a 5-year wait before being nominated, or as a “contributor” to the game, which requires no wait at all.

Obviously, Yao has a great chance of being selected as a contributor because of the barriers he overcame coming from China to become an elite NBA player.

A member of the Chinese media had nominated Yao, but Yao asked his agent John Huizinga to contact the Hall of Fame to have his name withdrawn.

This doesn’t surprise me since Yao is so humble, and if he is going to get into the Hall of Fame, he is in no rush to get there.

Click here for the news story that provides more details.

It’s a pretty big deal when a young NBA player like Wilson Chandler decides to leave the NBA and sign with a Chinese team (Zhejiang Guangsha — aka the Lions) for their entire season. This story reveals that Chandler isn’t very optimistic that the NBA will have a season, and that playing in China is becoming a better option for an NBA player.

Chandler realizes that if an NBA season is played, he is not allowed to opt out of his contract per China Basketball Association rules. It helps that he is joining a team that will be coached by Jim Cleamons, former assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers.

Since Chandler is a free agent, he wasn’t bound to the CBA’s other rule that forbids players who are currently under contract with an NBA team to sign with a CBA team.

It’s a bold move, and one that can’t help the NBA players’ negotiators as they try to work out a labor agreement with NBA owners.

Click here for more details.

Here’s a video that covers some of the highlights from last week’s Duke-China game, and the state of Chinese basketball compared to the U.S. game.

At the 2:15 mark is some neat footage of Yao Ming at the game, and reactions of some of the fans who see him. Pretty cool stuff.

The Duke Blue Devils have been in China to play some exhibition games against the Chinese National Team “II” — a group of up-and-coming young Chinese who are expected to be reserves on the 2016 national team.

On Monday, Yao Ming dropped by the Blue Devils’ hotel in Beijing to say hello to the team and visit with Mike Krzyzewski, Duke’s legendary coach.

Click here to see more photos of Yao with Coach K and Doc Rivers’ son, Austin Rivers (who is projected to be a high lottery pick when he goes pro).

Later that night, Yao attended the game and Coach K presented him with a Duke jersey.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the game.

As many of you know, Yao Ming owns his old basketball team, the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks. MAXXIS is a Chinese tire company that is obviously the team’s sponsor.

Earlier this week, Yao and MAXXIS announced the launch of a “Cheer for Earth” initiative to help reduce carbon emissions through fuel efficiency.

Because tire pressure has an impact on fuel efficiency, MAXXIS is offering free tire pressure checks and tire inflation at more than 1,000 stores throughout China in July and August. More than 150,000 customers have taken advantage of the promotion to date, saving an estimated 61,965 tons in carbon emissions.

Who said China doesn’t care about it’s carbon footprint? This MAXXIS initiative may be small in relation to all of the carbon that China emits, but at least it gives you a glimpse within the country that there is acknowledgment more needs to be done.

For more photos from the press conference, click here.

You probably saw the photo we posted a couple of days ago of Yao playing golf in Shanghai. Yao told Sohu.com a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to learn how to play the game now that he is retired and has more time.

Well, you might not remember, but about 7-8 years ago, Yao had his first exposure to golf. Below is an “animated gif” (remember those, before the days of Youtube and online video becoming pervasive?) of Yao trying out a golf club on the Rockets’ practice court in Houston.

Unfortunately, on the backswing, he hit his friend Andy Yao in the head! You can tell it didn’t hurt Andy, but it’s hilarious as you’ll see through Yao and Andy’s reaction! (the animated image may take a few seconds to load)

Raymond reports that Yao Ming told Sohu.com in an interview a couple of weeks ago that he would like to start playing the game of golf. Many people scoffed at the idea of Yao being able to play the game very well since he is so tall.

Well, we have some proof that Yao is serious about it. Checkout the photo below taken at the Shanghai’s Sheshan International Golf Club over the last few days.

Actually, the way he is addressing the ball looks pretty good for a starter. You can tell he’s getting some good instruction.

Raymond also reports that Yao recently moved to a new house in the Song Shan District from his old Xuhui District. Sheshan (and the golf club) is in the Song Shan District and is known for its luxurious houses and villas, as well as its great view of the Huangpu River.

After making his retirement official about 10 days ago, it’s clear that Yao still remains a valuable spokesperson for Chinese companies.

Raymond reports in the forum that just a short time after Yao made his retirement announcement, on July 27th Yao continued to fulfill his commercial endorsement commitments for China Life Insurance. The company announced that despite Yao now being retired, they are going to extend his endorsement contract (terms unknown) when his current contract expires.

As China Life’s Global Ambassador, Yao made an appearance at the opening ceremony of the annual 3rd China Life Insurance Summer Love Camp in Xian of Shaanxi.

About 50 surviving orphans from the Szechuan Wenchuan earthquake, Qinghai Yushu earthquake and Gansu Zhouqu landslide are taking part in a 6-day summer camp. Accompanied by volunteers, these orphans will tour the 2011 World Horicultural Expo, visit the Terracotta (one of the 8 Wonders of the World) as well as the Ming Dynasty City Wall Ruins.

For more photos and details of Yao at the opening ceremony, click here.

The next day (July 28th), Yao flew back to Beijing from Xian and participated in the product launch for Beijing UniStrong Science & Technology Co Ltd, a high-tech company specializing in Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies.

Yao serves as the company’s official image spokesperson (and actually is their 4th largest shareholder when Beijing Unistrong went public and got listed in the Small and Medium Enterprise board of the Shenzhen stock market). Yao has been a spokesperson for Beijing Unistrong ever since 2005, and his endorsement contract was extended for another 5 years back in 2010.

The product they launched is called China Position, a cloud computing cross-platform, cross-network, cross-industry technology platform claimed to be the first commercially viable cloud computing-based application in China that marked the entry of China’s satellite navigation industry into the “Cloud” era.

For more photos from the product launch and the product itself, click here.