Yao is back in Houston after returning recently from China.

On Thursday, he and his expecting wife Ye Li attended the Houston Rockets’ annual Tux & Tennies charity benefit at Toyota Center.

Click here for more photos of Yao, Ye Li, and Yao’s Rocket teammates at the charity gala.

On Wednesday, Yao was at Toyota Center again for a game against Sacramento and former Rocket Carl Landry.

Unfortunately, the Rockets lost to the 20-40 Kings. Houston has obviously hit a low point of the season with a mediocre record of 30-30 after losing 7 of their last 10 games. It’s good to see Yao again, providing hope for next season that he’s the missing piece the Rockets will need to become championship contenders again.

Click here for more photos from Wednesday night’s game.

Yesterday Yao went to Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston to visit some of the sick children there and to hand out Christmas gifts.

Click here for more photos of Yao visiting with the kids at the hospital.

On a different note, Jonathan Feigen wrote a piece in the Houston Chronicle today about the latest with Yao’s rehab efforts, and the work he has been doing as the new owner of the Shanghai Sharks. One interesting tidbit from the article is that the Sharks signed John Lucas III, his former teammate.

Raymond has posted some good stuff in the forum about an announcement made Friday of Yao’s involvement in a campaign in China to combat discrimination and stigmatization against people with HIV and AIDS.

The campaign involves the distribution of more than 200,000 posters throughout China, a mini-documentary, the development of a resource kit and other projects.

Yao will be also be participating in a video campaign that will be shown on 22 giant outdoor screens in 12 major cities across China, with the main events timed to coincide with World AIDS Day on December 1, UNAIDS said.

There are also links in the forum of two Chinese PSA videos that have been created with Yao’s image included.

Check out the forum for more info about the problems Yao is trying to help address through this campaign.

Here’s a nice two-minute video where Yao made the announcement last Tuesday that he will host a charity gala in Houston on Jan. 30th to benefit the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston) as well as to help rebuild structures damaged by Hurricane Ike.

I like how Yao says he loves the city of Houston.

Video courtesy Fox Sports Houston

During Tuesday’s announcement about the charity gala that Yao’s Foundation will throw with the Museum of Fine Arts on January 30th, there was something else that Yao announced that should also be noted.

Yao donated $100,000 of his own money to help rebuild four playgrounds in Houston that had been destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

The reason? Yao stated:

“I’m very close to local people. They treat me like family, and I want to give back. ”

Not to get too sentimental, but I think this statement shows Houston has lived up to its reputation of being hospitable to an outsider like Yao. It brings to mind what I saw Trevor Ariza say the other day about his short time in Houston.

The biggest adjustment (from living in LA is that) everybody is really, really, real, real friendly in Houston. So, having to say ‘how you doing?’ and all that stuff is a little different. Everyone is like that, very, very homey, very friendly oriented.

Back to Yao’s donation. This past summer, Yao toured two local schools with “nature-based” playgrounds before deciding to give money to the cause since it overlapped well with his foundation’s mission to promote education and opportunities for children. That’s what motivated him to get involved with helping reconstruct these playgrounds.

In case you missed it, here are a few more photos from the announcement of Yao’s donation as well as the charity gala on January 30th.

In the Chinese town of Guangyuan a couple of days ago, the opening of a new school was celebrated, built in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake last year. The Yao Ming Foundation funded the construction of the school.

Yao called into the opening ceremony from Houston. He wasn’t able to attend in person because of travel restrictions due to the recuperation of his foot. He congratulated the principal, teachers, and students, and told them that he hoped that the new school can give them renewed hope and confidence. He also told them the school represented the love and care of many people, and that they should study hard and stay healthy. Through their diligence and good results, they would repay the love and care shown to them.

Click here for more details and photos.

Yao gave each of the students a photo album and booklet, and promised he would visit the school.

Raymond has been busy in the forum this week with all kinds of updates from Yao. Here’s a summary:

Early this week, an interview of Yao was published in the Shanghai Morning Post where he summarized his achievement with the Rockets this season, who the leaders are on the Rockets, as well as a story he told about a rare speech he gave to the team after a blowout loss earlier in the season.

On Tuesday, June 2nd, Yao and wife Ye Li paid a visit to men’s and women’s Chinese national teams. Here they are pictured having some fun on the court.

Also this week, Yao did some voice-over work for a Chinese animated film called The Magic Aster where his character is an old Chinese herbal doctor.

Click here for photos of Yao at the press conference where he promotes the film, which debuts June 19th.

Yao will donate his earnings from the film to the Shanghai Special Care Foundation, which he started with other people who worked for the 2007 Shanghai Special Olympic Games. Established in July 2008, the foundation helps mentally handicapped people and the poor. Part of the box office income from the movie will go to the foundation.

Raymond sent me a link to this story on Rockets.com quoting Yao and Shaq about how unfair officiating has been against them simply because they are big guys. They also talk about how much they respect each other’s game leading into tonight’s matchup between the Rockets and Suns. Also, here’s a video of Shaq being interviewed about the same topic(s).

Raymond has posted lots of pics in the forum from the Rockets’ annual Tux & Tennies Charity Gala!

Here Yao and his wife Ye Li appear on stage.

Click here for all the photos and Raymond’s coverage!

By the way, McGrady wasn’t there. Surprise, surprise.

Raymond has posted lots of photos in the forum of Yao and other NBA players, including Luis Scola and Aaron Brooks, in Phoenix for All-Star weekend events.

Click here for more photos of Yao and other players in Phoenix.

Here Yao Ming works with one of many university exchange students from Sichuan at a Phoenix school in some cleanup work as part of the NBA Cares program. Raymond has written a nice write-up of how this student was selected to come to Phoenix.