As we reported on Sunday, Yao’s Shanghai Sharks team lost their playoff series to the Guangdong Tigers in four games, and he posted a note on his Facebook page about it.

Here’s a translation of an article from the Shanghai Morning Post that reflects on the Sharks’ dramatic improvement this past season, including beating the mighty Guangdong Tigers on their home court in Game 2, a place where the Tigers hadn’t lost a playoff game in at least six years. In the article, Yao said the following about the series and the Sharks’ improvement this season, “They have won a game (and the series), but we have won back a whole city.”

Last Wednesday, Yao and his wife Ye Li attended Shane Battier‘s Clutch City Karaoke Night to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Houston.

Click here for more photos from the karaoke night.

Here’s one more video from the Yao Charity Gala last Sunday, courtesy of Fox Sports Houston. This piece aired last night on the “Rockets Insider” show. It’s a pretty comprehensive story of what the event was all about.

Here are two videos from Sunday night’s Yao Ming Foundation Charity Gala. Enjoy!

Here’s a video of Yao preparing Peking Duck with chef Ming Tsai.

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:

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I got back a little while ago from the Yao Ming Foundation Charity Gala at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have to say I was pretty impressed. Of course, Yao Ming and his wife Ye Li attended, which was good to see since she is about 5 months pregnant, and glowing.

There was a good turnout among Yao’s teammates, like Shane Battier, Chase Budinger, Jared Jeffries, Jermaine Taylor, Hilton Armstrong, and David Armstrong. It must be tough for them to put on a happy face after losing four games in a row, so you have to give them credit for coming out to support Yao.

Former Rocket Dikembe Mutombo, former Rockets GM Carroll Dawson, Rockets CEO Tad Brown, and owner Leslie Alexander also attended. Team Yao members Bill Duffy, John Huizinga, and Bill Sanders also flew in for the event.

I liked how it was a fairly intimate setting, capped at about 300 attendees. As a result, it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded — you could move around without bumping into people. That’s a nice touch for the attendees who paid $500 per ticket. And because of it, It was relatively easy for people to get their picture taken with Yao and other Rocket players.

Lots of Chinese media also attended, so I know there are going to be tons of photos posted online from them. I took my own photos, too, which are posted here in the forum along with some details from Raymond, as well as photos from Chinese news agencies.

Because it’s so late, I’ll be posting in the next day or two more details and video I recorded at the Gala, so stay tuned.

Last Friday, Yao took some time off from his rehab and visited the SEARCH Homeless Shelter in Houston. He helped some of the volunteers fill toiletry bags for the homeless, visited with some of the homeless, and signed autographs.

2010 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)

Click here for more photos from Yao’s visit to the shelter.

Then on Saturday, he went to Toyota Center and was joined on the bench with a bevy of injured Rockets, including Shane Battier, David Anderson, Jared Jeffries, and Kevin Martin. Depressing as the Rockets lost their fourth in a row, this time against the Lakers.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the game.

Yao posted this on his Facebook page today:

I am looking forward to my charity gala this Sunday in Houston. I am inviting my teammates. Putting the gala in the Houston Museum in an interesting idea. Hopefully our guests will have an unforgettable night there. There will be an auction. It’s not just me signing jerseys. We’ll have auctions of other players in other sports.

For the past couple of years our people have been working so hard to helping those kids who lost their school during the earthquake, but also here during Hurricane Ike. We’re try to rebuild those schools in China and in Houston. We were pretty successful last year but we still need to add more equipment.

Here’s a link to Yao’s Foundation page promoting the event. I understand tickets are still available.

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.