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.

The Chronicle reports that the league is cracking down on NBA player charities benefiting financially from team events. Supposedly events like this can be considered a little bit like financial compensation, making it more difficult for other teams to woo players away from the teams when they become free agents.

It’s a shame that earthquake victims in China won’t be able to benefit from the Rockets’ Tux & Tennies gala on February 18th because of questionable rules like this that keep the big picture out of perspective. But at least hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast still will benefit.

With all the news about the Rockets’ struggles this week blowing a late lead to the Knicks, then to the 76ers a couple of days later, it’s easy to forget about some of the great things Yao does during the season off the court that goes unreported.

This past Monday in New York he met up with some of the representatives of Chinese students from Sichuan who are currently students at New York State University.

Click here for more photos from the gathering that Raymond posted in the forum.

The New York Times even wrote up a story about the gathering, which is at the bottom of the photos that Raymond posted.

Raymond reports that yesterday the United Nations presented to Yao Ming and two other Chinese the UNAIDS Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the AIDS Response to recognize their special contribution to AIDS Prevention and Care programs in China.

Since Yao Ming had just wrapped up his Sichuan tour and had just arrived in Shanghai, he could not make it to the award ceremony in Beijing, but delegated his Chinese agent Lu Hao to receive the award on his behalf. Click here for more of the story and photos from the award ceremony.