As China’s “Panda Ambassador,” Yao Ming and his wife Ye Li attended Wednesday a ceremony to release 6 “teenager” pandas into the wild. Yao himself opened their cages and let them free into the Chengdu Panda Valley.

Click here for more photos and details from the release of the pandas, and about the panda breeding program at the Dujiangyan Research Center where the ceremony was held.

Here’s an interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald a few days ago about China tennis player Li Na. If you don’t know much about French open champion Li Na, you should read it:

Photo: Getty Images

One of many refreshing parts of the article is the following:

It’s said that her profile in China has overtaken that of the former NBA superstar Yao Ming.

”Yeah, because Yao Ming was retired,” she laughed, playing down the significance.

Not that she’s keeping tabs. ”I never think about who is the famous sports guy or sportsman in China because I mean, you know, China’s an amazing country, so I just try my best at tennis. I just think I’m nothing too much.”

Former Rocket Aaron Brooks faced-off against Stephon Marbury the other night in a matchup between Guangdong and Beijing. Both players had monster games: Marbury scored 35 points and dished 9 assists; Brooks scored 32 and had 8 assists. Brook’s Guangdong team won, handing Marbury’s Beijing team their 5th loss in 6 games. Before then, Beijing had won 13 in a row.

For more details about the game and additional photos posted by Raymond in the forum, click here.

Raymond in China has been able to find and post some photos in the forum of Yao on the cover of the January 2012 edition of Gentleman’s Quarterly (GQ) Magazine in China.

Click here for the rest of the photos. I’ll guarantee you have never seen photos of Yao like these. What do you think of them?

On Christmas Day in Shanghai, Yao Ming (and his wife Ye Li) watched his 6-8 Shanghai Sharks beat the 13-1 Beijing Ducks. Yao has attended all of the Sharks’ home games this season.

Beijing is led by Stephon Marbury, who only scored 15 points. Marbury may have gotten tired because he has had to play more minutes because his backup has missed several games in a row due to an injury.

For more game details and photos, click here.

The Sharks have been coming on lately, winning 5 of their last 6 games. The Sharks are now 7-8 and are in 10th place in the CBA (which has 17 teams). The top 8 teams make the playoffs.

Beijing still leads the league with their 13-2 record.

Raymond has done a good job of reporting in the forum the activities of some NBA players playing in the China Basketball Association this season. Here’s a summary of some of the recent highlights.

Kenyon Martin has been a disappointment, averaging “only” 14 points and 9.7 rebounds. Since each CBA team can only sign 2 ex-pat players, it’s expected that they at least average 20 points per game. There has been some speculation that his team, Xinjiang, could be releasing him. Martin is earning $2.65 million this season, and Xinjiang has gotten off to one of their worst starts in the past 5 seasons with a 7-4 record.

Bob Donewald, the American coach of Xinjiang who used to coach Yao’s Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks, has been forced to step down. Donewald, who left the Sharks before this season and signed a bigger contract with Xinjiang for 5 times more money, had talked trash about the Sharks before the season started.

Earlier this week, Aaron Brooks had his third consecutive double-double for his Guangdong team, scoring 27 points and dishing out 10 assists. Brooks has vowed to stay with the team through the playoffs, even if the American players are allowed to leave the CBA sooner than what their contracts require.

Click here for more photos of Brooks in action.

The most surprising success for an American player is Stephon Marbury, who has helped lead his Beijing team to a 12-0 record. Earlier this week Marbury scored 28 points on 10-of-16 shots, grabbed 5 boards, and had 7 assists.

Marbury has stated he has no desire to return to the NBA after starting a new life and finding inner peace in China. Ultimately, he would like the opportunity to coach the Chinese National Team. Here’s an interesting N.Y. Times article about Marbury’s new life in China.

Below is a video from the Wall Street Journal about Marbury’s new life in China.

Marbury is living a normal life compared to NBA standards. Below is a photo of him taking the Beijing subway to go to practice:

And below is a photo of Marbury visiting a sick girl who asked him to come visit her in the hospital, showing he is sincere about integrating himself in Chinese culture.

For more photos and stories of Marbury’s fascinating life in China, click here for Raymond’s updates in the forum.

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Yao Ming’s Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks arguably pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the Chinese Basketball Association this season. On Wednesday night in Shanghai, the Sharks beat the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers who are coached by Bob Donewald, the Sharks’ former coach who left this season for a bigger contract with Xingjiang.

Yao Ming and Ye Li watch the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks play the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers.

To make things even sweeter, Donewald had raised the ire of Sharks fans earlier in the preseason when he said the Sharks weren’t very good, and that even with Yao Ming playing for them the Sharks couldn’t beat Xinjiang.

It has been a tough season for the Sharks this season, who are now 3-7 and have lost their last four road games. They also played against Xingjiang without their start guard, Liu Wei, because of an injury. But former Rockets’ player Mike Harris played another great game for the Sharks, leading the team with 24 points and 8 rebounds.

Former Rocket Mike Harris posts up for Yao’s team, the Shanghai Sharks.

Xingjiang was led by two former NBA players (no wonder this loss was an upset). Patty Mills, who played for Portland the past couple of seasons, scored 22 points (10-of-14 from the field), grabbed 7 rebounds, and had 3 assists. Mills scored 14 points in the third quarter, but was invisible in the fourth quarter.

Former Portland Trailblazer Patty Mills.

Former Denver Nugget Kenyon Martin played one of his best offensive games of the season, scoring 20 points (9-of-16 FGs) and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Click here for more game details, and here for more game photos.

Meanwhile, on the same evening in a different game, former Rocket Aaron Brooks had another standout game for the Guangdong Dongguan Bank Hongyuan Tigers, recording his second consecutive double-double in scoring 21 points (5-of-7 3-pointers) and doling out 10 dimes. It’s strange to see Aaron in a Chinese uniform playing for an all-Chinese crowd.

Brooks signed a $2 million contract (pretty big for the CBA) back when it looked like the NBA wouldn’t be having a season. Brooks can’t opt out of his contract in China, but the CBA regular season ends in February, which could give him enough time for him to sign-on as a free agent for an NBA team this season. However, because his team is doing so well and they are expected to play deep into the playoffs, he could be playing in China into April. That could make it difficult for him to sign with an NBA team before their rosters need to be set.

Below is some video of Yao at an event this week in Shanghai to launch his new wine. In the story we’re told that beyond the 1,200 bottles that are for sale only in the Chinese market for approximately US $280 per bottle, Yao Family Wines will be producing bottles for the U.S. market in 2012 in lower price ranges as well.

The video also explains just how big the Chinese wine market is (125 billion cases per year!), and it’s expected annual growth: 10-15%. Wowza!

On Sunday night in Shanghai, Yao Ming attended a Special Olympics East Asia charity gala where several items were auctioned off, including the first bottle of wine from Yao’s new winery.

The bottle of wine and a Salvatore Ferragamo shoe last from custom-made shoes recently made for Yao were auctioned off for 200,000 RMB together (US $31,000). Yao’s most recent Facebook post states that the wine made up about US $20,000 of that total. A total of 2.89 million RMB (US $450,000) was raised at the charity auction. Well done!

Click here for more photos from the charity gala and auction, thanks to Raymond in China.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal came out with an article today that goes into more details about Yao’s entry into the wine making business. It’s clear that Yao is in the business for the long haul.

A few days ago Yao did a promotional program for the popular cookie OREO for Kraft Food’s Nabisco division in Shanghai. Yao is a spokesperson for the brand, and in the interview revealed a few things about his daughter Amy that we hadn’t heard before.

Yao said Amy hasn’t yet shown early signs of her parents’ athleticism, but does seem to have some musical talent, singing and swinging to the beat of music. Yao joked that Amy already has him beat in the music department.

When asked about his life after retirement, Yao said he is as busy as ever. The most enjoyable time of his day is dinner time where he can relax and enjoy time with his whole family together: his parents, his wife, Amy, and sometimes his wife’s parents as well.

Click here for more photos and information from the interview and the event. Thanks to Raymond in China for all the scoop.