In case you missed it, Raymond posted in the forum a translation of an interview that Yao gave to the Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday.

Yao said he is preparing to leave for China soon to take part in his charity games in Beijing and Taipei. He also talked about his rehab efforts, Yi Jianlian‘s trade to the Washington Wizards, his thoughts about Wade, Bosh and James joining forces in Miami, and the Rockets’ 1st round draft pick Patrick Patterson. These were particularly interesting…

– When told about Steve Francis‘ interest to extend his career by playing in the Chinese Basketball Association, Yao said Francis is still very popular in China, and he has great respect for SF3 since Francis helped him alot in his first 2 years in NBA. He thought if Francis can really join the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks (which Yao owns), he will surely strengthen the squad, and help them become better and stronger. But it all depends on what Bob Donewald Jr. wants to do with the team in the new season.

– Toward the end of the interview, Yao said he had to cut short his interview to rush home for his baby girl. He said she had grown to 12 pounds already since her birth 2 months ago.

There was a big interview of Yao in the May issue of Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style Magazine of China, along with lots of photos of Yao looking dapper in a business suit.

Click here for more photos and Raymond’s translation of the magazine’s interview of Yao.

At last night’s Charity Gala that Yao’s Foundation threw in Houston, I met Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears, who covers the NBA. Marc told me he’d be writing a story on Yao after being able to talk to him last night before the Gala. Here’s the story.

I really liked the translation that Raymond did of an interview that Titan Sports conducted with Yao this week. Here’s a breakdown of the translation:

* Life for Yao Ming these days is pretty slow-paced. He is very even-tempered and patient. He used to talk about his life as a quick-tempered young rebel in the past, but with this injury and this past year, he has changed and now leads a very slow-paced and cautious life.

* Yao will then spend his afternoon at home with his cup of Pu Er, accompanying his expecting wife. He can’t start running until May.

On Saturday, Yao attended the Rockets’ game against the New Jersey Nets.

Before the game, he met with the Houston chapter of the Yao Ming Fan Club along with personnel from the Chinese Consulate of Houston.

Click here for more photos of Yao’s visit with his Fan Club members and of Yao at the game.

The Rockets won the game thanks to an epic night from Luis Scola, who scored a career high 44 points and later wrote the following on his Sohu.com blog referencing a conversation he had with Yao.

Yao, Catch Me if U Can

What a night. It’s one of the nights that everything I tried worked. I have never had a 44-point night before. Once 40 points in Spain. I’m happy. But we also win, which is more important. We got 2 wins in a row now. That’s what we have to focus. I am happy with the ways our team are performing. I’m optimistic about next games to come.

A couple of days ago, when I got 20-20, I remembered a conversation between Yao and me. A year ago, I got 18 rebounds, he came to me and said,’hi, I do have 20-20, you don’t.” I told him,’ that’s not the only thing that you have and I don’t.’ But now I have a 20-20. So he had it and I got it too. Now I’ve just known that he just have 41 points as the career high. hey, Now I have something he has to face. When I see him, I’m gonna tell him.

Talk to you soon, my friends in China.

Last Wednesday, Yao took a trip to watch the Rockets’ D-League team — the Rio Grande Valley Vipers — in Hidalgo, Texas. He was accompanied by Rockets’ CEO Tad Brown, who announced the Rockets would play a preseason game against the Orlando Magic on October 5th. The Rockets also announced they would hold their training camp in the area.

Yao also answered questions from the local media and talked about the recovery of his foot:

“So far, so good. It’s been boring not playing basketball all year. Sometimes, your heart is a little anxious when you see your team playing on TV or sitting with them on the bench.”

To see more photos of Yao in Hildago, click here. For more information about the visit as covered by the local media, click here. Below is a video of the press conference:

Yao gave an exclusive interview to Fox 26 Houston where he talks about becoming a father for the first time. It aired Friday night (ignore the cheesy bail bondsman ad that plays the first few seconds). This interview about his baby is more in-depth than what we have seen in the Chinese media.

Here’s a full recap of the interview on the Fox26 Web site. Below is the part of the article that isn’t in the video interview:

Yao is always sensitive to Chinese tradition, but keeping this news under wraps wasn’t easy.

“It’s very hard,” Yao said. “It’s been very, very hard. You kind of feel that it is the best thing you ever get in your life.

“That’s something that inspires you.”

Once the news was out that Yao will become a father soon, he began getting advice from everywhere, especially from within the Rockets team.

“It’s easy to say right now I am going to take more responsibility and I have to take care of my family,” Yao said. “It’s easy to say, but harder is how to do it.

“I have to say I have no experience now and I’ve been told by some of my teammates, (guard) Aaron Brooks, you know he’s younger than me. He tells me his experience of how to be a father. That’s very strange.”

It will be real strange if the 7’6 Yao Ming hits the floor when his child his born like he jokingly fears.

“Hope I’m not passed out,” Yao said. “I will put my baby on the bed before I pass out.”

He is also keenly aware that dad has to take care of the baby when mother is not available and that can mean some long nights for a professional athlete who needs his sleep.

“I think next season I come back to play with some sleepy eyes, people don’t be surprised,” Yao said.

Yao said he and his wife have already come to grips with the fact the birth of their first child is world-wide news

“I have to deal with that,” Yao said. “I really appreciate a lot of guys pray for my baby.

“I got a lot of e-mails and messages so happy about (me) having a baby. It’s all good things. I appreciate those people who really care.”

After Yao and his wife have their first child, they will look forward to having another.

“I plan to have more than one kid because you know the law we have in China, one child for each family,” Yao said. “I feel a little bit lonely when growing up.

“I still had a lot of neighborhood kids, played together. I would liked to have had either a big brother or sister to protect me or a younger brother or sister I can command.

“In our situation we are allowed. Me and my wife are both only child from our families. Follow law we can have two.”

In a few months Yao, his wife and all of their relatives will celebrate a new addition to their family.

At some point after the baby is born Yao will share his joy with the world, but not right away.

“I try to enjoy (my) privacy,” Yao said. “That’s a big time for our family.

“The next generation come out. While it’s not the first kid in our family, a big family, but still big for me. I have no words now. I have no words.”

On a completely different note, on Wednesday Yao attended the opening of a new restaurant that bears his name. It’s the second “Yao Restaurant & Bar” in Houston, this one being downtown very close to Toyota Center. Interestingly, it’s a Japanese sushi bar. It’s funded and run by friends of the family, not by Yao or his parents.

Click here for photos from the opening, as well as an article about the restaurant.

Yao returned to Houston from China a couple of days ago for a check-up on his foot. It’s unknown how long he’ll stay in Houston since his charity gala scheduled for this coming Saturday has been moved to March 28th. The reasons for the postponement are unknown, but I’m guessing the upcoming Rockets’ “Tux & Tennies” charity event scheduled during the All-Star break two weeks after Yao’s event made it necessary to spread things out a bit.

in the meantime, Raymond has translated one of the best interviews of Yao spoken in Chinese. The interview was recorded about 12 days ago but was recently released. If you understand Mandarin, you should definitely check out the video.

If you don’t understand the language, you can read Raymond’s translation here, who worked very hard on it because of the length of the interview.

In the interview, Yao talks about the following:

* What the 2010 Shanghai EXPO means to him.
* His injuries and the earliest possible timeframe for his return to the court
* The prospects of Chinese basketball in the post-Yao era
* His plan for the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks
* The changes he went through the past 10 years
* What money means to him

ANOTHER interview of Yao is also available. Click here for the video or here for Raymond’s translation and more photos from the interview session. The interview was recorded on January 7th, but aired January 23rd in China on Yang Lan’s One-on-One show. Part 2 airs January 30th.

Overall, if you’re a Yao fan and you understand Mandarin, you couldn’t find better interviews of Yao to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen video interviews of Yao that are this long and detailed. If you don’t understand Mandarin, Raymond’s translations are excellent.

On Saturday, Yao (along with Mr Zhou Qifeng, the new president of Peking University) was a presenter at the 2009 CCTV/Anta Sports Personality Award Show in Beijing where he presented the Best Female Athlete of the Year award.

Yao Ming was also there as a nominee for the Special Contribution Award. He knew beforehand that he had little chance to win the award. He told CCTV reporters before entering the show that he did not know why he was nominated for the award in the first place. He said he was injured and sidelined for most of 2009 and did not think he had made any contribution to his sports and his team at all in 2009.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the awards ceremony.

The Shanghai Morning News also ran an interview of Yao the past couple of days. In this article that Raymond translated, Yao talks about the following:

– The progress of his rehabilitation. Since coming to China in mid-December, his workouts never stopped. He practiced and trained every morning for 3 hours, including biking, strength and conditioning exercises, jogging in the pool, etc. His personal trainer Anthony Falsone returned back to the U.S. last Wednesday. Yao returns in a few days to get a check-up on his foot.

– How he’ll have to change his style of play to fit in with the Rockets’ current style of play

– His aspirations for his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks

– His rationale for choosing Bob Donewald Jr. as the head coach for the Shanghai team

– His current feeling about becoming a father, including what it was like to see a sonogram of his baby due to be born in July.

Click here to read the entire interview.

For those of you who haven’t been following Yao lately, here’s a good recap article on NBA.com that was published yesterday.

In the article, you’ll learn more about Yao’s thoughts right before he went under the knife for his foot surgery, what his parents thought about him undergoing the surgery, his recovery since then, his ownership of the Shanghai Sharks (his former team) and the amount of time it takes being an owner, his imminent return to the NBA, and more!

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this article a 9, even for you diehard fans who have been following Yao closely since his surgery last Spring.

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.