Yao also continues to work with the Yao Ming Foundation building schools in earthquake-affected regions in Sichuan and other provinces in China.

CNN: Yao Ming's make or break season

McDonald's (nyse: MCD - news - people ), which has a "worldwide partnership" with NBA star Yao Ming, has been expanding rapidly there.

FORBES: Fat In China

The plan, says Zhao Qian, another manager at Taihe, is to put the Back Dormitory Boys together with their idol, Yao Ming, a Chinese basketball prodigy who plays centre for the Houston Rockets.

ECONOMIST: How to make Confucian communists squirm

Retired Yao Ming (7-foot-6) is a fellow Oddball, along with current players Dante Cunningham (6-foot-8), Andre Drummond (6-foot-10), Blake Griffin (6-foot-10), Perry Jones III (6-foot-11) and Channing Frye (6-foot-11), just to name a few.

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