姚明造访学校促进慈善事业

Yao Ming visited a primary school in suburban areas of Beijing earlier today. The former NBA All-Star has been focusing on helping underprivileged children across the country, a cause which is supported by his annual charity game.

Joined by Chicago Bulls superstar Joakim Noah, Yao Ming reiterated his desire to help children without proper equipment or facilities learn to play basketball. The retired center had donated a shipment of sports gear to this school in Beijing prior to his visit, and vowed to pull in more outside attention, despite a lack of trust for charity organisations in China.

Yao said, "We’ve devoted a lot of efforts to finding more sponsors. Many in the public have a lot of doubts about China’s charity works over the past two years, which has also had some impact on our own endeavors. We’ve been working hard to improve our credibility and improve our transparency. We welcome societal supervision of our work."

Yao and Noah ran through some basic basketball skills with the children, trying to help establish a passion for sports dream among the group. The Chinese hoops legend also brought his own daughter along, with the intent of fostering a spirit of helping others.

Yao said, "Many parents would like to have a vivid lesson like this today, and let them see every part of society, and let them know how lucky they are. I hope they can start building up the mentality of giving back to society from very young age."

Following the weekend’s activities, a number of children from the school will be invited to attend Monday’s charity game, when several NBA stars including Noah, Tracey McGrady, and Metta World Peace will match up against the Chinese National Team at Beijing’s Wukesong Stadium.