Zhiyuan Yao

Yao Zhiyuan, male, 2.08 meters tall, formerly a player for a Shanghai basketball team; Fang Fengdi, female, 1.88 meters tall, formerly a center for Shanghai women's basketball. In 1979, due to age, the two retired in succession and were arranged to marry through introductions by the sports system. After retirement, they each went to work at their respective units: Yao Zhiyuan served as a ship inspector at the Shanghai Port Authority Supervision Bureau, and Fang Fengdi stayed in sports, working at the Shanghai Municipal Sports Commission Research Institute.

On September 12, 1980, Yao Ming was born at Shanghai Sixth Hospital, with his parents waiting outside the delivery room; birth weight was about 4.75 kilograms. In spring 2002, the Shanghai Dongfang men's basketball team led by Yao Ming won the CBA championship; in the same year, the Xinmin Evening News published a cartoon titled “Yao Ming’s Younger Sister” joking about the possibility of having a daughter in the future. As a youth, Yao Ming attended Shanghai No. 2 Middle School and joined a youth sports school for training; his family emphasized thrift and the cultivation of character.

In 2002, Yao Ming entered the NBA, and his parents accompanied him to Houston, where they learned to drive and the family shared two cars. On February 24, 2007, at a Houston Lantern Festival fair, Yao Zhiyuan and Fang Fengdi were awarded the Special Contribution Award for Sino-American Friendship. In 2014, the Yao Foundation held a Hope Primary School Basketball Season in Jinzhai, with the parents serving as temporary coaches, guiding the two school representative teams.