Yao Ming (2014)

Oh! I don't use iPhone much, hahahaha!

I'm an old guy.

The cords work okay. We find a way.

Hahaha!

I just use a regular phone! If I can't, I will go back to Nokia.

Hahaha! they did once! A LONG time ago.

That's why I'm doing this, basically.

It's the numbers, and also, those pictures. Especially after I visited Africa. Seeing the images over there of the consequence, the life lost there, both animal and human because rangers get shot trying to fight poachers - it really hurts.

I think the best effective way for us is to spread message - having more people knowing what's happening in Africa, and what are the consequences when there are animal products on the market, what is the cost of that. And of course, if you can join us in stopping buying those products, that is very helpful.

I mean, that's what we believe in and that's why we made this film. People always say that the stories stop them. The words, and the numbers, they keep a distance, and it's hard to get people's attention. You need a film, the pictures, to bring them there. Not really THERE but get them into the story, getting them caring.

No, that's not true. I started playing basketball for fun at 9 years old. Just for fun.

Steak!

Texas BBQ!

Coolest place I ever visited anywhere in the world?

I think it's Athens.

And I really want to go to Crete, in Greece.

History stuff, you know!

Well, honestly, when I just came here, I did not expect that. Of course after a couple years i got some confidence, I hoped i could go farther. But injury stopped me, and some other shortcomings stopped me. But what I can say is that I had to move on - you just need to learn experience from the past, whatever the skill or attitude or vision, just learn from it, and move on.

My ideal team would be the Spurs. San Antonio Spurs.

CS! Wow, that's a dinosaur game. I don't really play much game today.

Thank you.

I like you guys! So far so good!

My family.

Wow, that's hard.

I wouldn't know what to say to them.

You know, the poacher sometimes is doing this just to live. And it can be very easy to tell them don't poach anymore, but you have to consider what are they doing to live? So the entire chain needs to be changed - from the beginning we have to stop the buying.

The poacher is the very end of a chain. They do the dirty work, they do the most dangerous work, they have to kill the animal, but on the other hand side, they are being killed by rangers too. They are very poor too. So I hope they can find safety and live and do another job besides poaching.

I don't know if it's fair enough to say, because some poachers are poor people too, they are doing it for money. So if we cannot improve their life and society and help them understand that animal tourism benefits them, going there to do safaris drives, that kind of financial support can build a society, school, hospital.

But if they kill the animal, there are no more visitors going there. The economics will crash, sooner or later. It's very complicated.

Whale!

Best thing and worst thing?

Best things... best thing is, I think the air is better, with the altitude, you know?

The worst thing, probably, people can see me from 100 yards away. That's why it's a good place for me in Texas, there's a lot of tall people there. Everything's bigger in Texas!

I don't play very much video games now. I play Starcraft once in a while? You know, get on for 30 minutes, an hour. I used to play World of Warcraft, that was maybe 5,6 years ago, I'm long gone from there.

Any animal?

Haha!

Hmm. Interesting. Never thought about that.

Maybe a whale? Yeah. Giant, peaceful, in the water, almost the same lifetime as humans. If you wanted a long life, imagine yourself a turtle.

Pre-game rituals?

Okay.

Well, like superstitious stuff? I never shaved 24 hours before a game.

But I did change underwear! I know some baseball guys...

Back to school?

Hahahaha!

Well, when we played on the court, usually we are the most talented, biggest, dominating players, but when you're in class, you are not the tallest anymore. You have to listen to professors and tons of geniuses surround you - I don't know what their brain is made of, but their IQ must be 150-something.

Poachers are driven by money, those guys are not collectors, but they need money. When there's a market, there's a money flow, of course we have people to do the dirty work.

Current active players, or retired?

I survived!

Hahah!

That's the same question as "how you feel back to school!"

I'm okay with spicy.

My favorite meal - I still prefer what my wife cook, what my mom cook.

Oh sure!

You know, just 2, 3 nights ago I had dinner with Dikembe Mutombo. A couple weeks ago, i had a dinner with Tracy McGrady. And I talk to Battier this summer a few times on the phone, met him in China, had a chat, a beer, something like that.

Oh! I'm big fan of Brandon Roy. But he and I were both sidelined by an injury. But he's much younger than I.

That's hard for me to say, as I'm one guy. But I can tell you yet, before NBA, basketball already existed in China. Only 4 years after Dr. James Naysmith created basketball, it was in China, and of course, NBA entered China in the late 1980's, so we could watch NBA games on TV since the early 90s, at least 10 years before i came to the league. So it was already popular.

And thank you for the beautiful picture, I know the story behind that picture, the day of my retirement, so thanks for doing that, yeah.

Most of the consumers who can afford ivory are wealthy and powerful people, and for a long time, I mean, like thousands of years, ivory collecting was something very luxurious, compared to today - it's like if you drove a luxury car, or a fancy car, on the street, like a Ferrari, status symbol.

Like that.

That's why people buy ivory, they love that. Maybe they cannot afford much, but they know if they can have one, it's something for them that symbolizes achievement. But we have to believe that today the world has really changed. A lot of new generation of Chinese people, especially as they get more money and power, they don't like that kind of achievement anymore. They don't like collecting things like that. I see a lot of guys, during the conservation and environment protection work, doing foundations to support areas. They are more looking to do more good things for society instead of their own good. That is a good sign, that is a very good sign. Of course we have a long way to go, a lot of people to educate, but I believe we are on the right direction.

First of all... is this a he or she?

My wife is 6 feet 2 inches.

I would say - no, I stopped growing. Maybe you go opposite!

Hmmm.

Coach conflict, from East into West. Language is a problem for me, too. People forget how fit you have to be in the NBA, that's our job.

Spread the message! And if you don't have money to buy ivory, that's already the biggest help you can give. And if you DO have that money, spend it on something else other than ivory.

What inspired me?

If people can do something after their parents, it is such a great honor. It's not that many anymore in China, you can have a ton of selection now, but my parents were basketball players, and I could do something after them, and that inspired me in the beginning.

My favorite part of that? You know, we spent time at the elephant orphanage in Kenya, yeah. We have a good time there. Of course it's sad, because all those baby elephants lost their mom, but we had a chance to take a close look and spend some time with them, and even feed them. I really didn't know who was feeding who! They were bigger than us!

70's to 80's? Honestly, NBA was not live in China until the 90's, so I have limited knowledge until that time. I can give some names but I have no idea how they played - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in the 70's and 80's. And also Kyle Robinson. I spent time with Bill Russell sometimes. Very limited imagery and video I watched from that age.

smiles

Uh... I think the old athletes in China preferred, you know, buffets! Haha! That's what I like to eat when I played for the Sharks. It's quick and easy and you can eat whatever you want. Sometimes I see old friends.

Diving.

Not a big fan of breakfast cereal.

I mean, I eat it, but it's not my first choice. Chinese-style breakfast would be my first choice. Rice cereal, some chinese pancakes, some shanghai fried dough.

Hahahaha!

Fermented tofu. It's a local speciality.

Hardest question of the day!

Wild Aid came to me in late 2005, they came to me with ideas and those research numbers and some PSAs shot by Jackie Chan, who is a hero of us when we were children, definitely that was very attractive for me, doing something after him. Animals for me are not just... I don't have a pet, but I always feel animals are like friends, whom I can communicate with. They are very smart, especially elephants. We spent time with them. They have character. It's not just - if you have 100 elephants together, you can definitely find differences with them, it's not like one elephant with one personality. They are smart enough to know who has been good to them, who is their enemy, and some elephants like to play with you, others can be a little bit shy and hide behind a tree.

And they have a curiosity too.

In China, besides Shanghai, I really love Sanya. It's a city on an island. It's our Hawai. And Philadelphia in the US. Because of museums, the buildings, the history and philly cheesesteak.

Zebra. So beautiful.

Before we finished our trip, in Kenya, we were getting to the headquarters of the Kenya Wildlife Service, that organization, to organize the rangers and also the customs people, and they found those tusks - they found packages from luggage and they take those back, and they are all put in a small room, maybe 3 or 4 times the size of this room here.

And I went there, there must be hundreds of tusks in there, sized from really big, some of them from full-grown elephants, and some very small, like as big as my hand.

Well my hand is big, but small for a tusk.

When you are standing there, watching this, seeing how many lives have been lost there...

And the poachers don't care about all how old an elephant is, they will kill any elephant.

That's the strongest memory.

The worst one.

That room is in the film, actually.

Yes, I did mention it a few times actually. And not just individual houses, but company offices, when they have ivory there. I will tell them that I know you may buy this a long time ago, hopefully you treat this right, and change your attitude for the future.

Not in current plan. Not my current plan.

People know almost EVERYTHING about me.

No. The basketball passion didn't come to me until 17 or 18. I played since i was 9, but I played to have something to do.