But last week, Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6 Shanghai-born NBA star, went slightly out on a limb. He declared at a Beijing news conference held by WildAid, the conservation group, that he had had it with ...

Yao, who will turn 45 in September, has been out of the NBA for over a decade now. He remains one of the city's top athletes of this century, spanning 10 seasons from 2002 to 2011.