Among the generally drab lineup of mostly middle-aged men in suits who make up the nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, a few stand out.
There are delegates from China’s 55 official ethnic minority groups, who often arrive dressed in traditional outfits rather than western-style suits. There are military members, identifiable by their uniforms. And then there is Yao Ming, the 7ft and 6in tall retired basketball player who, towering over every other person in the Great Hall of the People, is hard to miss.
Born in 1980, Yao is one of China’s most recognisable sport stars. Although he played for the Houston Rockets in the US for nearly a decade, his career after he retired from basketball in 2011 has been mostly focused on China. Between 2017 and 2024 he served as the president of the Chinese Basketball Association. And since 2023, he has been a member of China’s NPC, sitting as an independent delegate. He is also a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the advisory body that meets in parallel to the NPC in early March each year.
At last year’s NPC, Yao submitted a suggestion for launching a digital detox programme for children: a campaign to get kids to quit their phones for 24 hours. “It’s somewhat similar to spring or autumn outings when we were kids. In the past, it was about getting children out of the classroom environment; now it’s about getting them away from the digital environment,” he said.
Yao’s stature means that most furniture in China is too small for him. The NPC is no exception. In previous years he has been spotted sat on his own row at the NPC, hunched over a desk that doesn’t leave room for his knees to fit underneath.
Additional research by Lillian Yang
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