Yao Ming's autobiography My World My Dream

Yao Ming is still handsome and cool in a suit

My name is Yao Ming. That's what people call me. In the United States, my name is Ming Yao, because Yao is my last name. My father's name is Yao Zhiyuan -- but my mother's name is not Yao. Mother's name is Fang Fengdi. In America, a wife takes her husband's name. This was the case in China a long time ago, and today Chinese women keep their names after marriage because the government promotes equality between men and women.

The name change is just one of many changes in China today. In some ways, China is becoming more like the United States, but I don't think the two countries will ever be exactly the same. This meant that I was living in two worlds - a world completely different from what I had experienced before, and a world that I knew was changing rapidly.

China is undergoing great changes, but it is not easy to understand these changes, perhaps because I did not pay attention to everything while I was back home. I'm more interested in the things I believe will never change, like my eating habits and friends. It is difficult for me to notice all the changes on the outside; my inner feelings are always the same. If you read this book, I think it's because you want to know more about me. But I want you to know more than just me. Going from China to the United States is a huge transition, and few people have tried what I am setting out to do - to be part of both the United States and China. Or that no one has ever done it under the glare of public scrutiny. One reason is that conditions didn't allow it. This is perhaps the most significant change of all. Perhaps this is also an important lesson - given time, anything is possible.