北京时间2月4日，在火箭主场对阵公牛中场休息时，休斯顿火箭队为来自中国的前NBA球星姚明举行了球衣退役仪式，在继入选名人堂后，此次球衣退役对姚明以及球迷来说，是具有历史性意义的事件。

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Rockets retire Yao Ming's No. 11 jersey

HOUSTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets[休斯顿火箭队] officially retired Yao Ming's No. 11 jersey[1] during the halftime break of their game against the Chicago Bulls[芝加哥公牛队] at Toyota Center on Friday night with the presence of Yao Ming and his family.

[1]jersey:a shirt that is worn by a member of a sports team （体育运动队队员穿的）运动衫

During the grand ceremony which is nationally televised, the Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander called Friday night "a great moment in Rocket history, to honor a man of such magnitude" and described Yao as "a really great basketball player."

"Yao was a really, really great player. I wanted him to be viewed as more than that, as an ambassador to the world and especially into China, and what a great person and humanitarian he is," said Alexander, who donated 100,000 U.S. dollars to the Yao Ming Foundation.

The 36-year-old Yao Ming said, "When I first came to town, Houston was no different than any other city in the United States. But as time passed by, all the faces came into memory. Remember this, that Houston for me from now on is not just a word. Every time they mention it, your faces are in my memory, in my brain."

"I hope people see the jersey there and remember the story, not only about myself, but also my teammates, my opponents. We created the story together, just like the other jerseys created the story for us," Yao said.

"Looking back, I didn't expect it to be where I am today. I simply wanted to play basketball," he added.

Fans gave Yao several waves of applaud and a lot of fans shouted to Yao "we love you".

Yao was selected as the first overall pick by the Rockets in 2002 draft[2] and spent nine years - his entire career - with the franchise.

[2]draft:a system in which professional teams in some sports choose players each year from among college students 选秀，运动员选拔制（某些职业运动队每年在大学生中选拔新队员）

Yao averaged 19.0 points, 9.2 rebounds[篮板] and 1.9 blocks[盖帽] while shooting 52 percent from the floor across 486 career games.

He was selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game eight times, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team twice. He also became the only player outside of the United States to lead the NBA in All-Star voting.

Persistent injuries forced Yao Ming to hang up his No. 11 jersey in 2011. Last September, the eight-time All-Star entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Yao has become the sixth Rocket player to have his number retired, joining Clyde Drexler (22), Calvin Murphy (23), Moses Malone (24), Hakeem Olajuwon (34), and Rudy Tomjanovich(45).