China's NBA star center Yao Ming (L) and sweetheart Ye Li, also a basketball player, shoot pre-wedding photos in Tai Huyuan scenic resort in Lin'an of east China's Zhejiang Province July 30, 2007. Netizens of a local online forum said the couple shot the photos there and the local residents of the scenic resort later confirmed it. [sohu]

NBA star Yao Ming is getting married at anupmarketShanghai hotel Monday in front of 100 relatives, with an equal number of security guards expected to work the event, media reported.

After the ceremony and dinner at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel, the newlyweds and their guests will cruise the Huangpu River in a luxuryhouseboat, the Titan sports newspaper reported. The wedding cost about $130,000, the paper said.

No teammates, coaches or basketball officials will be at the nuptials, the Beijing Morning Post reported. However, 100 security guards would be on hand.

The 7-foot-6 Houston Rockets center and his bride, Ye Li, received theirofficial marriage certificateon Friday. Widely circulated photographs showed the couple in tuxedo and off-the-shoulder gown having their wedding portraits made at a scenic resort in eastern China last week.

Ye, 26, who is 6-foot-2, plays on China's national women's basketball team.

Titan reported that Yao, 26, and his bride will go to Beijing on Tuesday to take part in festivities celebrating the one-year mark until the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games.

While in Beijing, the couple will host a dinner for members of China's men's and women's basketball teams, the Oriental Morning Post reported. Players told the paper they were still trying to figure out what gifts to give Yao and his wife.

（Agencies）

Vocabulary: 

upmarket：upscale,fancy（高档的）

houseboat：游艇

official marriage certificate：结婚证书

（英语点津陈蓓编辑）