Retired Chinese NBA star Yao Ming has traveled the world for his basketball career, and now he is on a new journey: saving some of Africa's most vulnerable creatures.

Originally from Shanghai, the basketball player aims to use his star power to reverse centuries-old Chinese traditions that result in dwindling rhino and elephant populations, The Washington Post reported.

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Last month, 33-year-old Yao debuted a film in Beijing documenting the destruction caused by ivory and rhino horn trade, called The End of the Wild. The documentary was created with WildAid, a non-profit organization that aims to end illegal wildlife trade, for which Yao serves as a celebrity ambassador.

"I believe what people will see in those pictures, [they] will remember it," he says in the film. "That's what we're here for: film this, bring it back home ... and show everybody the reality [of poaching]."

Ivory, which comes from the elephant tusks, is considered a valuable status symbol in China. As the country's middle class grows, the demand for ivory rises, fueling a major poaching crisis in Africa, according to The New York Times.

Rhino horns are also coveted in China for their purported life-saving health benefits, and a pound of rhino horn can sell for more than $30,000 on the black market. By some estimates, rhinos could become completely extinct in five to 10 years at the rate they are being killed. Yao wants to highlight the ties between China's consumption and the impending extinction of these animals.

"Why would animals being poached? Why [are] those guys after those animals? It's all because there's a market in here," he said in an interview with CNN. "The money is making people turn to the dark side, to doing something terrible, like what I saw [in Africa].

Yao first became passionate about this issue after visiting Africa in 2012, and witnessing first-hand the effects of his country's ivory trade. The 7-foot-6 former NBA player said he connected to Africa because "many animals there are bigger than me," The Washington Post reported.

This is the latest of several environmental campaigns on which Yao has worked with WildAid. Previously, he worked for the NGO's campaign to curb the trade of shark fins, which are used in soup, and considered a delicacy in China. Following his involvement, the campaign has seen major results, Yao said.

"The price of the shark fin soup has almost decreased 50% ... because there is not much of a demand," he said in an interview with CNN.

Given this success, Yao said he believes he can persuade China to change its view on elephant and rhino products, and make progress in the fight to save them, according to NBC News.

"We have to understand, we share this world with all living things on this planet," he said in a trailer for The End of the Wild. "When the buying stops, the killing can, too."