The article you provided mentions that his parents were encouraged to marry.

> The two were encouraged to marry in a system with undertones of eugenics, the controversial gene-pool manipulation espoused by the Nazis and previously trumpeted by Beijing.

> It wasn't a national breeding program, it was a desire among Shanghai officials for them to get together," Larmer said. "But when Yao was born, everybody in the sports community in Shanghai and nationally knew he was something special."

While I agree that's unsavory, that's not what most would consider "genetically engineered."