The Chinese table tennis team has its unshakable position in the Olympic Games.
Of course, there are still many wonderful legends in the Chinese table tennis world.
For example, Fukuhara Ai, who is affectionately known by the vast number of Chinese people as the little gray ash in the sheep village. This Japanese girl with a round face has received unanimous praise from Chinese table tennis players and table tennis coaches. She was born in Japan, but grew up in China. Later, Fukuhara Ai also married a Chinese, became a Chinese daughter-in-law, and spoke out for China many times on multiple platforms. A fluent Northeastern dialect makes people instantly trance that this should be a Chinese.
In addition to Ai Fukuhara, in the history of the table tennis world, there is such a woman.
She is the wife of Chinese table tennis star Zhuang Zedong. She is a Japanese, but she gave up her nationality for love and became a Chinese national. Over seventy years old, I still run to China for the spirit of table tennis.
She is Atsuko Sasaki.
Next, let's explore the legendary life of Ms. Atsuko Sasaki.
Atsuko Sasaki was born in Shenyang in 1944, and although she is Japanese, she was born and raised in China. Atsuko Sasaki has six children in his family, and his father is willing to stay in China to contribute in order to participate in the construction of new China. Atsuko Sasaki stayed in China with his siblings.
Atsuko Sasaki also received an education in China since she was a child, and her math scores are among the best in her class. Since the Japanese script is derived from the Chinese script, Atsuko Sasaki received a bilingual education at an early age, and her language score can also achieve more than 80 points, which is also very good.
Atsuko Sasaki was lively and cute when she was young, and she liked to mingle with her classmates. With this Asian face, few people think that the cheerful Atsuko Sasaki who plays with them is a Japanese girl. Atsuko Sasaki seems to be integrated with this Chinese land.
People have sorrows and joys, and the moon has clouds and sunshine. Atsuko Sasaki's father was suffering from a serious illness. Despite this, Atsuko Sasaki's father still rushed to the first place in his job and always struggled. After all, people are not ironclad, and the long-term high-load labor operation made Atsuko Sasaki's father die of illness in 1962.
The loss of his father, Atsuko Sasaki, was so painful that he had to live with his mother and siblings. They did things for their father and continued to survive in this land of unrequited love for five years. Atsuko Sasaki's mother's health was getting worse and worse, and in 1967, Atsuko Sasaki's mother led six of their brothers and sisters back to Japan.
For Atsuko Sasaki, the Japanese team, it is a familiar motherland that is often mentioned in the mouths of her father and mother, and looking at the unfamiliar building in front of her and listening to the Japanese dialect that can only be heard at home makes Atsuko Sasaki feel particularly strange here.
Atsuko Sasaki, who is in her 20s, secretly decided in her heart that sooner or later she would return to the land of China and live again in the land he loved. And all these opportunities, because of the arrival of a man, are quietly proceeding.
How powerful is Zhuang Zedong?
In the domestic arena, Zhuang Zedong is already a little famous because of his outstanding achievements. Between 1961 and 1971, during the golden period of the decade, Zhuang Zedong won more championships than the total number of other teammates who won the championship.
Not only in China, Zhuang Zedong is also a prominent figure in the world table tennis arena. He has won the world championship three times in a row, and his status has not been shaken so far. It was the 1970s, when the country was just being built!
It was with these honors that Zhuang Zedong visited Japan as the world champion of table tennis.
In addition to playing table tennis, Zhuang Zedong also has a deep understanding of China's national peking opera, and can usually sing two voices by himself. On the one hand, I came to Japan to visit in the name of the world champion, and on the other hand, I also wanted to spread Chinese culture to other countries. Zhuang Zedong thus performed a few sentences of Peking Opera on Japanese television.
At that time, Atsuko Sasaki was standing by the TV and saw this face, a handsome Chinese man singing the essence of China that she could understand the language but could not understand the meaning. As soon as he saw that Chuang Lang had mistakenly lived forever, it was this hurried side on the TV set, and the figure of Zhuang Zedong lingered in the heart of Atsuko Sasaki.
Later, the Chinese table tennis team competed in Japan, and this competition team also included Zhuang Zedong, whom Atsuko Sasaki had in mind. In Nagoya, Atsuko Sasaki meets her idol for the first time. This experience made Zhuang Zedong also know about the existence of such a fanatical fan as Atsuko Sasaki.
Later, the connection between the two people became more and more, and Zhuang Zedong also developed a good feeling for Atsuko Sasaki. Because the two of them combined with the singing voice of Peking Opera, in addition to table tennis, the most discussed is Chinese Peking Opera. Zhuang Zedong shared his knowledge and insights about Peking Opera with Atsuko Sasaki, making this little girl who already likes Chinese culture even more obsessed with Chinese Peking Opera than her husband.
Under the subtle influence of her husband, Atsuko Sasaki can usually hum a sentence or two of Chinese Peking Opera.
Two people are always sweet together, but their marriage is full of twists and turns.
At that time, China was in a special period, and Zhuang Zedong was quarantined and censored since 1976 for political errors. And this review, that's four full years. Four years later, Zhuang Zedong moved to Shanxi and worked on this land for three years. Later, Zhuang Zedong was assigned to the Beijing Children's Palace as a table tennis coach and taught children to play table tennis.
When the roof leaked overnight, Zhuang Zedong, who was already very unfortunate, divorced his wife Bao Huiqiao. This may be the lowest point of Zhuang Zedong's life, he can only squeeze in the narrow courtyard with his mother, relying on calling the children of the Children's Palace to learn table tennis, earning dozens of yuan in living expenses.
And these dozens of yuan of living expenses, plus the bonus he obtained from playing table tennis, must also be used to support his mother, but also to pay child support for him and his ex-wife's children. And the living expenses that finally reached the hands of Zhuang Zedong were pitiful, and the salary of this Microblog could only make Zhuang Zedong barely survive.
But in this day of poverty, there was still a beam of light to illuminate him. This person is Atsuko Sasaki, and no matter what kind of realm Shozeto is in, Atsuko Sasaki has always been inseparable from him.
However, their superiors did not agree to their marriage because Atsuko Sasaki was Japanese and Zhuang Zedong was Chinese.
"You have state secrets and don't agree to get married."
Just this one understatement makes two people who love each other always separated by a huge gap and cannot really walk together.
Atsuko Sasaki could not bear to see her husband sad, and she offered to give up her Japanese nationality and become a Chinese national. At that time, Atsuko Sasaki was working in a Japanese company, and in today's terms, she should be considered a white-collar worker. With a large salary, she has a bright reputation, but all this is inferior to marrying Zhuang Zedong to make her happy and happy.
Atsuko Sasaki finds the Beijing Children's Palace and reports to zhuang Zedong for love. However, Atsuko Sasaki was forced to leave China because the deadline had expired. Then Zhuang Zedong will go to Japan.
But God is like deliberately embarrassing the two, and Beijing, China, does not issue Zhuang Zedong a passport and does not allow Zhuang Zedong to go abroad. Will these two lovers with hearts and minds look at each other from afar like a cowherd and a weaver girl across a "strait"?
That's certainly not the result that two people want.
Zhuang Zedong risked his life to write to the top and proposed his desire to marry Atsuko Sasaki.
In this letter, the most prosaic words depict the sweet happiness between him and Sasaki Tsubasa. Zhuang Zedong also introduced the family situation of Atsuko Sasaki in the letter, indicating that Atsuko Sasaki's father died of illness in China because of the construction of China, and there was no threat. The letter also states that Atsuko Sasaki has been living in China since 1978 and works for the Itowan Company in China. This Japanese woman who grew up in China has a second hometown-like love for China.
He also admitted that his political mistakes have now been corrected, hoping that their sincere love will come to a satisfactory result.
Finally, he stressed that Atsuko Sasaki had renounced her original Japanese citizenship and adopted Chinese nationality with the consent of her family. Previously, the reason for rejecting their application for marriage was nothing more than that of Atsuko Sasaki, who was Japanese. Today, Atsuko Sasaki has become a real Chinese, and according to the Chinese nationality law, he is already eligible to marry me. Zhuang Zedong asked the superior leader to approve that two people who loved each other could form a family.
After all, Zhuang Zedong is now 47 years old, and Atsuko Sasaki is also 43 years old. They have been able to spend less and less time with each other, and now, once again, they implore their superiors to approve.
Atsuko Sasaki then wrote a letter to Comrade Deng Xiaoping, with a content similar to zhuang Zedong's, and also stated the true feelings between them, hoping to get the consent of the Chinese government leaders.
After reading the letter, Deng Xiaoping was touched by the sincere feelings of the lovers. Deng Xiaoping immediately agreed to the marriage of Zhuang Zedong and Atsuko Sasaki, and with Deng Xiaoping's approval, the lovers eventually became dependents. Their 20 years of waiting has finally brought a happy ending.
Atsuko Sasaki followed Zhuang Zedong to Beijing and lived with them in this narrow courtyard. Atsuko Sasaki has changed from an elite white-collar worker to a housewife who can only pick and wash vegetables, and all the living life of Zhuang Zedong, who he takes care of, is dirty and tired, so that she has no complaints.
Later, the two wrote about their ups and downs of marriage into a book, "Deng Xiaoping Approved Us to Get Married." In this way, I thank Deng Xiaoping for his affirmation of this marriage, and also commemorate their difficult marriage.
In addition to being well-known in the table tennis industry, Zhuang Zedong has also made outstanding contributions to the diplomatic cause of Chinese table tennis.
In addition to his visit to Japan, where he met Atsuko Sasaki, Zhuang Zedong was also an icebreaker in the history of the establishment of diplomatic relations between table tennis and the United States. The opportunity for the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States unfolded between the small balls in Zhuang Zedong's hand, and Chairman Mao also specially praised Zhuang Zedong for this.
"Not only does the ball play well, but he also does diplomacy, and this man is a bit politically minded."
As the woman behind Zhuang Zedong, Atsuko Sasaki also carries forward the spirit of her husband to the extreme.
On February 10, 2013, Zhuang Zedong eventually died at the age of 73 due to ineffective cancer treatment. Seeing her beloved leave her, Atsuko Sasaki's heart was broken. After Zhuang Zedong left, the white hair on Atsuko Sasaki's head became more and more, and time took away what was left behind.
Atsuko Sasaki, now in her 70s, walks for half an hour to the temple where her husband's ashes are stored every Monday and Friday, talking to her about her recent situation as if Zhuang Zedong is still alive, and nothing has changed. And this habit is not moving for Ms. Atsuko Sasaki, who is already in her 70s.
It is said in the book: If anyone remembers you, then you are not really dead. Although Zhuang Zedong's body is no longer there, Zhuang Zedong's soul lives forever in the heart of Atsuko Sasaki.
Not long ago, the "50th Anniversary of Table Tennis Diplomacy Exchange Conference" was held in Nagoya, Japan. In addition to the well-known players in the Chinese and Japanese table tennis circles, there is an old man who has attracted everyone's attention.
For this event, Atsuko Sasaki made a special trip from Tokyo to Nagoya. At this time, Ms. Atsuko Sasaki was 77 years old, and Ai Fukuhara helped Atsuko Sasaki slowly walk into the venue of the event.
Ai Fukuhara and Atsuko Sasaki appeared at the event venue at the same time, causing most people to boil. These two Japanese people, who have deep roots in the Chinese table tennis industry, have aroused fragments in the memories of many people throughout the centuries.
Atsuko Sasaki represents the past, Ai Fukuhara inherits the present, and who will face the future not far away?
After participating in the event, Atsuko Sasaki did not dare to go to a nearby parking lot, because it was where he and Zhuang Zedong met. Now that the Si people are gone, Atsuko Sasaki is afraid of adding sadness to the wounds and remembers the love of her life.
More than 70 years have passed, and Atsuko Sasaki's life is just like her own book "Sho Zedong and Sasaki Atsuko":
"Atsuko Sasaki's roots are in China."