Love is irrespective of nationalities and borders, and when you meet a heartthrob, you can see ten thousand years at a glance.
However, when love and patriotism clash, the boundaries between people instantly become clear.
12 years ago, after Following indian lovers to renounce Chinese nationality, Zheng Momo, a xiamen girl, not only became India's "licking dog", but also shouted on Weibo: "Cherish life, stay away from China", which was spurned by countless Chinese netizens.
The protagonist of today's story, Zhu Chen, in the face of love, also gave up his Chinese nationality, but the evaluation of her by the Chinese people is suddenly high and low, and the praise and criticism are mixed.
Zhu Chen's long-distance marriage is a fairy tale of love, or is it the embarrassment of the country?
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In the chess world, the mention of the name Zhu Chen can be described as thunderous and everyone knows. After all, the record she set has never been matched.
Some media once described her existence this way: "Zhu Chen is the first chess player in the world to win the world championship in juvenile, youth and adult competitions, and is the top chess master in our country." ”
That's right, from the moment she started playing chess, she was so dazzling that she couldn't take her eyes off it.
● Zhu Chen
Zhu Chen was born in 1976 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, to a warm intellectual family, the son of an engineer and the mother of a teacher. Parents attach great importance to the cultivation of Zhu Chen's interest, but whoever likes it, they may wish to give it a bold try.
● Zhu Chen took a group photo with his parents
At the age of 7, Zhu Chen was attracted by the beautiful appearance of chess and moved to learn. For the sudden emergence of interest, parents are naturally supportive. Unexpectedly, after some training, Zhu Chen showed potential beyond ordinary people.
At the age of 8, Zhu Chen began to learn chess more systematically with Huang Xiwen.
● Zhu Chen when he was a child
In China in the 1980s, the presence of chess was not strong, and the research data was very limited. In order to support Zhu Chen to learn chess, his parents did not hesitate to run to the library to look for materials, and after several searches, they finally found a copy of the "Principles of Chess Opening".
Looking back on this book, Zhu Chen still feels warm, because there is an identical hand-copied version at home, which was copied by his parents who stayed up late at night to help their daughter copy page by page.
The support and interest of his family made the young Zhu Chen quickly emerge in the chess world.
In June 1988, Zhu Chen temporarily entered the Chinese national training team, and in August, he won the 12-year-old women's group of the World "Youth and Peace" Championship in Romania. The 9-1 result amazed FIDE President Campomanes and personally wrote a letter of congratulations to her.
Since then, China has produced its first chess world champion.
Zhu Chen's name began to be known by more and more Chinese.
In 1990, Zhu Chen won the National Women's B Championship in Chess.
In 1992, the national women's first division champion was also won by her.
Becoming famous at a young age is an infinite glory, but Zhu Chen also has unspeakable troubles: far away from his parents, without the dependence of his relatives, he has to be independent everywhere. When other children are playing freely, Zhu Chen must leave a lot of time in the practice room, quietly doing problems, and practicing chess hard.
When she was homesick, she frantically wrote letters to her parents, one alone to her father, and another to her mother, taking turns to spoil her, hoping that her parents would come to see her.
Despite the loneliness and embarrassment he faced on the road to growing up, Zhu Chen's love for chess has never diminished. The closer she got to the sport, the clearer she heard the cry from her heart: try to win the world championship.
In 1994, the 18-year-old Zhu Chen made a big name for himself by killing four parties on the field:
After winning the women's championship in the national individual competition in Beijing, she went to Malaysia to win the Asian Young Women's Championship, and then moved to Brazil, where she won the trophy of the Women's Championship of the World Youth Championship and was promoted to the women's international grandmaster.
Countless praises and applause came pouring in.
Superb chess skills coupled with beautiful appearance, let Zhu Chen suck countless fans, and even set off a chess fever in China, holding her up to the altar step by step.
It is said that the peak of the altar is the most shining, and it is also the most prone to fall. Zhu Chen, who holds the title of "China's Most Beautiful Chess Player", has always remained sober.
"In chess, you will encounter advantages and disadvantages, just like life, it is impossible to have a smooth sailing, you must learn to face all this calmly."
Perhaps it was this calmness that contributed to her continuous take-off and summit in the future.
In 1996, Zhu Chen won the national women's championship for the third time, and won the women's championship of the World Youth Championship for the second time in Colombia with a record winning rate of 11 wins and 2 draws.
On December 14, 2001, the 25-year-old Zhu Chen ushered in another highlight of her life: at the World Chess Championships in Moscow, she fought several battles and defeated Russia's Kostenik with a total score of 3:2 to win the championship.
At this point, she became the first women's Grand Slam winner in the world chess world, and she was perfectly enshrined in the field of chess.
Even Zhu Chen himself could not help but sigh: in order to win a world championship, it took 18 years.
Eighteen years of grinding a sword, the hardships and patience behind it can be imagined.
In 2002, Zhu Chen published an autobiographical book, "No Regrets about Falling Chess", which revolved around chess and told his mental journey along the way.
Just like the title of this book, in Zhu Chen's legendary life, every decision she made strives to be sound and sound, without complaint or regret.
Career is like this, so is love.
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From "China's most beautiful chess player" to "China's most beautiful chess queen", the public's attention to Zhu Chen cannot avoid a "beautiful" word.
Indeed, her outstanding appearance has not only won the attention of the spotlight, but also aroused the reverie of countless people: to whom will the heart of the goddess be promised?
When Zhu Chen suddenly announced the good news of his marriage in 2000, even the media was a bit dumbfounded: the groom was actually an Arab wearing a headscarf?
In the face of media questioning, Zhu Chen did not want to elaborate at first, but only lightly explained: "I met in an international competition in Malaysia in 1994. ”
It turned out that the man's name was Mohammed Al, the only chess grandmaster in Qatar, who had been named "the best chess player in the Arab countries of the last century". With relatives in the family who are members of the royal family, Muhammad enjoys a high reputation in Qatar.
● Muhammad and the Lords
The two first met in an Asian city tournament, when Zhu Chen had already won several men's international grandmasters in a row, and did not pay attention to the unremarkable Muhammad. But who expected that in that game of confrontation, because of the light enemy, Zhu Chen actually lost.
This bearded male chess player thus left a deep impression on Zhu Chen.
With the increase in the frequency of meetings in the game, the two gradually became acquainted and became fond of each other.
When the tornado of love blows into Zhu Chen's heart, the huge differences in culture and language are no longer a problem - love, just together.
However, this love born of chess was not initially blessed by the parents of both sides.
Zhu Chen's parents did not want their daughter to marry far away and go to the Middle East, where Muslims gathered and cultures were conservative. The daughter already has a good development prospect in China, and she can continue to win glory for the country in the future, so why bother to go to a strange country to live alone.
On the other hand, Muhammad's family also believed that Zhu Chen was just a foreign girl from an ordinary background, powerless and powerless, and did not deserve Muhammad with a royal family background.
Under the stalemate, the two gathered less and left more, and began a 6-year long love run.
During this period, Zhu Chen did not think about separation, but the longer they separated, the deeper their thoughts became.
In the end, Zhu Chen ignored the opposition of his relatives and friends and resolutely fell behind the chess piece of his fate: marrying Qatar far away.
It is a beautiful thing to have a lover eventually become a family, but Zhu Chen's transnational love has triggered the dissatisfaction of domestic public opinion.
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Because Muhammad was a Muslim in the Arab region, according to local customs, one of the prerequisites for Zhu Chen to marry Muhammad was to change his faith, be baptized, and become a Muslim.
In order to better integrate into local life, Zhu Chen not only consciously wrapped up a black turban and converted to Islam, but also voluntarily gave up his Chinese nationality.
At the 2006 Women's World Chess Championship, Zhu Chen, who was supposed to represent China, did not appear for a long time, and the referee had to rule that she abstained.
However, in the same year, at the 15th Asian Games held in Doha, Zhu Chen represented the Qatari national team at the scene of the competition, which triggered strong dissatisfaction among Chinese netizens:
Some people say that Zhu Chen, who renounced his Chinese nationality and played as a representative of Qatar, was nakedly treasonous.
Some people also say that Zhu Chen has been successfully brainwashed by her husband and has lost her due sense of honor in her home country.
After that, all kinds of rumors were rampant and eye-popping:
There are rumors of polygamy in Qatar, Zhu Chen was rejected by her husband in Doha, domestic violence, and asked for help from the consulate; there are rumors that Zhu Chen persuaded his girlfriend to go to Qatar to share her husband with herself; there are also rumors that her mother was seriously ill with cancer and did not see Zhu Chen return to Visit her country until her death...
In the face of speculation and rumors about the "death of her mother", the family had to release photos of Zhu Chen's mother's life to refute the rumors.
● Zhu Chen's mother reads calligraphy and painting at home
Later, some reporters confirmed that although Muslims in Qatar could take four wives, Muhammad did not remarry after Zhu Chen married Muhammad.
Zhu Chen himself was also under pressure to respond to the rumors, and there was a little helplessness in his tone:
"I don't know why there are such gossip, I believe that the people who spread it are not intentional, those who do not know are not guilty, I hope that our society will publicize positive energy in the future, give blessings when seeing happy events, and help when we see setbacks."
● Zhu Chen returned to China for an interview
Shortly after her marriage, Zhu Chen was interviewed in an issue of "Lu Yu Has a Date".
Talking about her life in Doha, she shared an intriguing detail: she tried her best to participate in various competitions, on the one hand, out of love, on the other hand, she also wanted to temporarily avoid the life of wearing a black veil and not being allowed to go out.
After the beautiful women who once won the world chess world, one day they need to rely on games to escape life, rumors may not be credible, but the taste of long-distance marriage is probably only understood by Zhu Chen himself.
Later, Zhu Chen simply shut down his weibo in China and gradually faded out of the public eye.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed, is Zhu Chen still okay?
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Now Zhu Chen has been working with her husband, Muhammad, for 21 years.
The once delicate face gradually passed away, but what remained unchanged was the smile on the couple's face.
They have two good-looking daughters, the eldest of whom is 17 years old and loves tennis.
The youngest daughter is 13 years old, although she has the talent to learn chess, but it seems that she has not developed in a professional direction, lively and cute, and has a wide range of hobbies.
When a family of four gets together, the picture is always harmonious and beautiful, infinite sunshine. In Qatar, far away from Chinese relatives and friends, Zhu Chen's life does not seem to be as "miserable" as it is rumored in the outside world, on the contrary, the happiness of being a wife and a mother is revealed everywhere.
When asked by a reporter about Zhu Chen's reasons for naturalizing in Qatar 15 years ago, she did not shy away from:
"Because of chess to know, because chess to love." When the two get married, there must be a person who has to make a sacrifice, either he comes to China or I go to Qatar. For him, it was smoother to stay in Qatar, so I just passed. ”
Leaving aside the aura of a world champion, she is first and foremost a woman, an ordinary woman who longs to be reunited with her husband and live a stable family life.
However, Zhu Chen's choice to give up Chinese nationality to represent Doha in the Asian Games is still controversial after many years.
Even she herself could not say whether she regretted her original long-distance marriage:
"Whether the choice is good or not, right or wrong, in fact, it is difficult to say, there are always two sides to the matter."
● Zhu Chen was interviewed by domestic reporters
There is no regret in losing the game, no matter whether the public opinion is good or bad, life has been going on.
Now Zhu Chen has an important new identity - the treasurer of the FIDE. In addition to being in charge of finance, she is following up on the organization and promotion of global chess tournaments.
● Zhu Chen returned to China as the treasurer of the FIDE to organize the competition
At the same time, her husband, Mohammed, also served as director of FIDE's International Department. Together with his wife, he devoted himself to the development of chess.
● Mr. and Mrs. Zhu Chen pose with the new president of FIDE, Dvorkovich
"It is an honor to have the opportunity to contribute to the development of chess and to do my part. For this new job, I encourage myself with four words - 'for the sake of not being ashamed'. ”
● Mr. and Mrs. Zhu Chen returned to China to participate in activities and instructed chess students on the spot
In fact, as early as 2009, Zhu Chen returned to China to establish the "Zhuchen Cup" chess competition, and actively participated in various public welfare activities to help cultivate potential chess players in China.
● In 2018, Zhu Chen went to Jiulongpo District of Chongqing to participate in the public welfare activities of senior elite chess players
In 2020, the new crown virus swept through China, and she also joined hands with chess players to open a public welfare live broadcast for the first time in Qatar to help fight the epidemic.
● Zhu Chen in the public welfare live broadcast
With the passage of time, the prejudice of the Chinese people towards Zhu Chen is fading little by little, and many people have seen her efforts to develop the cause of chess in China.
The Chinese scholar Fu Lei once said: A person's service to the people does not have to stand at the conference to give a speech or do some earth-shattering cause, anytime, anywhere, bit by bit, tell others what he knows and thinks, which is invisibly sowing seeds and reclamation for the country.
Compared with the ugly posture of The Xiamen University girl Zheng Momo, who is treasonous and flattering, Zhu Chen, who renounces his nationality, seems to be easier to understand:
She has been quietly contributing to the development of Chinese chess in her own way.
However, in this era of advocating individual freedom and materialism, can the will of the ego really override the honor of the state? What reasons should we use to "understand" those Chinese who have enjoyed the cultivation of the state since childhood and easily changed their nationality because of their individual wishes when they grow up?
With the body of the country, why dare not do anything?
There are some things that can't be done.
Love has no borders, but a person who truly has a patriotic and responsible heart is destined to have borders.
From the moment he renounced his nationality, Zhu Chen, the "queen of chess", fell into a dangerous move, which was a positive or negative thing, and his descendants commented.
What do you think about that? Welcome to leave a message to discuss. Text/Yu Leaf