He is a prominent figure in the table tennis world, winning the men's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships for three consecutive times, and is the main force that has made the Chinese team win the World Table Tennis Championship for three consecutive times.
He is a legendary figure in The Chinese Table Tennis And Even the International Table Tennis Arena, who has personally experienced the "Table Tennis Diplomacy" that shocked China and foreign countries, and made deeds that Mao Zedong admired for the re-contact between the two great powers of China and the United States after 22 years of isolation.
He is Zhuang Zedong.
Zhuang Zedong
Zhuang Zedong was born on August 25, 1940 in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, and his ancestors were officials for generations. His grandfather was the richest man in the Far East at the time. After Zhuang Zedong was born, although his family was well-off, he himself had been thin and sickly, so his father Zhuang Tishen sent him to a martial arts school to learn martial arts.
After liberation, Zhuang Zedong, who was known for his good movement in the martial arts school, began to practice table tennis, and 6 years of martial arts practice laid a solid foundation for his later road to table tennis. Zhuang Zedong said that the phrase "the first hand is strong, and the second hand suffers" emphasized in martial arts has had a great impact on his life, so his playing style has always been a sharp style of play based on offense.
From 1953 to 1959, Zhuang Zedong took only 6 years to change from a small member of the amateur table tennis team of the Beijing Children's Palace to the main force of the national youth table tennis team.
Zhuang Zedong not only trained hard, but also good at summarizing and innovating, when the athletes of the national team played the ball will be used to waving to the forehead, but he felt that there was no need, it should be to complete a swing action after touching the ball, and the rest of the inertia was ineffective. He himself improved and took the lead in developing the "short swing" action, and later developed the "bounce" technique.
But at that time, these actions were too advanced, and the coaches and teammates could not accept it, so as long as the national team held a meeting, everyone would criticize him, saying that Xiaozhuang was playing more and more ugly. But Zhuang Zedong was not moved, he thought that no matter what you criticize me, as long as I can win.
Zhuang Zedong has indeed been able to win all the time. He set a record of 100 consecutive wins in official youth competitions in China, which is still unbreakable, and because of his fierce playing style, he was given the nickname "Little Tiger", and in 1960, he was awarded the title of "Athlete".
In the international arena, Zhuang Zedong is even more successful, he won the men's singles championship in the 26th, 27th and 28th World Table Tennis Championships consecutively, and was one of the main players of the Chinese table tennis team to win the men's team championship, becoming the leader of the Chinese table tennis team at that time. On 1 September 1973, in recognition of his outstanding achievements, the International Table Tennis Federation awarded him the replica "St. Pride Cup".
Premier Zhou made a toast to Zhuang Zedong
Zhuang Zedong's big name even Chairman Mao knows that in the men's team final of the 26th World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese team and the Japanese team competed for the championship, Zhuang Zedong went up first to win the first game, but the Chinese team lost the second and third games, the fourth game won, and the fifth game was Zhuang Zedong, and Chairman Mao in front of the TV set saw that it was him, and he was very happy to say: "My little ancestor, you quickly take it down for me!" ”
Zhuang Zedong won this easy 2:0 victory, and finally the Chinese team also won the team championship as desired. Later, Chairman Mao received the table tennis team and cordially shook hands with Zhuang Zedong and called him: "Xiao Zhuang." ”
Zhuang Zedong is also very happy in love, he went to Austria in 1959 to participate in the World Youth Gala, he met Bao Huishuang, Bao Huiqiao is a famous young pianist, the two fell in love at first sight, and in 1967 married.
After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Zhuang Zedong was also persecuted, which made him very painful, but by this time his wife Bao Huiqiao was pregnant and had been encouraging him, so he persevered. Later, Premier Zhou personally inquired about Zhuang Zedong's situation, and he gradually resumed training.
Zhuang Zedong and Bao Huiqiao
In March 1971, Zhuang Zedong went with the team to Nagoya, Japan to participate in the 31st World Table Tennis Championships, and it was there that he became the first person to "table tennis diplomacy" and opened the most glorious moment of his life.
At that time, the organizing committee specially prepared two special cars for the Chinese team, and on the afternoon of April 4, the Chinese team members were preparing to take a car to the gymnasium to practice, when an American player Glenn Lee was ready to take a car. Cohen accidentally got into the wrong car and came to the Chinese team's car, by which time the door was closed.
At that time, China and the United States were still hostile countries, and the country was still in the "Cultural Revolution" period, athletes were not allowed to contact foreigners without authorization according to discipline, and Cohen was a hippie, with long hair and avant-garde dress, which made everyone look afraid, and the athletes on the car did not dare to ignore the American.
At this time, Zhuang Zedong was also engaged in a fierce ideological struggle in his heart, and he thought: Before going abroad, Premier Zhou specially emphasized that "friendship comes first, competition comes second", asking us to make friends with athletes from all over the world and embody the new spiritual outlook of the Chinese people. Moreover, Chairman Mao also said that he would distinguish between the American people and their government. People are also part of the American people, how can they ignore them?
Zhuang Zedong finally plucked up the courage and decided to go and greet Cohen, he opened his travel bag, turned out a Piece of Hangzhou Brocade more than a meter long, and walked toward Cohen.
At this time, a teammate next to him reminded him: "Xiaozhuang, why are you going?" He said, "Go talk to this American athlete." Someone else said, "Don't go!" He said, "It's okay, they're just athletes." ”
Then Zhuang Zedong pulled up the translator, walked over to Cohen, chatted with him, and finally gave him the Hangzhou weaving sponge in his hand as a gift. Cohen was also very happy, after getting on the car for so long, finally someone was willing to pay attention to him, he didn't expect to receive a gift, when he knew that the other party was Zhuang Zedong, he was even happier, he said: "I know you, your ball is particularly good." ”
Zhuang Zedong and Cohen
That evening, the coaches and athletes of the American team also came to the Chinese team's station, also presented gifts, and expressed their willingness to visit China. Japanese newspapers reported the incident the next day, causing a great response around the world.
Chairman Mao, who was far away in China, was also very happy when he saw this news, saying: "This Zhuang Zedong not only plays the ball well, but also handles diplomacy, and this man has a bit of a political mind." ”
In the end, the central government approved the visit of the US table tennis team to China, officially opening the "table tennis diplomacy" and opening the door to China's exchanges. In April 1972, China sent a table tennis delegation to visit the United States, with Zhuang Zedong as the head of the delegation, which was personally ordered by Premier Zhou. After Zhuang Zedong led the Chinese table tennis team to the United States, he was received by US President Nixon, which was the first delegation to visit the United States after the founding of New China.
After returning from a visit to the United States, Zhuang Zedong became the leader and head coach of the national youth team, and also served as the deputy secretary of the party group of the National Sports Commission. In 1973, he was elected to the 10th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and in 1974, at the age of 34, Zhuang Zedong became the director of the National Sports Commission, the only person at that time to be promoted by athletes to the level of ministerial cadres.
Zhuang Zedong and Deng Yingchao communicated
Zhuang Zedong is a good player in playing, but he is very immature politically, and he did some wrong things with Jiang Qing while he was the director of the sports committee. After the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, he was also removed from his post and quarantined for review, and was not released until 1980. At this time, his family also suffered some changes, his father died of brain cancer, and his wife Bao Huishuo divorced him in 1985.
Zhuang Zedong, who had regained his freedom, came to the Beijing Children's Palace and became a table tennis coach. In 1985, he wrote a 400,000-word monograph on table tennis technology, "Breaking and Creating", sublimating his rich table tennis practice into theoretical tactics, and founding his own table tennis theory, which comprehensively and meticulously discussed many table tennis skills and theoretical methods, and won the praise of many table tennis fans.
Zhuang Zedong also regained his love at this time, and his second wife was a Japanese girl named Atsuko Sasaki. Atsuko Sasaki grew up in northwestern China and spoke fluently Chinese, and returned to Japan when she grew up. The two had met and taken photos at the 1971 Nagoya World Table Tennis Championships. Since then, Atsuko Sasaki has become a fan of Zhuang Zedong and has always remembered him.
In 1985, after Atsuko Sasaki learned about Zhuang Zedong's recent situation, he went to China to see him, and after a period of contact, the two people developed a deep affection, so they decided to get married.
Sho Nobuto and Atsuko Sasaki
However, because Zhuang Zedong had served as a ministerial-level cadre and belonged to those who held state secrets, such foreign-related marriages were not approved in that era. Zhuang Zedong had no choice but to find Li Ruihuan, then honorary chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and mayor of Tianjin, and reported to him his request to get married.
Li Ruihuan listened to the music: "If I don't help you in this matter, won't I even be worse than the Kuomintang?" ”
So Li Ruihuan and Hu Yaobang went to Deng Xiaoping to report the matter, and eventually Zhuang Zedong and Dunzi's marriage application was approved by Deng Xiaoping, which was the only marriage application approved by Deng Xiaoping.
After marriage, Atsuko gave up her Japanese nationality and joined the Chinese nationality, she also lost her Japanese high-paying position, became an ordinary housewife, and concentrated on taking care of Zhuang Zedong's life, although the two lived a hard life, but also lived very sweetly.
In his later years, Zhuang Zedongli began to concentrate on the teaching of table tennis and cultivate talents for the motherland, he was rated as a special teacher in 1994, many of the students he trained were enrolled in Peking University Tsinghua because of their table tennis expertise, in October 2002, he also specially established the "Zhuang Zedong International Table Tennis Club" to provide a training platform for table tennis enthusiasts.
After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, Zhuang Zedong donated his savings of 300,000 yuan for many years, knowing that he was only 3,000 yuan a month at that time, which was not easy for him.
In his later years, Zhuang Zedong
On February 11, 2013, Zhuang Zedong tragically died of cancer in Beijing at the age of 73, and before his death, he said in his will that he hoped to "sleep with dignity" when drug treatment was ineffective, and expressed his gratitude to the society and his relatives.