Chinese badminton can have today's glory, but also with the past few decades of generations of badminton predecessors to work together. Previously, Xiao Dingdong had introduced the "evergreen tree" of Chinese badminton, Tang Xianhu, in fact, in the badminton era of Tang Lao, there was also a badminton master with the same name as him, Hou Jiachang. Hou Jiachang, who was born similar to Tang Xianhu, is also a returned overseas Chinese from Indonesia, and eventually made outstanding contributions to Chinese badminton.
Hou Jiachang was born in 1942 in Semarang, Java, Indonesia. In childhood, Hou Jiachang and his brother began to embark on the road of badminton because of the influence of their father. At the age of 14, Hou Jiachang participated in the official competition organized by the Earth Club, that time Indonesia's national women's singles champion Wang Fengniang had no opponent, had to participate in the men's group competition, just happened to be in the same group with Hou Jiachang, and did not know what "fear" was, Hou Jiachang actually defeated Wang Fengniang, and also reached the final all the way to the final, taking the group championship, which made Hou Jiachang full of energy, and in his heart he has taken badminton as his lifelong pursuit.
In 1957, the Chinese badminton team composed of Wang Wenjiao, Chen Fushou, Huang Shiming and Shi Ning'an, who had returned to China from Indonesia in the first period, visited Indonesia for the first time, causing great shock among the Indonesian overseas Chinese, and they all wanted to witness the style of the Chinese team, and the Hou Jiachang family, who loved badminton, was naturally no exception. However, the result of the game was that the Chinese team lost. After the game, Hou Jiachang stood on the sidelines in a daze and refused to leave. The father walked up to him and stroked his head and said, "What? Can you play for the Chinese team in the future? At that time, Hou Jiachang deeply understood this sentence in his mind...
In March 1960, 17-year-old Hou Jiachang bid farewell to his family and returned to China by ship. When he stepped on the beautiful Yangcheng - the land of Guangzhou, his hands were tightly held by his enthusiastic teammates, and he had the feeling of "arriving home". Indeed, Hou Jiachang's ancestral home is Meixian County, Guangdong, but is he not "going home"? This overseas wanderer has finally found his home.
In 1963, the third year of Hou Jiachang's return to China, it coincided with the visit of the Indonesian team, Hou Jiachang, along with Tang Xianhu, who was in the Fujian team at the same time, and others represented China for the first time. As a result, they defeated the then world champion Indonesia 4-1. This battle can be said to be the beginning of China's badminton entering the world's advanced level. At that moment, Hou Jiachang's mind could not help but recall the game when China visited Indonesia 6 years ago, and time has changed, and now he has finally realized his wish to play for China!
In the following years, the Chinese badminton industry is full of talents and vitality, Hou Jiachang has shown great skills in domestic and foreign badminton events, and the results are impressive, but because of the special international environment at that time, Chinese badminton has not been able to play under the world organization, but the international badminton world unanimously said that the Chinese team that was not a member of the badminton association at that time was the "uncrowned king", and Hou Jiachang and Tang Xianhu were known as the representative figures of this period, so there was the title of "Tang Hou Era".
In 1972, the national badminton team began to rebuild, and the 29-year-old Hou Jiachang was officially selected for the national team. Hou Jiachang almost started from scratch, did his best, and began the second ascent to the summit. This journey is far more arduous than the one he made to become the Uncrowned King. In 1976, Hou Jiachang completed a nearly impossible task - at the Asian Championships, he defeated the "emperor superstar" with the highest demand for the title, Indonesia's Lin Shuijing.
Born in 1942, Tang Xianhu and Hou Jiachang are both representatives of innovative techniques such as flat high ball, split ball, split hanging ball, pedaling and backcourt jumping and hitting, and have grown into a pair of outstanding figures in the international badminton world. After the two became famous, they did not meet opponents in international competitions for many years, creating a miracle of winning all foreign war records for more than 10 years.
In 1965, when the Chinese team visited several Nordic countries, Tang Xianhu actually defeated Denmark's Kopps, who won seven All England Open championships, 15-0 in one set. Tang Xianhu's ball style was fierce, and Hou Jiachang won with cleverness. Fans likened the image of "Hou" to "monkey" and "tiger" according to the harmonic sound of "Hou", which is also quite similar to their style of play. Due to well-known reasons, during the golden age of Tang Xianhu and Hou Jiachang's sports, Chinese sports were being excluded by the vast majority of international sports organizations, and Tang and Hou failed to participate in international top competitions such as the Tang You Cup and the All England Open, which became a major regret for the two superstars. However, the international badminton world still widely recognizes the "Tanghou era", which shows that their technical level is so high that they are the real "Heavenly King Superstar" of the Chinese badminton.