1. Zhuang Zedong was a Chinese table tennis player, three-time world men's singles champion and champion at numerous other table tennis events.
20 Facts About Zhuang Zedong
1. 2.
Zhuang Zedong's chance meeting with American table tennis player, Glenn Cowan, during the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, later referred to as ping-pong diplomacy, triggered the first thawing of the ice in Sino-American relations since 1949.
3.
Zhuang Zedong was once married to the pianist Bao Huiqiao, and his second wife was the Chinese-born Japanese Atsuko Sasaki.
4.
Zhuang Zedong was born in August 1940 and he joined the Chinese National Table Tennis team as a teenager.
5.
Zhuang Zedong had to streamline his strokes and instead attempted to generate a sudden burst of explosive power via a smaller motion, similar to the "one-inch punch" in the Wing Chun Kung Fu style.
6.
Zhuang Zedong won and dominated three World Championships with this unique style, and encountered almost no competition from the Japanese, European and his fellow Chinese players.
7.
Unlike his team mates, who ignored Cowan due to the political disagreements between their countries, Zhuang Zedong greeted him and presented him with a silk-screen portrait of the Huangshan Mountains, thus starting the so-called ping-pong diplomacy.
8.
Ten months after Zhuang Zedong's chance meeting with Cowan, Richard Nixon, then president of the United States, visited China in February, 1972 to show faith in the Chinese government.
9.
American media during Zhuang Zedong's trip highlighted friendly encounters between the Chinese players and Americans.
10.
In 1973, Zhuang Zedong became a favorite of Jiang Qing, wife of Mao Zedong.
11.
In 1985, Zhuang Zedong was allowed to return to Beijing again, and it was arranged that he would coach the young table tennis players at the Palace of Youth in Beijing.
12.
About this time, Zhuang Zedong published his book Chuang Yu Chuang.
13.
Zhuang Zedong's family did not move back to Japan until 1976.
14.
Sasaki Atsuko had met Zhuang Zedong previously in Japan in 1971 and 1972 and was a fan of Zhuang.
15.
Zhuang Zedong had to write to Li Ruihuan and Deng Xiaoping about the matter, and Sasaki had to give up her Japanese citizenship and apply for Chinese citizenship.
16.
Zhuang Zedong wrote a book about their story, entitled Deng Xiaoping approved our marriage.
17.
Zhuang Zedong visited the United States in 2007, speaking at USC and other universities about his role in fostering better relations between China and the United States.
18.
In 2008, Zhuang Zedong was diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer.
19.
Zhuang Zedong requested euthanasia, but this request was denied by his doctors.
20.
On 10 February 2013, the first day of the Chinese New Year, Zhuang Zedong died at You'an Hospital in Beijing, at the age of 72.