【Struggle for a hundred years, set sail on a new journey, count the romantic figures】
“Life can have a few back stroke?”
A few days ago, in the Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education, the “Road to Struggle” music and dance drama was being rehearsed. The student actors who played Rong Guotuan made this “beat” roar, which moved the students in the audience. This drama about the famous table tennis player Rong Guotuan’s struggle for Chinese sports will be staged at the end of June.
Sun Pengpeng, a teacher at the Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education, said that we hope that through this art form, teachers and students can experience Rong Guotuan’s selfless fighting spirit and determination to serve the country, and inspire the younger generation to keep forging ahead.
Rong Guotuan issued like Xinhua News Agency
As the alma mater of Rong Guotuan, Guangzhou Sport University has been dedicated to building a campus culture featuring the Rong Guotuan spirit in recent years, and has carried out a series of activities to inherit the Rong Guotuan spirit, leading young students to strengthen their ideals and beliefs and strengthen their mission.
Rong Guotuan was born on August 10, 1937 in a seafarer’s family in Hong Kong. He attended an overseas Chinese school in his hometown of Zhuhai, Guangdong in his early days. In early 1948, he was transferred to a kindergarten school in Hong Kong. His father, Rong Mianzhi, is a member of the Seamen’s Union of the Progressive Organization Federation of Trade Unions. When he was a child, Rong Guotuan used to play table tennis in the Federation of Trade Unions Recreation Center.
In February 1957, Rong Guotuan represented the Federation of Trade Unions in the Hong Kong table tennis competition, winning the men’s team, men’s singles and men’s doubles championships with his teammates. In September of that year, Rong Guotuan visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou as a member of the Hong Kong and Macau table tennis team and saw the prosperity of the motherland. Two months later, he resolutely crossed the Luohu Bridge and came to Guangdong, where he began to work and study at the Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education.
In April 1958, Rong Guotuan made a bold statement at the Guangdong Provincial Sports Workers Leap Forward Swearing Conference: “Win the Men’s Singles Championship at the World Table Tennis Championships within 3 years.”
In 1959, the 25th World Table Tennis Championships was held in Dortmund, Federal Republic of Germany. Rong Guotuan reached the men’s singles final all the way, against Hungarian veteran Cido, who had won the world championship. After losing the first game of the final, Rong Guotuan won 3 games in a row and won the championship. The St. Brand’s Cup was engraved with the name of a Chinese for the first time.
After returning to China, party and state leaders including Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou received members of the table tennis delegation. The craze for table tennis is rapidly rising across the country.
In 1961, the 26th World Table Tennis Championships was held in Beijing. The Chinese and Japanese teams met in the men’s team finals. The Rong Guotuan, which has become a target of public criticism, lost to Di Village and Kimura successively. “What are you going to do next?” a teammate asked. “How many times can there be a fight in life?” Rong Guotuan raised his fists and screamed at the sky. “If you don’t fight now, when will you wait?” Rong Guotuan finally defeated Hoshino, and the Chinese team won the men’s team world championship for the first time.
In 1965, the 28th World Table Tennis Championships opened in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. Rong Guotuan, who served as the head coach of the women’s team for only 4 months, led the Chinese women’s team to defeat the Japanese women’s team and win the Corbyron Cup for the first time.
During the turmoil of the “Cultural Revolution”, Rong Guotuan was unjustly wronged and persecuted. On June 20, 1968, he ended his life in his own way. In 1978, the National Sports Commission rehabilitated the Rong Guo regiment and restored its reputation. In 2009, Rong Guotuan was named one of the “100 Chinese People Who Moved China Since the Founding of New China”. On September 25, 2019, Rong Guotuan was awarded the honorary title of “The Most Beautiful Struggler”.
Rong Guotuan’s life is related to hard work and closely linked to the number of first prizes won by China Sports. Today, the bronze statue of Rong Guotuan who won the championship is standing in the central square of Guangzhou Sport University; in the table tennis hall of the college, there are pictures of Rong Guotuan’s fighting moments. Rong Guotuan’s “How many times can there be a fight in life” has inspired generations of Chinese people to fight hard for the country and fight hard for the country.
(Xinhua News Agency, Guangzhou, June 1st, reporter Yang Shuxin)
“Guangming Daily” (Edition 04, June 02, 2021)
【Editor in charge: Xu Dan】