Rong Guotuan (; August 10, 1937 – June 20, 1968) was a Chinese

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player. He won the men's singles title at the 1959

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

in Dortmund, the first world championship winner representing the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Rong was persecuted as a "spy suspect". He committed suicide on June 20, 1968.

Early years

Rong Guotuan was born in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

in 1937, with family roots from

Zhuhai Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Province, China. He started playing table tennis in his childhood and participated in competitions in Hong Kong as a junior. In 1957, Rong decided to move to China. He won national champion in the following year and was later selected as a member of the national team.

Playing career

Rong's participation in the

began in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, 1959. Chinese men's team faced Hungary at the semifinals of the team competition. Rong lost to Zoltán Berczik, the 1958

European champion A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers to a ...

, in three games. He defeated Laszlo Foldy but lost to the 1953 World Championships winner

Ferenc Sidó Ferenc Sidó (18 April 1923 in Pata – 6 February 1998 in Budapest) was an ethnic Hungarian international table tennis player from Slovakia. Table tennis career From 1947 to 1961 he won 26 medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the W ...

at the eighth team match. The Chinese team was defeated by Hungary, 3–5. In men's singles competition, Rong recorded seven straight wins (including defeated Berczik in quarter-final and Sidó in final) to clinch the men's world championship. He became the first world championship winner after the foundation of the

(PRC). The first table tennis ball Double Happiness (DHS, ) made in China for international competitions was named after Rong's victory at the Championships and the tenth anniversary of the PRC's establishment in 1959. At the 1961 World Table Tennis Championships in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Rong helped Chinese men's team win the first team title by defeating Japan and Hungary in the finals. After 1964, he worked as the coach of Chinese women's team. The women's team won their first champion at the 1965 World Championships.

Cultural Revolution and suicide

The

initiated in 1966 caused professional sportsmen to be denounced as "sprouts of revisionism" and the Chinese team were absent from the 1967 World Championships. Rong Guotuan and other members of the national team, Fu Qifang and Jiang Yongning, were placed under house arrest by

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

. They were each condemned on trumped-up charges of spying and subjected to torture and public humiliation. Fu and Jiang committed suicide after sustained periods of detention and torture in 1968. Rong hanged himself on June 20 in the same year. His suicide note read, "I am not a spy; please do not suspect me. I have let you down. I treasure my reputation more than my life." In 1978, the

State Physical Culture and Sports Commission The General Administration of Sport () is the government agency responsible for sports in mainland China. It is subordinate to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It also administers the All-China Sports Federation and Chinese O ...

rehabilitated Rong Guotuan's honor. In 1987, a bronze statue of Rong was built in his ancestral home, Zhuhai.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rong, Guotuan 1937 births 1968 deaths Chinese male table tennis players Hong Kong male table tennis players Suicides during the Cultural Revolution World Table Tennis Championships medalists Suicides by hanging in China

Early years

Playing career

Cultural Revolution and suicide

See also

References