Now Yang Boyong is 88 years old, and the vigor and dominance of the year are already a passing cloud.
The years have sharpened and changed the state of life, and Yang Boyong was once one of the best basketball players and coaches in China.
He has a part in the process of the Chinese men's basketball team going to the world. The cross-sea basketball exchange in 1992 was also a highlight of Yang Boyong's career.
The past has to start in 1987, this year, at the Asian Youth Basketball Championship held in the Philippines, the mainland basketball team led by Yang Boyong met the Taiwan basketball team.
Former chairman of the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.
Wang Renda: We met at the Asian Youth Championships in Manila at that time, when Taiwan and the mainland were in a hostile situation, so we looked at each other with hatred.
Wang Renda is the leader of the Taiwan basketball team and the president of the Taiwan Basketball Association. He was a native of Zhejiang and went to Taiwan with his family before 1949.
Mrs. Yang Boyong.
Yang Huifang: Wang Renda is a boss, he is a builder, he is the president of the Taipei Basketball Association, they are amateurs, he likes basketball very much, in addition to doing business, it is basketball.
At that time, Wang Renda was successful and famous, and he was leading the Taiwan basketball team to the world. Because of their common hobby, he and Yang Boyong met on a narrow road.
After the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and the two sides of the strait were divided, for a long time, athletes on both sides of the strait did not interact with each other, and basketball players on both sides of the strait never met together on the international stage.
In 1971, with the restoration of all legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, the Taiwan authorities were expelled from the United Nations, losing their legal status in the international arena and unable to participate in international sports competitions.
Former chairman of the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.
Wang Renda: Since withdrawing from the United Nations, Taiwan has also "severed diplomatic relations" with the United States, so we are in the world, and players are not able to participate in the competition, which is a very regrettable thing and very unfair to all athletes. Sports is originally a kind of exchange sport, so through the efforts of both sides, the mainland sent Ho Zhenliang and Taiwan sent Li Qinghua, vice chairman of the Olympic Committee, who is also a "legislator." The two of them met in Hong Kong and talked many times.
In October 1979, the IOC Executive Board met in Nagoya, Japan, and unanimously passed a resolution deciding that the Olympic Committee of the People's Republic of China should be named "Chinese Olympic Committee" and restore its legitimate rights as the representative of the All-China Olympic Movement in the IOC to use the national flag and anthem of the People's Republic of China.
The name of the Olympic Committee in Taipei is the "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee" and it cannot use its current flag, song and emblem, and new songs, flags and emblems must be approved by the IOC Executive Board.
In November, the resolution was adopted by a correspondence vote of IOC members. This is known as the "Olympic mode".
After solving the problem of the name of the competition, the sports teams of mainland China and Taiwan appeared together for the first time at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
At that time, he was a "legislator" of the Taiwan region
Zhao Shaokang: Until the Los Angeles Olympics, because the mainland athletes won the first place in weightlifting 60 kilograms, and Taiwan's Tsai Wenyi won the third place, the two of them shook hands on the podium, which was the grip of the century, which means that politics should not affect sports so much, and it is a good thing that you take the first place and I will take the third place in sports
At that time, the handshake was widely used in the mainland, Taiwan, and Chinese-language media.
At the Los Angeles Olympics, China won a total of 15 gold medals, replacing Japan's role as the leader of the alliance in Asia, an achievement that boosted the national self-confidence of the Chinese and narrowed the psychological distance between the two sides of the strait.
In April 1989, the 15th Asian Men's Basketball Championship was held in Beijing, and the Chinese Taipei men's basketball team participated in the mainland for the first time since 1949 and won the third place. Then, in 1990, at the 11th Asian Games held in Beijing, the Chinese Taipei women's basketball team won the bronze medal.
Since meeting in Manila in 1987, Wang Renda and Yang Boyong have gradually become acquainted.
With the increasingly close exchanges between the two sides, Yang Boyong and Wang Renda both believe that the mainland basketball team's trip to Taiwan should be put on the agenda as soon as possible, so as to realize two-way exchanges between the basketball circles on both sides of the strait as soon as possible.
Former chairman of the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.
At that time, we in Taiwan very much hoped that the mainland could send players to Taiwan, because the mainland was too strong, much taller, and the players from Chinese mainland also wanted to come (Taiwan), at that time our Taiwan's economic take-off was very good, and the salary of players far exceeded that of the mainland.
Former head coach of the Chinese women's basketball team.
Yang Boyong: Taiwan's basketball has developed well, and the mainland's basketball has also developed well, so both sides have taken the initiative to choose basketball to visit Taiwan.
In Taiwan, in addition to baseball, the most popular sport is basketball. At that time, Taiwan's professional basketball league was emerging, and automobile companies, real estate companies, and electronics companies were all investing in the league.
In the mainland, basketball is a fairly popular mass sports activity, but the commercial league has not yet broken the ice, and the market potential is huge.
Former chairman of the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.
Wang Renda: Since the Chinese Kuomintang came to Taiwan, it has fully supported basketball, and each branch of the military must have a team, because there are few Taiwanese people, the place is small, things like golf are also expensive, and the basketball court is very small, so this is used to entertain the officers and soldiers, and it is also to unite the morale of the army.
On November 5, 1992, the Chinese Basketball Association officially received an invitation letter from Wang Renda to visit Taiwan: "Basketball leaders and experts of your association, as well as men's and women's basketball teams from mainland provinces or cities whose skills and strength are close to the representative team of this association, are invited to visit from February 18 to 28, 1993 to enhance friendship and friendship."
After receiving Wang Renda's invitation, under the auspices of Yang Boyong, the Continental Basketball Association finally decided to send the national league champion Liaoning men's team and the fifth Hebei women's team to Taiwan for exchanges.
Among the lists of personnel who went to Taiwan were veteran of the basketball industry, Mr. Mou Zuoyun, who represented Chinese in the 11th Olympic Games held in Germany in 1936, and the main responsible persons of the Mainland Basketball Association, Yang Boyong and Lu Xianwu, Yang Boyong served as the general leader, and his wife Yang Huifang also accompanied him.
Yang Boyong and his wife Yang Huifang.
Yang Boyong's wife, Yang Huifang, is originally from Qingshui, Taichung, and his parents came to Shanghai from Taiwan to do business in the 1940s. His 4-year-old brother stayed in Taiwan to live with his grandparents. Her uncle, uncle, and aunt are all in Taiwan.
Because of this relationship, the organization selected Yang Boyong as the general leader, and his wife Yang Huifang as the team manager, accompanied the team.
However, when the basketball team arrived in Hong Kong and exchanged the fax of the travel permit to Taiwan at the Chunghwa Travel Service in Hong Kong at noon on February 23, the accident happened.
In the course of handling the case, Yang Boyong and Lu Xianwu were suddenly told that the Taiwan authorities had withdrawn the entry documents that had been issued to them.
The reason given by the Taiwan side is that "both of them have the status of the National Sports Commission of the Communist Party of China." ”
At that time, he was a "legislator" of the Taiwan region
Zhao Shaokang: The reason for not letting him go may be that he has the status of ** in the mainland's Ministry of Sports, which is equivalent to a person with two identities, and Taiwan is sensitive, so it is said that this is not a pure sports exchange.
The two sides of the strait have been isolated for many years and have just begun to come and go, political mutual trust has not yet been established, and their respective sports mechanisms are also different.
Athletes, coaches, and team leaders on the mainland are all state officials, while Taiwan's sports personnel are amateurs. Different sports mechanisms lead to misunderstandings in the communication process.
How exactly will this emergency be resolved?How can all parties on both sides of the strait break through the "middle line" and "shoot" across the sea?
Please watch Phoenix's Big Vision "The Sea, Hometown - Their Cross-Strait Stories".
Editor: yii