When it comes to Zhuang Zedong, many people will think of the "ping-pong diplomacy" between China and the United States.
It was 1971, the 31st World Table Tennis Championships was held in Nagoya, Japan, and an American athlete Cohen mistakenly got on the bus of the Chinese team. Later, it was reported by **.
FigZhuang Zedong*** Later, after learning of Zhuang Zedong's actions, he also praised him:
"This Zhuang Zedong not only plays the ball well, but also does diplomacy!This person is a bit politically minded, and I want to see how the Americans will react when Zhuang Zedong hits the ball. ”After learning the news, Nixon, the American ** at the time, also said meaningfully:
"Cohen is taking the wrong car, and if he takes it well, maybe he will build a bridge between China and the United States. ”Zhuang Zedong did not know that his move not only promoted the relationship between China and the United States, but also greatly changed his own destiny.
When Kissinger visited China later, he once asked to meet Zhuang Zedong, but Kissinger did not know it, and it was only a few years after the situation had changed dramatically, and then he was told:
"It is inconvenient for Zhuang Zedong to go on a business trip. ”Kissinger had no choice but to return home with regret.
It is said that Zhuang Zedong only later learned the news that he was "on a business trip", and he could only laugh at it.
Before 1971, Zhuang Zedong was undoubtedly an excellent table tennis player and a genius.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country attaches great importance to sports, for which the first marshal served as the director of the State Sports Commission, and vigorously promoted sports throughout the country.
FigZhuang Zedong: Since the 50s, China's table tennis has emerged on the international stage.
At that time, Zhuang Zedong was very valued in the national team, for no other reason, because he was the youngest, had the longest sports cycle, and had a lot of room for development.
In April 1959, the national table tennis team participated in the 25th World Table Tennis Championships held in Dortmund, West Germany, and Rong Guotuan won the men's singles championship and the first world championship in Chinese historyAfter returning to China, the national table tennis team was cordially received by leaders of the first and other countries in Zhongnanhai.
Zhuang Zedong was not very old at the time, but he was very impressed by this meeting with ***, and after returning to the dormitory, Zhuang Zedong wrote in his diary:
"Be sure to use the hand that his old man shook to win glory for ***. ”Zhuang Zedong's emergence on the world table tennis stage began in the late fifties and has formed an absolute dominance by the mid-sixtiesIn Zhuang Zedong's sports career, he has not only won the world championship, but also won the world championship three times, the national championship three times, and the team championship three times, and his record has not been broken so far. To this day, many of the older generation of Chinese table tennis players who have played against Zhuang Zedong are still honored, even if they have been defeated.
FigLiang Geliang In a national competition, Liang Geliang, a table tennis player from Guangxi, was beaten 3:0 by Zhuang Zedong, and his first reaction was not frustration, but rejoicing:
"It's a privilege and an honor to play against a world champion. ”Interestingly, in 1971, when the American athlete Cohen got on the wrong car, Liang Geliang sat behind Zhuang Zedong, and after getting off the car that time, Cohen pulled Liang Geliang and had to practice, Liang Geliang turned around and asked coach Zhuang Jiafu:
Can I?Zhuang Jiafu nodded.
Zhuang Jiafu was in the car at that time, sitting next to Zhuang Zedong, but he didn't move, because in that era, if he made a slight mistake, he might be doomed, but in the face of Zhuang Zedong's actions, he didn't feel afraid, and after many years, he recalled:
"At that time, it was reported in the newspapers that I had seen how many times the Chinese and American ambassadors had met in Poland, and I knew that there was no big incident, and the chairman said that we should distinguish the American people from the United States......”Therefore, after getting out of the car, Zhuang Jiafu did not hesitate to agree to the sparring between Liang Geliang and Cohen.
FigZhuang Zedong shakes hands with American table tennis player CohenAccording to Liang Geliang's recollection, Cohen's level was at most the level of third- and fourth-tier athletes, and he did not achieve any results in the World Table Tennis Championships that year.
Soon after, the U.S. table tennis team officially submitted a request to the Chinese team to visit China.
Zhuang Zedong's move was undoubtedly very risky, in fact, in those days, Chinese diplomats would pretend not to see the US ambassador even if they met at the United Nations, and if there was an American relative in the family, they might be classified as "spies".
At that time, the relevant departments had already characterized Zhuang Zedong's behavior as a serious "diplomatic incident", and the embassy in Japan held a meeting overnight to decide to send Zhuang Zedong back to China, but considering that the impact was too great, he did not dare to take action, but fortunately, at that time, ** dealt with this matter quite timely, ** reported the matter to *** overnight After taking sleeping pills at that time, he was already about to sleep, and when he heard Wu Xujun read the reference "The news of Zhuang Zedong shaking hands with American athlete Cohen", he immediately got up and instructed:
"Invite the U.S. table tennis team to visit China. ”After many years, Zhuang Biao recalled his father Zhuang Zedong when he talked about this past incident, and also joked:
"If he hadn't been a hero, he would have come back as a prisoner, and he would have gone to prison. ”Of course, Zhuang Biao followed up again:
"If it weren't for this handshake, my father would probably have been written into the history of sports. ”
FigIn 1972, a delegation of the Chinese table tennis team visited the United States and was received by Nixon** in the White House Rose GardenIn 1972, China sent a table tennis delegation to visit the United States, and Zhuang Zedong served as the head of the delegation.
After Zhuang Zedong arrived in the United States, he was cordially received by Nixon, who was the first American in the United States at the time.
Inadvertently, Zhuang Zedong also made history, he became the first person in the history of New China to lead a delegation to visit the United States, and also the first Chinese athlete to be received by the United States.
In order to reward Zhuang Zedong's outstanding contribution to world table tennis, the International Table Tennis Federation copied a men's singles trophy - St. Bride in 1973 and gave it to Zhuang Zedong permanently.
In his career as an athlete, Zhuang Zedong reached the commanding heights of his life.
In 1972, after Zhuang Zedong returned from a visit to the United States, he was arranged to serve as the leader and head coach of the national youth team, and also served as the deputy secretary of the party group of the National Sports Commission.
By this time, Zhuang Zedong had unconsciously stepped into **.
After many years, when Zhuang Zedong recalled this past, he couldn't help but sigh:
"I'm an insider, and I'm an outsider when I do politics. I was too young and politically naïve, so I made mistakes. ”In 1973, Zhuang Zedong was sent to study in the "** Reading Class", and he remembered very well that the first document he studied at that time was "Letter to ** ** to **". At that time, every young cadre studying in the "** reading class" basically had a "brilliant experience". In contrast, among this group of people, Zhuang Zedong seemed much more ordinary.
FigZhuang Zedong and Deng Yingchao were just a few days before Zhuang Zedong got the trophy awarded to him by the ITTFThat is, at the 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in August 1973, he was elected as a member of the committee.
However, judging from the later situation, Zhuang Zedong obviously did not understand the importance of it.
You must know that at that time, Zhuang Zedong was the only member of the Chinese sports circle, and he was not even the director of the National Sports Commission.
After Zhuang Zedong returned to work at the National Sports Commission after finishing his studies, an unprecedented storm had hit.
As early as May 12, 1968, the State Sports Commission system entered the military management and was subordinate to the General Staff, when the chief of the General Staff was Huang Yongsheng, and the director of the Military Management Committee of the State Sports Commission was Cao Cheng.
In July 1971, the State Sports Commission ended military management, Cao Cheng still returned to the army, and Wang Meng, who had served as the political commissar of the 38th Army and the deputy political commissar of the Beijing Military Region, served as the director of the State Sports Commission.
During Wang Meng's period in the National Sports Commission, he was committed to restoring the normal work of the Sports Commission, especially from the general direction, and made great efforts, in just a few years, the work of the National Sports Commission was put back on track, and more importantly, it was also with Wang Meng's efforts that the National Sports Commission returned to the leadership of the country.
However, Wang Meng's series of fruitful work in the National Sports Commission has caused dissatisfaction.
FigWhen Wang Meng first came to work in the National Sports Commission, Wang Meng once respected **, but soon after, he found that she was very inappropriate in a series of behaviors, so she began to avoid ** intentionally or unintentionally.
So, ** naturally set his sights on another person.
This person is naturally Zhuang Zedong.
Zhuang Zedong knew very well in his heart that in that special era, he was in a leadership position, and his words and deeds must meet the standards and make no mistakes as much as possible, but from another angle, it can also be understood that Zhuang Zedong was not politically mature, so that he later plunged into the whirlpool.
During that time, ** kept talking to Zhuang Zedong, intentionally or unintentionally talking about some things about Wang Meng, Zhuang Zedong didn't know what was going on, and in that case, he didn't have more choices.
Wang Meng later fell ill, and in fact stood aside
In December 1974, when the Fourth National People's Congress was about to be convened, in order to concentrate forces, he made certain concessions and transferred Wang Meng back to work in the army and served as deputy political commissar of the Wuhan Military Region.
In 1974, 34-year-old Zhuang Zedong was promoted to director of the National Sports Commission.
At that time, ** met Zhuang Zedong more than once, and told him:
"You are young, you don't understand a lot of things, and when you come to us with a problem, see you. ”
FigNixon's handshake with Zhuang Zedong can start from this moment, and Zhuang Zedong is also pulled into the whirlpool. Even for quite a long time later, he lost himself.
The deepest experience is undoubtedly Zhuang Zedong's wife Bao Huiqiao.
Bao Huiqiao is a well-known ** family and pianist at home and abroad, although she never seems to have held any leadership position, but she is intelligent by nature and has long seen her husband's situation, she later said such a sentence:
He was tied to the chariot and held up to the sky by the group of impersonal people, and he was still fluttering. ”In those days, Zhuang Zedong neglected the family.
When Bao Huiqiao gave birth to her second child in the hospital, Zhuang Zedong went to the hospital, in Bao Huiqiao's view, her husband was full of energy at that time, and he was like a "big leader" to inspect, so he only glanced at it, and he went out with his entourage, and only left one sentence when he left:
"I'm going to meet the foreign guests. ”Zhuang Biao also remembered that at that time, when Tangshan had just passed, Bao Huiqiao lived alone with two children and three old people in a **shed under the traffic light on Wangfujing Street, and in his memory, his father never appeared even once. Later, Zhuang Biao followed his mother to learn piano and embarked on the road of **, as for table tennis, he was not interested at all.
In that era, Bao Huiqiao persuaded her husband more than once, you have to stay away from those four people, but Zhuang Zedong did not choose to listen, because the husband and wife have different views, quarrels are inevitable, and for a long time, Bao Huiqiao can only take the whole family to walk their own way alone.
On October 6, 1976, under the wise decision of ***, the "Gang of Four" was isolated for review.
Zhuang Zedong's fate took a sharp turn.
At the invitation of the vice premier in charge of sports, Wang Meng served as the director of the National Sports Commission for the second time, and with his efforts, the work of the National Sports Commission was on the right track.
It is worth mentioning that there was a conflict between Wang Meng and Zhuang Zedong, but in the treatment of Zhuang Zedong, Wang Meng was very generous
"Zhuang Zedong's essence is still good, he has made outstanding contributions to the cause of Chinese table tennis, there are objective factors for young people to make mistakes, he himself is also a victim, and he should give a way. ”In 1980, Zhuang Zedong was arranged to coach the Shanxi Provincial Table Tennis Team.
Although Zhuang Zedong has already weathered the difficulties, his marriage to Bao Huiqiao has come to an end.
Many rumors say that the divorce was proposed by Bao Huiqiao, but according to Zhuang Biao's recollection, the divorce was proposed by his father.
FigZhuang Zedong In February 1985, the two divorced peacefully, Zhuang Zedong put all his property in a small three-wheeled car, and left home by himself. When Zhuang Zedong died of illness on February 10, 2013, 73-year-old Bao Huiqiao still attended the farewell ceremony with the support of her son.
In any case, after moving away from the rights and wrongs of the past, Zhuang Zedong lived a peaceful life. He was arranged to be a coach in the Shanxi Provincial Table Tennis Team, but his coach was a supernumerary coach, with no food allowance, and only 70 yuan a month, but every month he had to send 50 yuan to his mother and children, and the remaining 20 yuan was used for food.
But the life of his family will inevitably be affected by him.
In 1987, Zhuang Biao applied for *** college, and his grades were very good, but he received a notice from the college that he was not admitted, because there was a note written by the street office in his dossier at that time:
"The student's father made serious political mistakes during the Cultural Revolution, and I hope that your school will seriously consider it when admitting him. ”When re-examining the road he had walked, Zhuang Zedong instinctively felt regret:
"Looking back, I spent most of my teenage and youth next to dark green tables, with applause, flowers, and praise, reaching the pinnacle ......of honor, and at one time being in prison and isolatedI knew that what I was going to do was the only path of repentance and atonement for my mistakes. ”After staying away from right and wrong, Zhuang Zedong's ability in sports was fully revealed. The Shanxi women's team led by him won 12 games in a row against the visiting national team.
FigZhuang Zedong and Atsuko Sasaki In 1984, the then president of the International Table Tennis Federation and former world champion Ogimura Ichiro learned about the situation of his old friend Zhuang Zedong, and specially made a request to China
"I'm going to teach at the Beijing Children's Palace. ”For a long time after that, Zhuang Zedong was unknown.
However, even Zhuang Zedong himself didn't expect that he could still have a relationship after half a hundred years of life.
At the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in 1971, Zhuang Zedong not only won honors, but also gained a lot of fans, and a Japanese girl Atsuko Sasaki was in the crowd at that time.
After Zhuang Zedong returned to Beijing, the Japanese female fan came to China from thousands of miles away, and when she appeared in front of the Children's Palace, Zhuang Zedong felt a little surprised, because the two only had a few faces, but what he didn't expect was that more than ten years later, Atsuko Sasaki was still unmarried.
After getting along for a while, the two entered the palace of marriage.
FigZhuang Zedong and Atsuko Sasaki only got married when Zhuang Zedong encountered a little trouble, because he had previously served as the director of the State Sports Commission, a ministerial-level leading cadre, and according to the regulations, he could not marry a foreigner. Zhuang Zedong once felt sorry for himself:
"Once again, in the form of comedy, it plays the role of tragedy. ......I'm going to ask the god of fate, 'Why do you always choose me as an actor?'’…The glory and disgrace, rise and fall, sorrow and joy of the actors on the stage are all fake, but mine is all true. ”Under the turn of the peak, Zhuang Zedong's matter alarmed**, and the national leaders made special instructions to agree to their marriage application.
In 1987, Zhuang Zedong married Atsuko Sasaki.
It is worth mentioning that for the sake of this marriage, Atsuko Sasaki even renounced her Japanese citizenship.
After Zhuang Zedong, who was reincarnated, lived a peaceful life again, he finally understood the true meaning of marriage, and he and Atsuko Sasaki have never quarreled for more than 20 years after marriage, and Atsuko Sasaki also gave up her high-paying job and took care of her husband at home.
When it comes to her husband, Atsuko Sasaki always has a happy face:
"Mr. Zhuang is the person I admire the most. ”After Zhuang Zedong suffered from cancer in his later years, he was carefully taken care of by Atsuko Sasaki, and even Zhuang Biao was frank:
"Aunt Atsuko took good care of my father. ”FigBao Huiqiao and Atsuko Sasaki Zhuang Zedong cooperated with others to establish a table tennis club in his later years, and also started a business, strictly speaking, Zhuang Zedong does not seem to be a qualified businessman, he cooperates with others, has always been based on mutual trust, Zhang Qizhun who helped Zhuang Zedong provide legal services found that in the signed business contract, Zhuang Zedong basically did not think twice, but there were many problems, and many contracts contained trap-style ridicule, and he spent a lot of effort to help him lift.
In 1998, Atsuko Sasaki's younger brother came to visit from Japan, Zhuang Biao also arrived at home, the family originally said that they would go to dinner at 7 o'clock, Zhuang Zedong saw that the time was still early, and proposed to play Go with his son, but the father and son were inseparable, Zhuang Biao deliberately lost chess and wanted to pull his father to eat, but he didn't expect Zhuang Zedong to put his face and say:
"No, I'm still losing!Again. ”Zhuang Biao hurriedly deliberately lost a game of chess, and then successfully pulled his father out to eat, and it was not until a long time ago that Zhuang Zedong said to his son:
"You're better than me. ”FigOn June 26, 2011, Kissinger and Zhuang Zedong took a group photoLike playing table tennis on the field back then, Zhuang Biao talked with his father about participating in the competition in his later years, and his father never cared about whether it looked good or not when he was young, he only paid attention to the result.
"Defeated at his hands, very aggrieved. ”Until his later years, Zhuang Zedong still maintained such an athletic spirit - never admit defeat.
Zhuang Biao commented on his father:
"A person can do this in this life, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people. I admire my father very much, he is very handsome and never complains. ”