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Zhuang Zedong

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Athlete

The Resume

    (August 25, 1940-February 10, 2013)
    Born in Yangzhou, China
    Table tennis player
    Three time men's singles World Champion (1961,1963,1965)
    Key figure in 'ping pong diplomacy' between China and the US

Why he might be annoying:

    He took up table tennis because he was too small for soccer or basketball.
    He professed his 'complete trust in Chairman Mao' even as his teammates and coaches were being imprisoned and tortured during the Cultural Revolution.
    By sucking up to Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, he rose to the position of Sports Minister and a seat on the Communist Party's Central Committee.
    He later admitted, 'I was on the wrong side. I did many dreadful things that I now regret.'
    After Qing fell from power, he spent two years under house arrest and five in 'internal exile.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He modeled his powerful backhand on martial arts punches.
    He probably could have won a fourth straight World Championship in 1967, but during the Cultural Revolution, sporting organizations were declared 'bastions of anti-Maoist revisionism' and China withdrew from international competition for five years.
    During the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, American Glenn Cowan missed his bus and got on one occupied by the Chinese team. After a long silence, Zhuang ignored the official anti-fraternization policy, greeted Cowan and gave him a slikscreened scarf.
    In response, Mao extended an invitation for the American team to visit China after the tournament, marking a thaw in US-China relations.
    Mao reportedly said, 'Zhuang Zedong not only plays table tennis well, but is good at foreign affairs.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 23 Votes: 47.83% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 68.75% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 153 Votes: 65.36% Annoying