Table tennis

After class, ca. 1972Although its name may sound Chinese, the sport of table tennis (ping pong, Pīngpāng qiú, 乒乓球) did not originate in China; invented as an after-dinner diversion in late-19th century England, it made its way into China through the Western settlements via Japan and Korea only in 1901. Starting in the urban areas, it became popular elsewhere over the years.China has long been portrayed as "the sick man of Asia" and this image shaped Chinese attitudes towards sports, body and nationalism; it stood in dire need of being altered and refuted. In the public perception, the association between the fragile Chinese bodies and the humiliating past was often made. The photographs of imperial China that circulated both at home and abroad reinforced this perception, showing queued, effeminate, emaciated men with long fingernails and tired and expressionless faces in rundown, ramshackle surroundings. These images suggested that Chinese men lacked both the physical and emotional...