I believe that using dishonorable means to force out a meritorious athlete in his prime—table tennis has reached its most dangerous moment.
What attracts audiences to a world-class sport? Beyond the sport’s inherent simplicity and interest, it’s the technical dominance of top athletes, their spiritual appeal, their powerful self-discipline in pursuing dreams, and their grace toward audiences and opponents that fundamentally attract people to the sport.
Pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty is human nature. The spiritual inspiration from superstars’ natural charisma brings the impossible legends of humanity into reality. People follow competitions to appreciate star players and pursue their ideal idols, because those are the people they dream of becoming. Fan Zhendong is the superhero of this era. Now, WTT and CTTA have personally shattered this sport’s superstar. They’re not settling personal grudges—they’re genuinely slapping the faces of table tennis enthusiasts worldwide and shaking the ITTF’s grassroots foundation.
Old Soldiers Never Die
On April 19, 1951, U.S. Five-Star General MacArthur delivered his famous speech titled “Old Soldiers Never Die” at the Capitol after being relieved of duty. One famous quote still resonates today: “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
Throughout our lives, we encounter many heroes. When we’re young, they’re police officers, doctors, teachers, scientists. Gradually we grow up, we understand life’s difficulties, we know how hard it is to realize dreams, and the heroes in our hearts slowly become politicians who’ve weathered hardships, pioneering entrepreneurs, ordinary heroes in all walks of life, and athletes who persistently pursue dreams and fight tenaciously.
Sometimes, we proudly become heroes in the eyes of children and others. Loyalty, persistence, and simplicity are the distinctive qualities of every hero. They all share one unified name: warriors who pursue self-realization and race against themselves.
Old soldiers are still warriors. They can age, they can be ordinary, but they cannot be insulted by others. But when they’re still the superhero the industry looks up to in their prime, this stage is forever theirs—this is the consensus of all who love and support them. They illuminate our ordinary lives, they considerately help lighten our burdens, they send us a burst of invigorating strength when we’re tired and in pain, and when we’re lost in confusion and despair, they unhesitatingly ignite themselves to protect our homeland.
Heroes Live Forever
Heroes don’t age; heroes’ names keep changing. Each era’s heroes have their own responsibilities and guardianship. They continuously take root and grow in our hearts. In our eternally youthful memories, heroes are always divine. Most of us ordinary people are also heroes to our children, families, friends, and work. Even moss flowers as small as rice grains learn to bloom like peonies.
Fan Zhendong is this era’s most brilliant hero. We love and support him, standing united with him for his inherent integrity, persistence, and simplicity as heroic attributes, and burning with anger that we cannot protect our treasure tree from being bullied by others wielding power.
All heroes are refined from stubborn stones. Over the past 10+ years, generation after generation of table tennis enthusiasts have watched Fan Zhendong grow from a naive talented youth, after losing his home team’s protection, in the furnace of heaven and earth’s creation, enduring grievances and fighting alone with gritted teeth, progressing step by step to become a giant star. His youth has our witness, his growth makes us proud. Through over ten years of hard-fought battles, Fan Zhendong has finally shed his immaturity from a wind-chasing youth supported by famous players to become a towering tree that can help shield his comrades from frost.
Table tennis is Fan Zhendong’s stage. In this world, he campaigns east and west, steady as Mount Tai. One man guards the pass, ten thousand cannot break through. Wherever he is, that’s the highest level of competition. Protecting national honor, holding high the table tennis banner, leading the sport’s future—the modest and progressive Fan Zhendong has always treated table tennis as a lifelong career to break through barriers and explore the future.
Until he was forced by schemers to leave the hero’s stage.
Intolerable Bullying
This is intolerable. The nation’s heroes are protected by the people, not to be arbitrarily humiliated by power. They forgot that power in grassroots sports comes from the masses, from all enthusiasts who love this sport, not from arrogant tournament organizers. When they repeatedly bully and extort heroes recognized by the people, the people will naturally vote with their feet.
Moreover, Fan Zhendong is no longer just an Olympic champion.
On December 27, 2024, from the moment Fan Zhendong proactively announced “withdrawing from world rankings, but not retiring,” Fan Zhendong’s name became a spiritual symbol. Fan Zhendong’s spiritual symbolism has far transcended the limitations of Olympic champion. He has grown into a representative of world-class honor in the national sport, tremendous appeal, and the affinity of a powerful circle of friends; a national hero who withstood pressure at critical moments, fought alone, and brought glory to the country; a new era Long March banner that always follows inner growth, is not tempted by material things, and persists in pursuing excellence.
And facing the unjust WTT tournaments with a bold strike—withdrawing from rankings in protest, willing to pay enormous costs to reputation and career—Fan Zhendong has become a peerless hero unique in the new era of sports. We must cherish his incomparable tremendous spiritual force. Given time, the Fan Zhendong spirit may become a spiritual driving force inspiring people forward in an era, and we are witnessing history.
A Broader Path
Such a patriotic hero with tremendous public appeal and spiritual inspiration should walk a broader path.
Fan Zhendong said: He hasn’t yet developed specific plans for his future career. I’m still me, I won’t retire. I’ll continue working hard to participate in more different competitions.
We love table tennis, and we love and support such a peerless hero from the grassroots even more. He is upright, willing to sacrifice everything, and unswervingly pursues the dreams and righteousness of table tennis.
Fan Zhendong’s dreams and righteousness are also the righteousness protected by the divine guardians in our hearts. Supporting Fan Zhendong’s career, defending his reputation, upholding his dreams, and helping him organize and participate in more table tennis projects to the best of our ability—this is the best tribute to a hero.
Tribute to the Hero
Greatness comes from the ordinary, heroes come from the people. Paying tribute to Fan Zhendong is both paying tribute to the light we’ve always pursued and affirming and recognizing all ordinary work.
Everyone is a creator of dreams, heroes are always in our hearts.