People are curious to know when China first took part in the
Olympics. Some say it was at the very first Olympic Games in 1896,
or during the latter part of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when the
country was ruled by dowager Cixi (1835-1906). Upon receiving an
invitation from the International Olympic Committee, nobody at her
court knew what was meant by "Olympics." When she was eventually
told that it was a sports meet including running events, she burst
out laughing and said, "Well, we may send some of our eunuchs who
are running the court so well. They are good runners." Perhaps this
might be a mere idle tale about the unpopular dowager. It remains a
riddle whether the Qing court received a letter of invitation from
the IOC at all. In order to find an answer to this problem, Mr. Lu
Enchun, a coach of the Chinese gymnastics team, once went to the
Imperial Palace in Beijing to look into the Qing archives. But he
was completely at sea among the piles of documents. Similar effort
was made by some COC officials from a different angle in 1995 when
they visited the international Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The only
answer they got from the keeper was that not every country was
invited to the first Olympics.??
According to a relevant document available, it's more probable
than not that China was not invited to the first Olympic Games.
That's a book entitled "Li Hongzhang's Missions to Europe and
America." Li was Prime Minister of the Qing government and paid a
visit to Europe in 1896. He was informed by the French Foreign
Minister that the first Olympics were to be held in Europe, and it
was hoped that Li would be able to come to France again. But
nothing was mentioned about China being invited to the Olympic
Games.?
So when was China invited for the first time to the Olympics?
According to historical records, Chinese diplomat Wang Zhengting
was elected into the IOC in 1922. It was then that the sports
organization in China was formally recognized by the IOC. And it is
stipulated in the Olympic Charter that only an organization
recognized by the IOC may enter competitors in the Olympic Games.
It was not until 1932 when the 10th Olympic Games were held in Los
Angeles that China was invited for the first time to send athletes
for competition.
Four years before this, however, when the 9th Olympics were
scheduled to be held in Amsterdam in 1928, China had been invited
to send an observer to attend the opening ceremony — through a
diplomat named Song Ruhai. In addition, an overseas Chinese He
Haohua registered in a cycling race on behalf of his motherland.
Unfortunately, he was injured and hospitalized. Anyhow, he was the
first Chinese Olympian. In his Chinese History of Sports over the
Past Century, Prof. Wu Wenzhong confirms that China was first
represented by Song Ruhai at the Olympic Games in 1928- entirely in
the capacity of an observer. About this Song has written in his
book The World Games.
In spite of the presence of a Chinese official and a voluntary
competitor at the 9th Olympics, no delegation worthy of the name
had ever been sent by China to the Olympics until 1932. Even then,
the Chinese government had no real intention to take part in the
10th Olympic Games. It happened that the Japanese invaders had
occupied northeastern China and concocted the bogus Manchukuo. A
plot was afoot to send a promising athlete, Liu Changchun, to the
1932 Olympics in the name of the puppet regime in order to make it
accepted as a fait accompli. But the patriotic-minded athlete made
a statement in the newspaper L' Impartial, refusing to represent
the so-called Manchukuo at the Olympics.
Meanwhile, the well-known patriotic General Zhang Xueliang
exposed the Japanese aggressors' scheme and declared that he would
sponsor Liu Changchun to the Olympics representing China. He
announced at a graduation ceremony of Northeastern University that
Liu and his couch Song Junfu would participate in the 10th Olympic
Games on behalf of China.
General Zhang, who passed away in Honolulu, USA on October 15,
2001, has been held in high esteem by the Chinese people not only
as a great patriot, but also as the supporter of the first group of
Chinese to take part in the Olympics. Although eliminated in the
preliminary heats in the 100m and 200m sprints clocking 11.1 and
22.1 respectively, Liu has pioneered the way for China's
participation in the Olympics - a way full of twists and turns at
the time and henceforward.
?
(COC Website?? July 8, 2004)