I’m delighted to hear your perspective. As a fan of Lin Gaoyuan—whom I’ve actually met in person during the Chinese Table Tennis Super League—I can say he was largely the one who introduced me to the world of table tennis.
We hold a pessimistic view regarding the future international standing of Chinese table tennis.
China’s past dominance relied heavily on the "sports school" system—a structure that emerged from China's unique national circumstances in pursuit of becoming a sports powerhouse. Data shows that at the system's peak, 1.8% of children aged 6 to 17 attended these schools—an incredibly high proportion given that China had a youth population of 200 million at the time (you can look up the specific figures yourself; I won't go into further detail here).
Consequently, the Chinese champions you recognize—Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Kong Linghui, Ding Ning, Li Xiaoxia, and Liu Shiwen—
almost all rose through the ranks from local sports schools to the national team. The competition they faced was likely fiercer than that faced by athletes anywhere else in the world.
The last famous athlete to emerge from this sports school system was Fan Zhendong.
After the year 2000, China's sports school system gradually collapsed. Parents preferred sending their children to regular primary and junior high schools, hoping they could improve their lives by eventually attending university.
As a result, the collapse of the sports school system shrank the talent pool for table tennis to just one-tenth of its original size.
Turning to the national team: factional infighting exists everywhere, and the national team is no exception. This was particularly true after the "81 Team" (PLA team) was disbanded, when influence within the national team shifted to the Beijing Team. Key figures from the Beijing Team—such as Liu Guoliang, Ma Long, and Wang Chuqin—held sway. To ensure a successor for Ma Long, Wang Chuqin received superior resources; despite frequently being eliminated in qualifiers, he was still paired with Ma Long to win the World Championship doubles title. He progressed through men's doubles and mixed doubles—even being assigned Xiao Zhan as a coach (Xiao Zhan had previously coached Wang Manyu, but the Beijing Team secured Beijing *hukou*—residency status—for his child)—and eventually qualified for singles events through his mixed doubles success. While he certainly worked hard, his early achievements relied heavily on illegal, obscured serves. All true Chinese fans criticized him for this. On another note, while table tennis commands huge attention in China, the actual level of professionalization remains very low. As a developing nation, most adults are preoccupied with making a living and simply lack the spare time to actively support the sport. Since 2017, the national team has effectively operated independently of the Sports Commission regarding direct oversight and funding; the "National Team" label is now largely nominal. They must cover all expenses for training, competitions, and medical care themselves. Liu Guoliang recognized the potential of the "fan economy" in Zhang Jike and exploited him to the limit. Zhang Jike’s athletic career should not have been cut so short; he is of the same generation as Ma Long and Xu Xin.
Later, Liu Guoliang employed the same strategy to market Sun Yingsha and Wang Chu钦 (Wang Chuqin) as a "shippable" duo. In China, "fans" (in the celebrity-culture sense) far outnumber genuine sports enthusiasts. When it comes to WTT tickets, these "shippers" are far more fanatical than true table tennis fans. It is frustrating for us; they don't care about the sport itself—they only care about when the two players might get married.
The Beijing team couldn't allow the title of "greatest of all time" to go to the Shanghai team, so Fan Zhendong was prevented from becoming the undisputed number one.
Looking at the landscape today, aside from Lin Shidong—who has a shot thanks to his own talent—other Chinese players (on the men's side) have fallen completely behind their Japanese counterparts.
In short, the current situation in China is defined by contradictions: the economic constraints of a developing nation that cannot fully sustain professional sports, and factional infighting that leads to unequal resource allocation.
There is little we can do about it, though on reflection, it is not a bad thing that players from other countries now have the ability to compete for world titles.
"Each generation produces its own talents; each holds the spotlight for an era."
