Help my boredom—— QnA thread

Hey great people of this forum!
Recently, China is taking “conservative” measures to control the Covid wave in Beijing, and everything is locked down. I haven’t played TT in 3 weeks, and all the stores closed so no more EJing. This will probably last a few more weeks, so I’ve turned to TTD to pass the time.
I’ve created this thread to answer some questions. I would happily give the best answer to my knowledge about TT culture in China, popular equipment here, and prices and stuff. Even questions about life in China, and how competitive TT is here. I will answer to the best of my ability!
Thanks!

Hey, PingBirdPong. Thanks for starting this thread, very interesting read.
Could you please satisfy my curiosity a bit as well? :)
I was always questioning myself on the stance in table tennis and still interested in the answer on the question: how low should the stance in table tennis be? Does the stance actually affect the relaxation of the upper body ? Do you have any info on what Chinese coaches say regarding this?
Thanks a lot.

 
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PingBirdPong has done very well in this thread, much more than a 15 year-old in a completely different language. And we can see he is a good player as well.

You don't have to answer all the questions, PingBirdPong, this is not your job. Some questions belongs to people in the table tennis industry, it is their job to consider the future of table tennis.

When I am trying to find more training resources, I have watched many videos from China. I understand that a lot of retired pro players and semi-pro players or even retired CNT players are playing casual games at normal clubs or in communities. This is very good to promote the whole level of playing. Have you ever played against them?
 
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Hey, PingBirdPong. Thanks for starting this thread, very interesting read.
Could you please satisfy my curiosity a bit as well? :)
I was always questioning myself on the stance in table tennis and still interested in the answer on the question: how low should the stance in table tennis be? Does the stance actually affect the relaxation of the upper body ? Do you have any info on what Chinese coaches say regarding this?
Thanks a lot.

When you are saying how low, do you know what is in my mind? Dima serve VS Hugo receive!😆

 
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Hey, PingBirdPong. Thanks for starting this thread, very interesting read.
Could you please satisfy my curiosity a bit as well? :)
I was always questioning myself on the stance in table tennis and still interested in the answer on the question: how low should the stance in table tennis be? Does the stance actually affect the relaxation of the upper body ? Do you have any info on what Chinese coaches say regarding this?
Thanks a lot.

Well, for me, 191cm (6’3”)tall, the lower the better.
My coach told me to keep my eye around net level when receiving, and as low as I feel comfortable going when playing.
But in practice, I’m never low enough😅

 
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PingBirdPong has done very well in this thread, much more than a 15 year-old in a completely different language. And we can see he is a good player as well.

You don't have to answer all the questions, PingBirdPong, this is not your job. Some questions belongs to people in the table tennis industry, it is their job to consider the future of table tennis.

When I am trying to find more training resources, I have watched many videos from China. I understand that a lot of retired pro players and semi-pro players or even retired CNT players are playing casual games at normal clubs or in communities. This is very good to promote the whole level of playing. Have you ever played against them?
Thank you for the kind words!
I haven’t played against anyone I know of. But Deng Yaping and some other pros have come to our school a few times. They only play with the school team.

 
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This has changed a lot in China in the past 15 years.
Not just for academics, but also diluted by other sports too.

30-40 years ago, China in general was still very 3rd world and sports (TT) was a get out of poverty ticket.
Fast forward today, you need to have money to do well, as those coaches aren't cheap (for private training).
And of course there are so much more sporting options today.

From coaches who coach in the provincial setup, they said the feed from sport schools has weakened/reduced over the years.
But from Chinese netizens/fans, they all disagree and say its stronger than ever before (I think they won't say anything bad about China).

Funny enough, Sweden wise, I talked to a former junior coach not so long ago, and today he is still very involved with TT in the world - including Sweden.
And he said, TT in Swedish schools has died out compared to when he was still playing (I guess he is in his 40-50s today) and it is just a few clubs holding the sport alive. He also said the club member base has shrunk (i can't remember the figures he gave me)

And to other sporting strong countries like Japan and Taiwan - where education focus has a high priority - they actually pushing for more kids to be involved with sports.
So in Taiwan, more and more "normal" elementary schools have started TT teams (thus opening up employment opportunities for coaches) and thus making Taiwan one of the strongest elementary school table tennis system in the world (maybe only behind Japan). Of course in Taiwan, Badminton is also doing well, but the court size is a challenge, whereby TT, you will always be able to clear a basement and put 6 to 10 tables in.

However, in Taiwan, Education is still a big factor, so after elementary, a big portion (over 50%) will stop playing, while a minority of them will continue in sport school options, while the majority other will just continue a "b grade' or just "fun".
That is for 3 years of junior high (gr 7-9)
then for senior high, maybe the same dropout ratio.
So it is also an up or out - out for academics reasoning.

and mind you, Taiwan of the countries I've listed is the only one that doesn't have a Pro system (league) for players to pursue (there is no professional team/club), all the success is self funded, with of course some help from gov/corporates along the way.

Let me add, of those that stay in the TT sport schooling system, if they are A grade, they can end up coaching at elementary schools and earn over double of what a normal university degree graduate with get (so that isn't bad)
But the working hours is afternoon and evenings, and including Saturdays.
Sundays too when there is tournaments.

Good to know what’s happening in other countries. The TT game rush has died down here in China even comparing to my childhood. Seems that high level TT has become less popular because more people find an education to be more rewarding in wealth. A lot of other sports also pay better, and the competition is much easier.
An example is soccer(football, or whatever you call the sport where you try and kick opponents in the nuts while pretending to kick a ball into a goal). The Chinese soccer players train 1/100th as hard as the TT team, and they have 1/200th the awards, but they get paid more than 10 times higher than the TT national team.
I think the schoolmates I have now are the ones that split from the professional route after elementary school and chose to use their skill to get better education. That is why they aren’t in a sports school or the provincial team.
I hope that answers your question, and I apologize for my exclamation earlier.
Now I have a question for you:
Do foreigners commonly view Taiwan as a separate country? We are taught in the textbooks that it is a province. It’s interesting and kind of weird to me how different the views are, and I’d like to hear your opinion.

 
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Interesting to hear! as a physiotherapystudent and 30 year old coach in my free time, i also feel we have big problem that kids move much less in general so their motor control is much worse than generations ago which serious limit their ability to learn hard tabletennis technique. I can imagine it is the same in the whole world, aswell in asia?

Kids in far east, easily start school at 8 finish at 4, and then have 3 to 5 hours of extra leason.
after homework is done, it is 10pm
and this is elementary school.

so - motor control? I think they really lack anything other than school books

 
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Good to know what’s happening in other countries. The TT game rush has died down here in China even comparing to my childhood. Seems that high level TT has become less popular because more people find an education to be more rewarding in wealth. A lot of other sports also pay better, and the competition is much easier.
An example is soccer(football, or whatever you call the sport where you try and kick opponents in the nuts while pretending to kick a ball into a goal). The Chinese soccer players train 1/100th as hard as the TT team, and they have 1/200th the awards, but they get paid more than 10 times higher than the TT national team.
I think the schoolmates I have now are the ones that split from the professional route after elementary school and chose to use their skill to get better education. That is why they aren’t in a sports school or the provincial team.
I hope that answers your question, and I apologize for my exclamation earlier.
Now I have a question for you:
Do foreigners commonly view Taiwan as a separate country? We are taught in the textbooks that it is a province. It’s interesting and kind of weird to me how different the views are, and I’d like to hear your opinion.

You right.
the reward for TT is too difficult.
Top 10 in the WR earns nothing. In tennis a top 100 earns more than our top 10 combine in terms of prize money.

Taiwan - well obviously in your school books, you would have information that is approved by the central gov.
But since everyone now can VPN out, you can get all the information you need and compare for yourself.

Few questions to ask, is have PRC ever set foot/owned/govern Taiwan?
Taiwan is gov by ROC now, before that was Japan (Japan surrender Taiwan to allied forces - including ROC) and before that was Qing.
PRC says, they defeated ROC so ROC does not exist today, so everything that was ROC belongs to PRC.
ROC says they still exist today. PRC say, no you don't.

so, its a matter of technical words and that could lead to world war 3.
Peace is hard to come by nowadays.

 
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I will answer to the best of my ability!
One more question that's on my mind. As far as I know most players in China use Hurricane 3 on the forehand.
Does it matter whether I buy Provincial NEO version and skip boosting or non-NEO version and boost it myself? What do most players do ? It's cheaper to buy non-NEO version, hence the question :)

 
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One more question that's on my mind. As far as I know most players in China use Hurricane 3 on the forehand.
Does it matter whether I buy Provincial NEO version and skip boosting or non-NEO version and boost it myself? What do most players do ? It's cheaper to buy non-NEO version, hence the question :)

Whatever you like!

 
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One more question that's on my mind. As far as I know most players in China use Hurricane 3 on the forehand.
Does it matter whether I buy Provincial NEO version and skip boosting or non-NEO version and boost it myself? What do most players do ? It's cheaper to buy non-NEO version, hence the question :)

The topsheet are the same. If your sponge is the same, then there is no difference other than that booster layer.
Most pros will boost directly onto the sponge, if it is Neo, they will remove the factory booster first.

So to answer your question straight is, doesn't matter what you buy, but important is what you do next.
The factory boost is very weak, so if anyone is wanting to go that route, it won't make sense to use it.

However when comes to choosing sponge height and hardness, ie 2.1mm vs 2.15mm vs 2.2mm, then also based on stock availability, you could be forced to go with the one that is available.

 
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Are you guys still under lockdown?

Heard Shanghai has opened up? not sure what is true and what is not nowadays.

Sigh…
I think Shanghai did open up.
We are still sealed up real tight. We have to do COVID tests every day, and stay at home.
People say the city is keeping the status for the two most important academic exams in June. Probably opens up in mid June.

 
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Sigh…
I think Shanghai did open up.
We are still sealed up real tight. We have to do COVID tests every day, and stay at home.
People say the city is keeping the status for the two most important academic exams in June. Probably opens up in mid June.

Oh yeah, if I remember correctly 高考 is in just a few days, then 中考 would be next?

 
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Sigh…
I think Shanghai did open up.
We are still sealed up real tight. We have to do COVID tests every day, and stay at home.
People say the city is keeping the status for the two most important academic exams in June. Probably opens up in mid June.

Don't want to bring in politics, but I heard it is the 2 powers/fractions at war with each other.
Shanghai gang vs Beijing gang

Not sure how much of the above is true, but end of the day, every citizen is just a sheep and a handful of people are calling the shots (and if you don't listen to them, you are in big big trouble).

I'm quite amazed that civil unrest haven't broken out yet.... (how is the emotions/feelings there? are you allowed to talk about it? We don't want you to end up disappeared)

It is 2022, not 2020....
2020, there was no knowledge, no vaccines, no medicine, no expierence
2022 you have all of the above and if you can't find a way to co-exist, what about 2023, 2024 and 2025?

 
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Don't want to bring in politics, but I heard it is the 2 powers/fractions at war with each other.
Shanghai gang vs Beijing gang

Not sure how much of the above is true, but end of the day, every citizen is just a sheep and a handful of people are calling the shots (and if you don't listen to them, you are in big big trouble).

I'm quite amazed that civil unrest haven't broken out yet.... (how is the emotions/feelings there? are you allowed to talk about it? We don't want you to end up disappeared)

It is 2022, not 2020....
2020, there was no knowledge, no vaccines, no medicine, no expierence
2022 you have all of the above and if you can't find a way to co-exist, what about 2023, 2024 and 2025?

What I understand is that Shanghai is different from Beijing. Shanghai can frick up because only economy will be lost, Beijing must not F up because a lot more is at stake.
The society seems surprisingly calm. Probably because most of our news paints the western freedom as disregard for human life.

I have my own doubts and questions, but I don’t like to discuss politics anywhere public. I’ll answer without personal opinion.

 
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What I understand is that Shanghai is different from Beijing. Shanghai can frick up because only economy will be lost, Beijing must not F up because a lot more is at stake.
The society seems surprisingly calm. Probably because most of our news paints the western freedom as disregard for human life.

I have my own doubts and questions, but I don’t like to discuss politics anywhere public. I’ll answer without personal opinion.

Why don't you like to discuss politics in public if I may ask?

 
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If I am in China, I also won't be discussing any politics in public (including internet).
And I sure won't bad mouth anyone there too

@PingBirdPong If that is how things really are then I hope that gives you one answer to your question in post #23 of this thread.

 
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