I just got back from China

[Pnachtwey]

I was there for 13 days on business but I was able to play in Beijing and Shanghai. I visited 4 different clubs.

You often hear players Cho after making good shots My Chinese experience is that player of often say Hao Cho to compliment the opponents shot. I never heard a player cho his own shot. The hao cho is said very fast as if if where almost a sneeze.

BTW, I am about a 1500-1600 player. I am pretty sure i was better than most of the Chinese I saw in the clubs. TT seems to be more of a social event for many of them. There were some coaches that were undeniably good at playing TT but I didn't think they were that good at being a coach. I think I could have done better at coaching.

Nore:
I played only one Chinese citizen. He had been trained but it seems he didn't know how to play against long pips. I took my cheapest paddle which was an LKT Instinct with 755 0x and LKT Pro XT. Even though the Chinese play was trained it seems that he had no clue about how to handle long pips.

I am 61 yrs old. Obviously I can't move like I could when I was 19 but I know so much more and my observations are accurate.

 

[Yang]

I am Chinese and I lived in the UK and China in the past. I would say that table tennis is much better organised in the amature level in Europe and the U.S. I saw much stronger players in a local club in London than players in clubs in Beijing. At professional level it is different story.

 

[bricephan]

My Korean coach used to say that there is not much different in training and coaching in EU between amateur and professional, but its huge in Asia, particularly in Korea as an example.

These videos are evidence:
1. Match between the No.1 amateur (Yoon) vs. Kim Min Seok (National team), 5-point was given as handicap, even though Yoon won the game, but its surely very tough even with 5 points handi. He won 'coz he is simply No.1 among amateur in Korea.

2. Match between Yoon vs. Ahn Jae Woo (professional until highschool and stopped pursuing table tennis as athlete, but rather do coaching instead), 2-point was given as handicap, and Yoon won effortlessly.

And this is No.2 (2012) among amateur vs. Ahn, 2-point was also given as handicap, and Ahn got his opponent easily. The point is, even though Ahn was just former professional (trained in professional way in highschool), but still his level is undeniably good compared to amateur training.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

In China, you have different kind of structures of clubs
I think the club you went to is an amateur one- aka social players

There is really a lot of different levels and don't be surprised that lots of people can't play table tennis or are very weak social players.

I think the problem is that with language + lack of marketing, the more known clubs are not known to the outer world. Mostly need people from the inner circle to bring you there, which can be one of the following:

Sports school types
University teams type
Training Centre/School types (private)
Training centre/semi pro teams type
Amateur club type but with high level players
Corporate teams type
Just to name a few

Also note, some times the centre does have "top level" players, but they train at times where the centre is reserved for teams, while they are not around when the centre is opened for public players.

The How Cho part = nice ball, beautifull shot etc is just habbit.
I know different people have different kind of habbit.
ie Deng Yaping would compliment herself with "beautiful" when ever she has a good shot

 

[Baal]

In China, it very much depends on what club you go to. There are so many. I know of a club in Beijing where the average player is >2200, and I saw some that were at least 2400 (amateur but formerly trained very heavily), Tony would classify this as an amateur club with high level players. Judy Long, former Canadian national team member sometimes plays and coaches there. Oddly enough, kind of a shabby place at a lot of levels, in a basement, but the tables and lighting are fantastic. But I also know another place not that far away from the first one, much more "upscale" in appearance, where you would be lucky to find someone at 1700. Same thing in the other Chinese city where I travel frequently. Hao cho just means "good shot". If you hit a really good one, they may say "piao liang" which means "beautiful" or "splendid" when applied to ping pong.

Edit. I once got to play with women's team at Peking University, some colleagues arranged that for me. This was in 2008. I remember well getting chopped down into potato salad by one lady defender I played with there. I am pretty sure she would have chopped down anybody at my club in Houston except maybe for Jimmy Butler. Played at another university in Hefei in Anhui province (for science and technology). Horrible place to play. White wall, white floors, white balls, windows to let in just enough glare on shiny Double Fish tables, no AC and it was summer. I was the best player at the place that day. I am pretty sure good players new better than to play there.

 

[Der_Echte]

Haha, I though Pnachtweh was gunna start singing "I just had..." leaving a TT challenged area and being some place where there is more TT action than you can shake a stick at is exhillerating to say the least.

Good chance dude and that is fun stuff.

 

[Pnachtwey]

In China, you have different kind of structures of clubs[/COLOR]
I think the club you went to is an amateur one- aka social players

Yes, I think all four clubs were "social" clubs.
What surprised me was:
1. The variation of the clubs. Two in Shanghai was at the intersection of Yaunshen and Weifang in the Pudong area close to the bend in the river.
One of these clubs had 24 tables in a huge room. This was definitely a social club. Most players were what we would call basement or garage type players.
2. I was also surprised how the players compliment the others good shots say hao cho instead of yelling cho as a victory yell. This is much more polite.
3: TT equipment is much more expensive when buying from a club.
4: I like being able to rent a table in a small room. It isn't as noisy and one doesn't have to chase the balls as far. The hall with 24 tables would sometime require chasing balls over long distance and they don't turn on the lights over unused tables so you chase balls in the dark.

It is good to be home so I can watch TT on Youtube and breathe clean air.
I am still coughing trying to clear my lungs.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

lol, totally forgotten about the air quality
haha

welcome back to breathable air

Did you wear a face mask when outside?

 

[Pnachtwey]

yes, I have a 3M face mask that filters out VOCs and particulates. I look like a big bug. The hospital masks don't work. However I couldn't wear my mask all the time. the air is still bad in doors too. I still have a cough. Tianjin was very bad. I don't see how people can live there let alone raise kids. when I flew from Shenyang to Shanghai all one can see below is smog unless over the ocean. My distributor's wife is a nurse in Beijing. lung cancer is a big problem. It is hazardous duty going to China.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

yes, I have a 3M face mask that filters out VOCs and particulates. I look like a big bug. The hospital masks don't work. However I couldn't wear my mask all the time. the air is still bad in doors too. I still have a cough. Tianjin was very bad. I don't see how people can live there let alone raise kids. when I flew from Shenyang to Shanghai all one can see below is smog unless over the ocean. My distributor's wife is a nurse in Beijing. lung cancer is a big problem. It is hazardous duty going to China.

Yes, this is a sad reality.
The world hears or knows of this, but until one actually visits there, they will never know how scary it is.

The country did a lot of urbanisation and economical growth, but I think air polution factor wasn't factored in and now they are in trouble.....

This is one of the reasons why Chinese want to send they kids overseas - for a better environment.
It is sad where your home becomes "unliveable" or heading into that direction