This book retraces the trajectory of elite sport governance of China during the tumultuous decade of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (mid-1960s to 1976). In doing so, it seeks to fill the blank spaces that still exist amidst and between official narratives and public memory, which so far have focused on high-profile events such as the China-U.S. ping-pong diplomacy. Moments of immense pain and glory alternated and intermingled on this non-linear trajectory of pursuing Maoist sport. It also probes Chinese sportspersons’ attempts at navigating the perilous sociopolitical landscape and their actions’ contribution to and limitations in shifting the direction of Chinese sport governance and beyond. Indeed, their status of cultural ambassadors and trailblazers in the mid-1970s came at a hefty individual and collective price.
By shedding light on the untold stories of Chinese elite sport governance and select sportspersons during this time, this book intends to demythicize Chinese sport during the Cultural Revolution and recount the damages and trauma inflicted by the movement that fueled and accompanied – yet was quickly overshadowed by – the country’s celebrated ascent in international sport and world politics.