In a sentence

She relied not on power but on leaving opponents unable to guess the spin on her next ball.

Playing style

  • Extremely rich variation in spin and placement, often changing the rhythm abruptly
  • Fine touch, able to produce completely different balls from the same motion
  • Strong tactical awareness, good at switching patterns to suit different opponents

Career and key moments

In the women’s team final of the 33rd World Championships in 1977, China against South Korea, she scored two points on her own, both narrow wins over the chopper Chung Hyun-sook, and was the leading force as China reclaimed the Corbillon Cup after a ten-year gap. At the 35th World Championships in 1979 she reached the top in women’s singles. In that era, China’s ability to handle unusual styles rested heavily on players as varied as she was.

What she left the game

Her presence reminds later generations that there should never be only one technical path. China’s long lead in table tennis never came from a single style, but from being able to produce players of every type.

In a sentence: The hardest ball to deal with is often not the fastest, but the most unfamiliar.