Rong Guotuan

Rong Guotuan (; August 10, 1937 – June 20, 1968) was a Chinese table tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 1959 World Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, the first world championship winner representing the People's Republic of China. During the Cultural Revolution, Rong was persecuted as a "spy suspect". He committed suicide on June 20, 1968.

Early years Rong Guotuan was born in British Hong Kong in 1937, with family roots from Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China. Chinese men's team faced Hungary at the semifinals of the team competition. Rong lost to Zoltán Berczik, the 1958 European champion, in three games. He defeated Laszlo Foldy but lost to the 1953 World Championships winner Ferenc Sidó at the eighth team match. The Chinese team was defeated by Hungary, 3–5.

In men's singles competition, Rong recorded seven straight wins (including defeated Berczik in quarter-final and Sidó in final) to clinch the men's world championship. He became the first world championship winner after the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), having been recruited to the PRC by Chen Yi and He Long. The first table tennis ball Double Happiness (DHS, ) made in China for international competitions was named after Rong's victory at the Championships and the tenth anniversary of the PRC's establishment in 1959.

At the 1961 World Table Tennis Championships in Beijing, Rong helped Chinese men's team win the first team title by defeating Japan and Hungary in the finals. After 1964, he worked as the coach of Chinese women's team. Rong Guotuan and other members of the national team, Fu Qifang and Jiang Yongning, were placed under house arrest by Red Guards. They were each condemned on trumped-up charges of spying and subjected to torture and public humiliation. Fu and Jiang killed themselves after sustained periods of detention and torture in 1968. Rong also killed himself.

In 1978, the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission rehabilitated Rong Guotuan's honor. In 1987, a bronze statue of Rong was built in his ancestral home, Zhuhai.