Should He Zhili be forgiven for playing for Japan?

He Zhili and Hu Ziwei

Ye Yonglie, a science fiction writer and mainstream biographer, has kicked up a storm by defending He Zhili on his blog and in print over the last few weeks. He Zhili (何智丽), a world-champion pingpong player, left the Chinese national team after refusing to throw matches to teammates. She went to play for Japan in the 90s under the name Koyama Chire (小山智丽), adopting her husband’s surname.

She’s been attacked as a hanjian, and Ye has been attacked as well for defending her. Quoted in YWeekend (translation via ESWN), Ye remarks on the controversy:

After the essay was published by Xinmin Weekly, it was quickly posted at EastDay.com. I went there to look. There were more than 500 comments within two hours. Some of these angry young men were cursing very hard. I had stepped on a landmine inadvertently. Ha ha.

Some netizen voices:

· Ye Yonglie, it is not good for your reputation to be mixed up with a Chinese traitor!

· Great writer Ye, I used to admire you. But since you defend Chire Koyama, I must boycott you like I boycott Japanese goods.

· Mr. Ye lets his personal feelings overcome his sense of national righteousness. That is very unwise!

· In order to let Zhuang Zedong win three championships in a row, Li Furong also made the identical sacrifice. There is nothing wrong with putting the national interests ahead!

But it’s not just angry young men making a fuss online. Hu Ziwei, a Beijing TV program host, echoed similar sentiments in an op-ed that ran in yesterday’s Mirror:

Recently, a former science fiction writer wrote a few articles about Koyama Chire, bringing this controversial figure of the past back into a swirling argument. As for whether this author is truly acting out of a desire to give Koyama Chire a place to spend her waning years, or if he has some other motive, I will not be so rash as to speculate here. However, I believe that Koyama Chire should not be pardoned.

Koyama Chire is different from Jenny Lang Ping [current coach of the US national volleyball team]; Lang Ping is a professional athlete who has coached many clubs overseas. She handles volleyball and coaching overseas with an even mind and a spirit of true sportsmanship, but Koyama Chire acted out of self-interest and a mind for personal glory, and caused heartache for her compatriots through her defiance and betrayal. Bluntly put, victory over Chinese competitors became the motivation for her to vent her personal vengeance. She contintually lets loose with shouts of “Yes!” on the court, as piercing to our ears as “bakayarou.”

Some might say that throwing games violates principles of openness, fairness, and justice in athletic competitions. But actually this interpretation is superficial.

Think for a moment: suppose Koyama Chire was a famous football player, and the coach said, you must feed the ball to a forward and let the forwards shoot. Would Koyama Chire say, “I can shoot, too. Why are you letting them score and get all the glory?” Much of sportsmanship is an experience of teamwork and cooperation.

Some people might say that this is a product of the system at the time, but think for a moment: it was precisely that system that gathered the strength of the nation to train you, so how can you take the skills that the Chinese people spent their money to teach you, and then turn around to defeat Chinese people to wreak your vengeance?

You could say that to get revenge, Koyama Chire steeled herself for hardship, and after six years of painful waiting finally struck back. To some degree you could say that this exceeds the bounds of sportsmanship. And we have yet to see an apology from her for those events. The name Koyama Chire is still being used today.

Our tolerance is conditional. Some things cannot be forgiven, and history cannot be forgotten.

This piece assumes a certain degree of familiarity with the situation on the part of the reader; Hu Ziwei never calls He Zhili by her Chinese name. He’s decision to keep the surname Koyama even after her divorce has rubbed some people the wrong way, as Hu notes in her piece. Here’s Ye Yonglie’s explaination from his Xinmin Weekly article:

Many Chinese fans have a hard time understanding why she wold continue to use the Japanese name Koyama Chire even after her divorce from her ex-husband Koyama Hideyuki. He Zhili explains that the name “Koyama Chire” is quite well-known in Japan, and in addition, filing papers to change it would be a hassle. So she has never changed it.