World-class pingpong museum showcases the best of the sport
The International Table Tennis Federation Museum and China Table Tennis Museum opened in Shanghai last month.
It is China’s first world-class sports museum and is located next to the World Expo Museum in Huangpu District.
The museum was previously in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the International Table Tennis Federation is based.
The museum in Switzerland had collected more than 8,000 items related to the sport, while keeping a record of the history of the sport.
“But the interest in Switzerland was not great ... only a few thousand visitors,” said Chuck Hoey, former curator of the museum.
Due to limited visitors in Lausanne and China’s contributions to the development of table tennis, the federation decided in 2014 to move the museum to Shanghai, which was planning the China Table Tennis Museum around the same time.
The government then decided to put the two museums in one building.
The project, managed by the Shanghai University of Sport, started on July 22, 2016 and was completed on February 5 this year.
Taking up 5,000 square meters of floor area and a total construction area of 10,389 square meters.
The exhibition zone showcases international and Chinese table tennis culture and has an area reserved for the sport’s heros.
The international area has more than 8,000 exhibits, including the Foster Set, the first set of table, net, rackets and balls for the sport produced in 1890 in the UK.
They included a pair of wood rackets with original oil paintings featuring a man and a woman playing table tennis — items collected by Hoey, who spent almost 10 years trying to persuade the collector to give it to the museum.
Visitors will also get to see the world’s first pair of table tennis rackets shaped like those used in tennis now but in smaller size, the first ball made of rubber and the tools used by British ladies to pick up the balls from the floor.
Another section will profile players who have won at least five world championships.
The China section has more than 3,000 exhibits that throw light on how the sport was introduced in China around 1901 and developed into a national sport.
There is a postcard which was sent by a German in Tianjin to a friend in Belgium in 1902, saying that he saw almost all European families in Tianjin playing table tennis.
A racket painted with the images of Chairman Mao Zedong and former US President Richard Nixon is also part of the exhibit. Their meeting popularized the term of pingpong diplomacy.
Items belonging to famous Chinese players such as Deng Yaping’s T-shirt and a pair of sneakers worn by Zhang Jike are on display.
In the interactive section, visitors can hone their pingpong skills by imitating the movements on the screens, or play against world champions via VR or against robots.
Hoey, who spent over 40 years collecting items related to the sport across the world, is glad to see the museum move from 10 rooms in an old chateau in Lausanne to the three-floor building in Shanghai.
He said Shanghai was the best location to give a new life to the museum.
“China is where the sport is loved and which has a great and long tradition of success by their athletes,” he said. “Many more people can enjoy the museum in China, and my expectations are very high.”