# Why does the PRC dominate ping pong?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-prc-dominate-ping-pong/644228>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [December 16, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-prc-dominate-ping-pong/644228 "2012-12-16T23:15:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-prc-dominate-ping-pong/644228/21 "2012-12-17T15:29:44Z")

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> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> Badmitton is another one of the sports that the Chinese dominate. It’s another one of those, set 'em up anywhere, doesn’t take any money kinda sports. (Damn, my Malaysia example was for badmitten and not for ping pong. :o )

Note that it’s neither “badmitton” nor “badmitten” but rather [Badminton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton).

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**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-prc-dominate-ping-pong/644228/22 "2012-12-28T00:17:02Z")

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> [@TonySinclair](#):
>
> Because there are so many Wings and Wongs, they might Wing the Wong number.
> 
> Oops, sorry, I thought this was the Chinese telephone thread.

Wing wing wing… “hewwo?”

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**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-prc-dominate-ping-pong/644228/23 "2012-12-29T21:51:24Z")

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Tony an Lukeinva - those are not funny racist stereotypes. Thanks for not using them again.

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**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-prc-dominate-ping-pong/644228/24 "2013-01-02T19:56:31Z")

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Well, for one thing, Chairman Mao was himself [an enthusiastic table tennis player](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mao_Zedong_ping_pong.jpg). And, as **Simplicio** said, the International Table Tennis Federation was one of the first international sporting bodies to recognize mainland China rather than Taiwan after the revolution. So Mao decided to make it the national sport of sorts, and when Mao said something…

A good overview [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/table-tennis/13341282).

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