The figure of a Chinese sportsman appeared at the Tenth Olympic Games held at Los Angeles of the United States of America in the year 1932. This was the first Chinese that had taken part in the Olympics. His name was Liu Changchun. His road to the Olympics, however, had not been level and smooth. After the September 18th Incident, which was the seizure of Shenyang by the Japanese aggressors on September 18th, 1931, as a step towards occupation by them of the entire northeastern part of China, the Japanese aggressors attempted to extricate themselves from isolation in the international arena by doing something to legitimize the puppet state they had set up that bore the name of Manchukuo. They knew that the international athletic competition had an influential position in the minds of people of the whole world. So they harbored the evil intention of making Liu Changchun participate in the Olympics on behalf of the puppet state Manchukuo. They employed various ignoble means to compel Liu Changchun to yield to their pressure. They kept close surveillance on Liu¡¯s whereabouts at first, and then followed up with the lure of a high position in the puppet regime and enormous remunerations. Contrary to their expectation, Liu Changchun was not awed by their power. Nor did he give in to their enticements. In a short time, he gave them a resounding counterattack on the newspaper Da Gong Bao. ¡°I am a child of the Chinese nation. I will never participate in the Tenth Olympic Games on behalf of the puppet state Manchukuo.¡± At the time when our motherland was being devastated, how could we tolerate interference by Japanese imperialism in our qualification for representation at the Olympics! The destiny of our nation was at that time closely tied up with that question, which was not simply concerned with sports only. The counterattack made by Liu Changchun gave a heavy blow to the aggressors and defended the dignity of our motherland.
The national government at Nanjing was busy with preparation for war at that time. It was in dread of the Japanese and did not dare to offend them. It, therefore, made the decision not to defray even at a single cent Liu Changchun¡¯s expenses at the Olympics. It was by relying on the amount of 1,600 US Dollars paid out of his own pocket by General Zhang Xueliang, who had all along been a champion for the development of China¡¯s sports, that Liu Changchun, with other five people in his group, was able to set out for Los Angeles.
On July 8, 1932, having overcome all the impediments in his path, Liu Changchun embarked at length on the ocean liner President Wilson, which was bound for Los Angeles. Tears streamed down his cheeks, as he looked at the throng of people waving farewell to him and at the rippling water in the Huangpu River. How difficult it was for Old China, beset with turbulences, to make her first stride towards the Olympics! Having jolted and tossed on the Pacific Ocean for 25 days and nights, the group of six people including Liu Changchun arrived at the port of Los Angeles without a hitch. Barely two days later, Liu Changchun already stood at the scratch for the 100-meter preliminary race. After the sounding of the starting gun, Liu Changchun, who was on the second track, had the lead in the race for the first 60 meters. But at the time of 70 meters he was caught up with, and later at 80 meters he was overtaken. He ended up in the fifth place among six competitors and was eliminated. This result was considered to be caused by the long voyage, during which there had been a lack of training. It didn¡¯t count very much anyhow. What was important was that a Chinese had come to take part in the Olympics. China had met the challenge and triumphed.
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