system
The dark days of the Cultural Revolution may not mean much to China's current batch of little emperors, but the harsh language and punishments of the era occasionally echo through the corridors of the national team training centres.
Intensely strict discipline is seen as an integral part of the success formula for all Chinese sports coaches, but nowhere does it go to such extreme levels as in the seemingly genteel world of table tennis.
Chen Qi, an Olympic men's doubles champion, felt the full brunt of that policy this week. He reached the Asia Cup final in Japan on March 5 but ultimately lost out to compatriot Wang Hao. After the winning point, Chen threw the ball to the ground and walked away in bitter disappointment, booting a chair into the air on the way.
Chinese sports officials, to put it mildly, do not take kindly to tantrum throwers and wannabe John McEnroes. Shocked at his unsporting behaviour they called a criticism session and plotted the young man's punishment.
With language straight from the Gang of Four, officials came forth and said the star would be banished to a poverty-stricken area of the countryside for a period of a week or more where he would be 're-educated through labour'. Only through extreme hardship could this wayward soldier possibly realise the errors of his ways, they said.