The father of professional sports in China
Print Edition
A founding father of physical education in China, Songjiang-born Wang Jilu (1880-1964) fostered the nation’s first generation of professional athletes.
In 1908, he established the School for Gymnastics in Shanghai, near today’s Yuyuan Garden. Two years later, a gymnastic school for girls was opened, the first of its kind in China. Tuition was free for students from poor families.
When the Revolution of 1911 broke out, led by Sun Yat-sen in an attempt to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, headmaster Wang led his students to participate in the struggle.
Because most of the girls at that time had bound feet, they came to be called “the bound feet army,” winning respect from local residents.
As numbers of students grew, the school was relocated to more spacious quarters on Baoshan Road in the Zhabei District. In 1919, Wang supported his students to take part in the May 4th Patriotic Movement to fight against imperialism and feudalism.
Meanwhile, he opened a primary school, which was tuition-free. In order to maintain the schools, Wang sold all of his properties. Within nine years, hundreds of students graduated, including China’s first generation of sports professionals.
Among them, Lu Lihua later went on to coach the nation’s first women’s basketball team, which won medals in Southeast Asia.
After exhausting all his savings on education, Wang transferred the schools to a student named Hua Haowu and went to work on the Shanghai Times until the newspaper was shut down.
After the founding of New China in 1949, Wang retired and lived in Shanghai until his death.
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