10 of Shanghai's best sporting superstars

When someone says “Shanghai sports," the first names on almost anyone's lips are the city's two precious "sons": Yao Ming and Liu Xiang. However, in the city's hundred-plus years of sport history, there are many names that deserve attention.

As the 16th Asian Games kicks off in Guangzhou, we look at the 10 Shanghai athletes you should know besides Yao Ming and Liu Xiang.

1. Li Furong

Born in Shanghai in 1942, table tennis player Li Furong is as well known for being handsome as well as a tough competitor, earning him the nickname that literally translates to "The handsome man plus bomber."

He is one of the most well known table tennis players in Chinese history.

Since 1961, Li Furong played five times on behalf of the Chinese table tennis team in the World Table Tennis Championships. He was runner-up three times at men's singles and also won third place in the men's doubles together with partners Zhuang Zedong and Wang Jiasheng. 

At the 28th World Tab;e Tennis Championships, held in the former Yugoslavia in 1965, Li truly broke onto the international stage with a win there, the international press calling him “an idol with real talent.” 

Li Furong was also one of the main players at the Sino-U.S. table tennis diplomacy event in 1971.

2. Li Huitang

Before 1949, almost every football fan in Shanghai knew the name Li Huitang. A popular catchphrase at the time was: "Mei Lanfang for opera and Li Huitang for football."

Known as the "East Asian Number One," during his 12-year career Li represented China in the Far East Games four times and won the championship each time.

Li was born in Hong Kong and later moved to Shanghai. His time in Shanghai was the peak of his career, giving him the popular title “Football king of a generation."

Leading the Chinese football team in their first win against a foreign league championship team, Li's success with the team generated waves of support for Shanghai football.

“Li Huitang, is a great contributor to Chinese football,” wrote a pre-1949 well-known publication, "a messenger that connects Shanghai and Hong Kong football. He is one of the greatest Shanghai and Chinese footballers in history.” 

3. Zhu Jianhua

Any older Shanghai native will still remember Shanghai's Zhu Jianhua, the Liu Xiang of track and field in the 1980s. The only difference is, he was a high jumper.

Zhu broke the world high jump record three times in two years.

In 1983, he jumped over 2.37 meters at the Fifth National Games in the preliminary round, setting a new world record. He would go on to reach 2.39 meters in 1984.

Zhu's world record stood until 1985 when Rudolf Povarnitsyn beat it by one centimeter.

4. Zhuang Yong

One of the Chinese national swim team's five “golden flowers” and Olympic swimming champion, Zhuang Yong was born in Shanghai.

Zhuang started swimming when she was in kindergarten. Although her parents didn't know much about sports, according to Zhuang, her "water-addicted” aunt used to force her to swim every summer. Zhuang soon became more than comfortable in the water than out of it.

Zhuang won the 100-meter freestyle gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, China's first gold medal in swimming.

She also won the 100-meter freestyle gold medal at the 1990 Asia Games and the 1987 National Games. She also won silver medals in the 50 meter freestyle and 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay at the  Barcelona Olympic Games.

Now, Zhuang Yong runs her own advertising company, which is China's largest LED operator.

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