Olympic Invitation Letter and China of Olympic Invitation Letter.

When did China become attached to the Olympic Games? At present, there is a recorded view that "during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, 1896, before the first Summer Olympic Games was held in Athens, the Qing government received an invitation letter from the International Olympic Committee, but the officials of Guangxu, Cixi and Manchu did not reply because they did not know what an' Olympic Games' was, and China passed by the Olympic Games." In fact, later generations quoted "the Qing government received an invitation letter from the International Olympic Committee", which was slightly different. One view is that Coubertin, then secretary-general of the International Olympic Committee, entrusted the then French Minister to China to hand it over to the palace, while the other view is that Li Hongzhang personally presented it to the palace.

In addition, there are three expressions about the time when the invitation letter arrives at the palace: 1894, 1895 and 1896. According to the research of AARON Li, a scholar who studies the history of the Olympic Games, this view was first seen in the book A Brief History of Track and Field Competition in China published in 1930s, and Mr. Cui Lequan of China Sports Museum also held the same view.

According to AARON Li's recollection, when he read this book more than ten years ago, he not only saw the text inviting the Qing government to participate in the first Olympic Games, but also saw the eyebrows of Mr. Dong Shouyi (a member of the International Olympic Committee after the founding of New China): "It was possible, but I didn't find it." It seems that Mr Dong Shouyi is also very interested in this matter. Unfortunately, there is no trace of this book in Beijing Sport University, China Sports Museum or even the National Library. After many investigations and textual research, the reporter found Ms. Liu Guifang who works in the Literature Department of Tianjin Library. She deals with rare books of ancient books every day. In addition, sports in Tianjin flourished at the beginning of last century. Maybe she has read the book. Just one day later, I received a phone call from Ms. Liu and found the book! A 32-page booklet by Ruan Weicun was published by Tianjin Sports Weekly on 1933.

In the book, Ruan Weicun wrote: "Before the Athens Olympic Games, the China government received an ultimatum from the ambassador to China. Li Hongzhang was in charge of the cabinet at that time. Because China still doesn't know what track and field is at this time, it is almost impossible to answer the ultimatum of the French ambassador. " Ms Liu is a rigorous scholar. She reminded reporters, "This passage does not indicate the source."

It seems that at the latest in 1933, the view that "China became attached to the Olympic Games during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty" was circulated in China.

According to the introduction of Shanghai local chronicles, Ruan Weicun (191kloc-0/987), a native of Penglai, Shandong Province, is a sports editor and translator. I lived in Japan for many years when I was a teenager. He loves sports and once organized an overseas Chinese volleyball team in Osaka to dominate Japan. In 1930s, he was a special correspondent of Shenbao in Japan, writing sports articles for other newspapers. After the September 18th Incident, he returned to China and worked as an editor of Qinzheng Bookstore, compiling a large number of modern sports books and articles. He has written more than ten books, such as Sports Hygiene, A Brief History of China Track and Field Competition, First Aid for Sports Trauma, Baseball Training, and Five and Ten Training Methods. Among them, The History and Achievements of the Far East Games systematically and completely preserved the historical materials of the Far East Games. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he lived in Beijing and made a living by practicing medicine.