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In _Ping Pong: The Animation_ , Wenge is a Chinese exchange student who came
to Japan to work his way back up to the Chinese national team (he hopes to win
nationals, etc.).

However, what got him kicked off the Chinese national team to begin with? Is
this ever discussed?


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question
ping-pong
Why did Wenge get kicked off the Chinese national team?


Based on almost all of his character introductions in Japanese (e.g. [Japanese
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%94%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9D%E3%83%B3_\(%E6%BC%AB%E7%94%BB\)#.E8.BE.BB.E5.A0.82.E5.AD.A6.E9.99.A2.E9.AB.98.E6.A0.A1)),
Kong Wenge was previously an elite player from Shanghai Junior Youth team, but
lost. Another source ([Miho Cinema - a Japanese movie review
site](http://mihocinema.com/pinpon-6280)) even mentioned that he failed to
reach the top in China.

According to [Quora](https://www.quora.com/Are-Chinese-athletes-actually-
punished-for-not-performing-well-enough-in-the-Olympics), this seems to be
true even in real-life.

>   * As for professional athletes, a medal brings about reputation and
> advertising incomes. Competition is their career. So if an athlete doesn't
> perform well, he/she will be out of the sight of people and has problems
> earning a living.
>
>   * [...] in a collectivist culture like China, failure in itself is a
> terrible punishment- wrought from within, and implicitly from the rest of
> society. You have failed your parents, your family, your community, your
> heritage- the money, time, effort and goodwill that has been invested in
> you. You have let everyone down. Hang your head in shame.
>
>   * Only in the sense they might be cut from the team, at which point they
> find themselves without a purpose and largely unemployable in one of the
> world's most competitive job markets.
>
>


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answer