Zhuang Zedong, the former world table tennis champion, and his Japanese wife, Sasaki Atsuko, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their wedding on December 19, 2007 in Beijing. Many local celebrities were invited to the ceremony.Chinannews, Beijing, December 20 – Zhuang Zedong, the former world table tennis champion, and his Japanese wife, Sasaki Atsuko, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their wedding on December 19, 2007 in Beijing. Many local celebrities were invited to the ceremony.If there had not been the support and approval of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, Zhuang and Sasaki’s maariage could not have become a reality.Zhuang first met Sasaki when he was there to participate in a world talbe tennis championship in 1969 in Japan. Sasaki was born in China, and her father passed away in China in 1962. Sasaki returned to China to work with a Japanese company in Beijing in 1978, then still a single woman.Zhuang divorced famed pianist Bao Huiqiao in February, 1985, at that time when China had just opened to the outside world, cross-cultural marriage was still very rare. So when his remarriage was brought up, higher authorities thought it was improper for Zhuang to marry a Japanese woman. As a last resort, Zhuang sent an application for marriage with Sasaki to Li Ruihuan, the mayor of Tianjin at that time and also the honorary chairman of China Table Tennis Association, saying that their love was true, and that Sasaki would choose Chinese nationality, in order only to marry him.Zhuang’s application was passed on to Deng Xiaoping, and with Deng’s approval, the two lovers were able to tie the knot at last.