"Western boxing in China is now revived!"
“中国拳击运动现在正式恢复！”
More than two decades ago when Menghua Li, the Director of National Sports Committee declared in a resonant voice filling up the sky, it turned a whole new chapter in the story of Chinese western boxing.
20多年前，当国家体委主任李梦华宣布这一响彻云霄的决定后，中国拳击从此掀开了崭新的一页。
By the turn of the year 2006, China has depicted a tale of two decades since the rebirth of the sweet science, two decades of renaissance and reforms, two decades of smiles and tears, two decades of challenges and achievements.
及至2006年，中国拳击运动自恢复以后经历了20年沧海桑田——20年的复兴与改革，20年的欢笑与泪水，20年的挑战与成就。
International Debut
亮相国际舞台
The year 1986 and 1987 are two significant years for Chinese western boxing.
In March 1986, boxing officially returned to validity. The next year in April, the China Boxing Association was officially founded. In May, the first national boxing championships were held and in June, the China Boxing Association was officially admitted into the International Amateur Boxing Association as the 159th member.
From then on, China began to appear on the international boxing stage.
1986年与1987年对中国拳击运动而言是两个极具历史意义的重要年份。1986年3月，拳击运动正式恢复。1987年4月，中国拳击协会成立。同年5月，首届全国拳击锦标赛在南京成功举办。6月，中国拳击协会被国际业余拳击联合会正式接纳为第159名会员。自此，中国开始在国际拳击舞台上正式亮相。
The Chinese national boxing team had taken part in a number of international boxing events during this period of time including the Pyongyang International Invitational Boxing Tournament in August in which China reaped two bronze medals.
这段时期，中国拳手频频亮相国际赛场。在1988年的汉城奥运会上，中国拳击运动员刘栋还杀进了八强。但这段时期，无论是在国际大赛还是洲际大赛上，中国运动员仍未能斩获一枚奖牌。
The Calm before the Storm
风暴前的宁静
The first ray, golden 24k, shined in the darkness of Chinese western boxing after a three-year slump.
Light heavyweight Chongguang Bai bagged the first gold medal for China at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. It greatly elevated the morale of boxing professionals in China.
三年的沉寂在1990年被打破。在1990年的北京亚运会上，凭借东道主之利，来自哈尔滨的20岁小将白崇光夺下81公斤级冠军，为中国赢得了第一枚洲际拳击大赛上的金牌。这极大地鼓舞了中国拳击界的士气。此后，中国拳手在洲际大赛上捷报频传。在1993年的亚洲拳击锦标赛上，江涛获得了91公斤级冠军。在1994年的广岛亚运会上，中国拳击队夺下1银2铜。
However, this perfect storm was followed by a grilling tranquility. China suffered a 16-year gold drought in Asian Games ring. In the meantime, boxing had undergone a stage of stillness in China for the first decade.
尽管如此，这场“中国旋风”过后，是一片宁静与沉寂。白崇光的个人突破并未在整体上改变中国拳击的落后面貌。在此后的16年里，亦即2006年的多哈亚运会之前的3届亚运会里，中国拳手再也没有获得过一枚拳击金牌。
At the 1992 Olympic Games, competitors were delighted to face off against Chinese opponents. The best that the Chinese coaches hoped for was that each fighter might stay on his feet a bit longer than the one before him.
在1992年的巴塞罗那奥运会中，中国拳手被认为是“非常受欢迎”的对手。那时，中国教练只是希望，后一位拳手在场上坚持的时间能比前一位更长一些。
The reasons for this are both simple and complex.
First and foremost, in the 90s, China was still on the road to glory lacking the fundamental support for the sport of boxing.
Equally important is that China had never won a worthy medal in any prestigious international boxing tournament.
出现这种落后羸弱的状况，个中原因既简单又复杂。首先，90年代的中国仍处在经济急速发展的阶段，对西洋拳击这项起步较晚，且期间中断了20多年的运动缺乏基本的支持。并且，那时中国选手还从未在任何一场国际大赛中获得过一枚成色十足的拳击金牌。
Besides, pugilism was mainly carried out in the military and rural areas practiced by a very limited number of people, mostly the poor. It lacked adequate participation and attention of a large fan base.
此外，拳击运动当时主要还是在部队中及农村地区开展，从事这项运动的人数非常有限。拳击运动缺乏足够数量的参与者、受众与关注。
Last but not least, there had been little support for the Noble Art from government, media people and promoters for the first 10 years since the revival of this combat sport in China.
最后，自拳击运动恢复后的十年间，无论是政府、媒体还是市场都没有给予这项运动足够的重视与支持。
But as it turned out, the stillness was temporary. Maybe it was the calm before the storm.
但沉寂只是暂时的，或许它正是风暴前的宁静。
Historic Breakthroughs
历史性的突破
Amateur light flyweight Zou Shiming, the most popular boxing athlete in China, achieved a series of historic breakthroughs for Chinese western boxing, as he seized three medals in a row by 2006.
Zou captured the silver medal for the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships, the bronze medal of 2004 Athens Olympic Games and a gold medal from the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships.
中国最杰出的奥林匹克拳击运动员邹市明横空出世，一举斩获2003年世界拳击锦标赛银牌、2004年雅典奥运会铜牌和2005年世界拳击锦标赛金牌，为中国打破了在国际大赛中的“奖牌荒”与“金牌荒”，实现了历史性的突破。
Admittedly, at that time, the talent pool of Chinese boxers was lacking, with Zou playing the solo and the others lagging far behind. The second best the Chinese achieved in the 2005 World Boxing Championships was two boxers entering the quarterfinal.
不可否认的是，那时中国拳击人才十分稀缺，邹市明一枝独秀，其他拳手与他水平相去甚远。在2005年的拳击世锦赛中，次于邹市明的二号人物仅将将打进四分之一决赛。
The talent-sparse predicament ended in Doha one year after when China bagged five boxing medals in the 2006 Asian Games.
In Doha, Zou broke a 16-year gold drought in Asia boxing by completely outshining Thailand's powerhouse Suban Pannon with an impressive 10-1 lead in the first round before the referee stopped the contest in the second. Lightweight Hu Qing added another gold medal to China's drought-breaking haul when he used some powerful combinations to beat Mongolia's Munkh Erdene Uranchimeg 38-22. China finished with two gold and three bronze medals in the Doha 2006 Asian Games, which exceeded the mighty Manny Pacquiao's home country of the Philippines with one more bronze medal advantage. Yang Bo, Hanati and Zhang Jianting were the other three Chinese counterparts who captured the three bronzes, respectively in the 51kg, 69kg and 75kg division.
With boxing powerhouses such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in line, China still secured five medals from five separate weight classes, indicating that the ancient nation had integrally reached a whole new level in amateur boxing.
It showed, as early as 2006, that the Chinese could also compete with such Asian boxing powerhouses as Thailand, the Philippines and Korea on the international battle field.
2005年世锦赛结束一年后，一枝独秀的窘迫局面被打破。在2006年的多哈亚运会中，中国拳手开始“全面开花”。邹市明和胡青以两枚金牌结束了中国拳击16年来无亚运金牌的历史。中国以2金3铜的优异战绩跻身亚洲奥林匹克拳击强国之列。中国拳击水平自此达到了一个新的高度，开始能够与泰国、菲律宾、日本、韩国等传统拳击强国分庭抗礼。
When the chapter was closed, two decades after the rehabilitation of the fight game, China had produced two world champions and two intercontinental champions in the square ring.
And the best is yet to come...
当翻过历史的这一页，中国已然诞生了一位无可争议的奥林匹克世界拳王，中国拳击已驶入了发展的快车道。更令人期待的是，这只是时代交响前的序曲，好戏还未上演，新的时代即将开启。
（作者厉振羽，系国际拳击历史学家、国际主流媒体拳击专栏作家、国际拳击研究会会员、世界拳击协会会员、世界拳击组织中国区职业裁判，报道过三届奥运会）
来源：人民网
