Ren Yanli, a former Chinese softball captain, renounced her Chinese citizenship, joined Japan's team, and regretted losing family and national roots later in life.
Just How Miserable Is the Later Life of Someone Who Forgets Their Roots? In
1995, Ren Yanli, a renowned Chinese softball player, renounced her Chinese citizenship and adopted a Japanese surname in front of her father, a veteran of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Ren Yanli comes from a military family; her father was a veteran who fought in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and he valued family and national heritage above all else throughout his life.She entered the national softball training system at a young age, and thanks to the country’s systematic development program, her career progressed smoothly: at the age of 23, she was named captain of the Chinese women’s softball team; in 1986, she competed with the team at the World Championships, where they won two titles,earning her the nickname “Asia’s Power Hitter” in the Asian softball community at the time.
In the mid-1990s, Ren Yanli’s competitive form began to decline,and the Japanese softball community extended her a lucrative offer. Without much hesitation, she accepted the invitation, changed her name to Reika Utsugi, and joined the Japanese national softball team. From then on, she faced off against the Chinese team multiple times in international competitions and even publicly stated that defeating the Chinese team was one of her primary goals.When
news of this reached China, Ren Yanli’s father, in a fit of rage, burned all of her trophies and photographs kept at home. From then on, he locked the door and refused to let her in, severing all ties between father and daughter. Until the old man’s death, they never exchanged a single word.
Over the decades that followed, Ren Yanli dedicated herself to the Japanese softball scene. Now in her sixties, she has indeed earned numerous industry honors locally and accumulated considerable fame and fortune.Yet, looking back, her father had long since passed away with regrets, and there was no longer a place for her in the domestic softball scene. The achievements she had earned through state-sponsored training in her early years have now become a burden she cannot shake—one that cannot bring back the lost family bonds nor bring her inner peace.
In life, what one seeks is nothing more than a sense of stability. Choosing a path that severed her roots ultimately failed to bring her lasting peace of mind.
