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Zhang Xiaoling

Chinese para table tennis player

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ8070348
Source-derived summary

Zhang Xiaoling (Chinese: 张小玲, born 20 July 1957) is a Chinese retired para table tennis player who won 12 Paralympic medals from 1988 to 2008.

She laboured as a sent-down youth during the Cultural Revolution. While toiling one day in 1973, she seriously sprained her right foot, which was subsequently amputated due to no timely treatment. In 1987, she won a gold medal at a national women's singles table tennis competition.

Zhang represented China for the first time at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, and won gold in the open event. She competed in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, and won at least two medals – one in the singles event, one in the team event, and in 1992 and 1996 one in the open event – on every occasion. She represented China again at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, but, for the first time, she only competed in the singles.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Zhang Xiaoling” as chinese para table tennis player. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zhang, Xiaoling and Chinese.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1957, 1988, 2008, 1973—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1957-07-20. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Zhang, Xiaoling and Chinese providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Zhang Xiaoling”, the useful work is to connect “chinese para table tennis player” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8070348. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1957, 1988, 2008 and 1973.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Zhang Xiaoling”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Zhang Xiaoling primary sources, Zhang Xiaoling archive and Zhang research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zhang Xiaoling”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Zhang Xiaoling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.