Five little warriors = Wu hu jiang

The film tells the story about five little kids and their table tennis coach. Known as ‘five little warriors’ for their outstanding table tennis skills, Hou, the biggest of the five, and his teammates lost an important match, which made them unhappy. What frustrated them even more was that their new coach was a young lady, Ms Yang who could win no respect from the kids at all. Hou is the mastermind of all the tricks and incorporation plotted against their coach. However, Yang is patient and sacrifices a lot of her personal time and even health for the kids. This upsets Yang’s boyfriend, a ping pong star in the national team, who worries Yang’s health and wants to transfer her to the Sports Association, rather than wasting time with the kids. Yang reminds her boyfriend how he begins his career like the kids, who are the future of the country. Yang’s boyfriend changed his attitude and helps the kids as well. The ‘five little warriors’ win the first prize at the Youth Table Tennis Match again.

The Children’s Film Studio was established on 1st June, 1981. As China’s only children’s film studio, it produces films, including cartoons and TV programs for children. It is well-known that table tennis is the national sport of China. It played an important role in China’s international relations with other countries, particularly with the U.S. in 1972 when the U.S. table tennis team was invited to visit China. This marked a thaw in China-US relations and is known as “Ping Pong Diplomacy”. Table tennis has been a symbol of national pride and is very popular in China as can be seen in the film. Five Little Warriors won a major award at an Iran International Film Festival. (3 stars - Yuxing Zhou; December 16, 2010)