The photo, featured on a poster of newspaper People’s Daily for the 2025 Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women, was seen as a symbol of strength and modern female resilience. The hashtag #SunYingshaHands quickly surged to the top of Weibo trends, drawing tens of millions of views and comments.

Many fans hailed them as “the hands of a warrior.” One account wrote: “These hands are the pride of those who put the honor of their country first. They have worked so hard to achieve this.”

Chinese media noted that years of training have altered the shape of Sun’s hands, with large calluses, big knuckles and slight asymmetry from millions of repeated swings.

“Sport makes you healthy, but for Sun it leaves wounds that never fully heal,” another user commented. “We must appreciate Sun, who made sacrifices for the country.”

A screenshot of Sun Yingsha’s right hand on the poster of People’s Daily.

Born in 2000, Sun is regarded as a generational talent in Chinese table tennis. She has held the world number one ranking for much of the past three years and has won three Olympic gold medals, nine world titles and five World Cup. On an average training day, she is said to hit more than 10,000 balls, with little time off.

“With her intelligence and family background, she could have chosen an easier path,” one comment read. “But Sun chose table tennis, calluses instead of jade bracelets, the arena instead of the red carpet.”

Besides the accolades, Sun reportedly became the first player to surpass 10,000 points in the ITTF world rankings in October 2024. She also took part in the 2024 Paris Olympic closing ceremony, where she was selected to put out the torch, an honor Chinese outlets highlighted as a first for an Asian female athlete.