Lu Pinlin: The forgotten football king of China

The Songjiang native was one of China's modern football players, who made his name in the country's sports history.

Born into a family with a small business in Yexie Town, Lu received a good education and went to the Nanyang Middle School and the Merchant Marine Academy, with the sponsorship of the town's big landlords.

The young boy, diligent in his study, was short of physical exercise, which made him cough a lot. He then decided to do intensive exercise every morning. After a year of hard self-training, Lu became sort of a master-sportsman in the school, good at jogging, high jump and tennis. In 1904, he won the championship in the school's tennis tournament.

But what he loved most and played best was football. There were frequent football matches between his school and the British naval school in Shanghai. Lu soon earned his reputation on the pitch with his incredible skill with the ball.

When he dribbled, it was like the ball was magnetized to his feet. He could shoot at almost any angle, any distance and any position. As a center forward, Lu played a leading role in the team when defending and attacking. As a playmaker, he knew how to run the offense through his position, and instructed his teammates in where they need to be and how to get there.

Because of his unparalleled ability to play and organize on the field, he was dubbed "Shanghai's Football King."

Lu led Nanyang Middle School's football team to victories up along the Yangtze River in Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Anqing, Jiujiang and Wuhan cities. The team was invincible throughout the country. Due to his superb skills, Lu was widely recognized as the top of the "108 players" in the national football arena at that time, and he was also called "China's first football king."

After graduation, Lu became a PE teacher in Pudong Middle School, and taught his students to play football. To earn a living for his family, he found a job at the Shanghai Minsheng Shipping Company and quit football forever.