The earliest written record of table tennis was in the advertisement of table tennis equipment released by a British sports equipment company in 1880. At that time, it was not called table tennis, but it was popular in Britain with strange names such as "Gao Xima" and "Flimm-Flam". There is an interesting story circulating in the local area: one day in London, the capital of England, it was very hot, and two young people went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. After dinner, they felt bored when chatting, so they picked up the lid of the cigar box and fanned it. Later, he picked up the cork on the bottle and used the most popular tennis action at that time to beat the cork around with the lid. This move attracted many diners and waiters to watch. The British media are quite interested in this, calling it a fashion movement and reporting it comprehensively. Soon the sport became popular among some college students in Britain. But at that time, there was neither a unified name nor a unified regulation, but it was popular in Europe as an entertainment.
At that time, such games appeared not only in Britain, but also among some intellectuals in Moscow and Petersburg, and a kind of flying ball was popular. This ball is made of feathered cork. By the end of 19, badminton was played in the United States, and a layer of rubber solid balls wrapped in silk fabric was also used. At the same time, in the coastal port of Yokohama, Japan, foreign merchant ships come and go frequently, and businesses often play games similar to table tennis. 1902, Professor Hirai Xuandao from Tokyo Normal School, Japan, who was studying in the UK, brought a complete set of table tennis equipment back to Japan. So the Japanese also imitated it. Due to the lack of equipment, they use the dining table or drawing table as a platform, and pile towels or books to make a net. Some balls are made of glue, others are made of silk, and the racket is replaced with a wooden spoon for rice.