Wenzhou Woman’s Journey towards Grandmaster of Memory

Ou Miaomiao Jin Chunmiao

王若聰自掏腰包，送全班每人一本陈果的《好的孤独》。Wang gives her students each a copy of Good Solitude by Chen Guo， which she buys out of her own pocket.

Imagine remembering the exact order of the cards of a well-shuffled 52-card deck within one minute. It obviously takes someone with some kind of super power to work out， but it is not something that would baffle Wang Ruocong， a high school teacher based in Ruian， Wenzhou in southeastern Zhejiang.

The young womans journey throughout all the qualification competitions and all the way into the finals of the 27th World Memory Championships， held in Hong Kong from December 20 to 22， 2018， was plain sailing.

The Mind Sport of Memory was jointly founded by Tony Buzan and Raymond Keene OBE in 1991 when they staged the very first World Memory Championships. They created a competition format based on ten memory disciplines which are still used today in competitions around the world. Ten different disciplines are conducted over 1-3 days and consist of the following events： Names and Faces， Binary Numbers， Random Numbers， Abstract Images， Speed Numbers， Historic/Future Dates， Playing Cards， Random Words， Spoken Numbers， Speed Cards.

From WMC 2013， GMM （Grandmasters of Memory） titles have been awarded to the top 5 placed competitors （who are not already GMMs） who have achieved a total of 5000 or more cumulative points in that competition. Wang Ruocong was one of the winners of the title from the 2018 game， meaning that she remembered more than 1，040 random numbers and retrieved the order of the cards of more than 11 well-shuffled decks in one hour， and remembered the order of a 52-card shuffled deck within 90 seconds. In fact， she wowed the audience and beat her rivals by restoring the order of as many as 17 well-shuffled decks， proving herself a shining star in what is dubbed “the worlds greatest test of memory” – a stage full of masters.

Teaching Chinese at the Ruian High School， Wang Ruocong chanced upon memory sport in the summer vacation of 2018 and immediately fell in love with the challenging game. Before that， she had tested her memory in two city-level reading competitions. After honing her competitive skills for a while， she decided to focus on serious memory training in order to qualify for participation in a world-class competition. “Only through the ultimate tension of such a demanding game can I see my potentials brought into full play and truly taste the magic of memory，” said the girl.

The difficulty level of each discipline in the sport has been escalating over the years， based on the world records of the competition year. Taking into consideration the current average difficulty level of the game， normally it takes at least a whole years professional training for anyone to make it into the finals.

“Even if you start right away， it is a mission impossible to become a Grandmaster of Memory in the 2018 game in Hong Kong，” warned the coach， who has many years of experiences of training GMMs.

“When I decide to do something， Id take action right away with full devotion. Thats me，” says Wang. The formidable task led to months of sleepless nights that reduced the young woman into tears many times. “The joy of breaking ones limits always has a big price to pay. The sufferings in the process were hard to describe，” Wang Ruocong recalls， as if talking about the story of someone else.

“I thought about quitting several times when I was preparing for the game. I had to squeeze in as much free time as possible for the training， and at some point in the process I felt too overwhelmed to make it to the finish line， because I have my teaching duties from a full-time job to fulfill at the same time. The time before the qualification finals in China was the darkest， physically and mentally， but I made it.”

王若聪给学生送早自习便当。Wang Ruochong poses with a student when she delivers a lunch box to her.

高考前，為学生做蛋挞。Wang makes egg tarts for her students before they are to sit for the national higher education entrance examination.

“I have a pretty good memory， but I dont think it does not fall into the extraordinary category， frankly speaking. Hard work is the key， plus a bit of luck. It takes a lot more than a smart brain to win the title. Going through the ordeal of intensive， scientific training is a prerequisite for anyone aspiring to beat the others in such a game.”

“I cannot say enough thank you to my school and all my colleagues for their unfailing support， from which I also learned that it takes nothing but determination and faith in what you want to achieve to get the backing from the whole world. My decision of taking part in the 2018 game left everyone in my family slack-jawed at first， but my determination convinced them.”