"I was so proud of our Olympians and really wanted to get their autographs," he recalled.
He sent the postcards to the Chinese Olympic champions through China's General Administration of Sports and, to his surprise, received signed postcards from all of them within four months.
"The first I got was from weightlifting champion Wu Shude," he said. "I couldn't believe my eyes."
What impressed Tu the most was the reply from China's women's volleyball team captain Lang Ping. She also invited her teammates, coaches and doctors to sign Tu's postcard.
Encouraged by this experience, Tu narrowed his focus to China at the Olympics.
The price of passion
In the early 1980s, Tu earned only 18 yuan ($2.5) a month and he spent most of this on stamps.
His hunting grounds are not limited to local stamp markets. Tu also buys stamps through overseas friends and at international auctions.
In order to get his collection right, Tu spent much of his savings on sports books and albums.
His passion for China's Olympic movement gained him a reputation among stamp traders.
"They call me the Olympic stamp guy and now many of them will save the good stuff for me," he said.
One of his most memorable experiences relates to Chinese sprinter Liu Changchun (1909 - 83), the first Chinese Olympian and a pioneer of China's sports who took part in the 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games.
What Tu was looking for was Liu's stamp
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