"Ping pong diplomacy" celebrated as China, U.S. play ball

Source: Xinhua | 01-08-2009 08:41

They are not common diplomatic tools: several paddles, a few ping pong balls and some table tennis players from China and the United States.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya (8th L) and U.S.  Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte (6th L) pose  for a group photo during the Friendship Ping-pong Match  marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the  China-U.S. diplomatic relations, at the State General  Administration of Sport in Beijing, capital of China,  Jan. 7, 2009. In 1971, a U.S. ping-pong team visited  China after years of estrangement and antagonism between  the two countries, opening the door for the  China-U.S. people-to-people contacts. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

But the fact that nine American table tennis players were invited to Beijing for exhibition games with Chinese players in April 1971 did break the ice between the two nations.

Thirty-eight years after those historic games, players from the two nations lined up for a rematch in the Chinese capital on Wednesday.