Ping-pong diplomacy

Ping-pong diplomacy (Chinese: 乒乓外交; pinyin: Pīngpāng wàijiāo) refers to the exchange of table tennis (ping-pong) players between the United States and the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s. Considered a turning point in relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, it began during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, as a result of an encounter between players Glenn Cowan (of the US) and Zhuang Zedong (of the PRC). The exchange and its promotion helped people in each country to recognize the humanity in the people of the other country, and it paved the way for President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972.


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