April 10 – The Start of "Ping-Pong Diplomacy"

nPostednon April 10, 2016

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nOnenthing I love about sports is that they often encourage diplomatic –npeaceful! – relations between countries, instead of suspicion,ntension, and war. On this date in 1971, the world got a little safernand more peaceful as a table tennis team from the United Statesnresponded to China’s invitation and traveled there.

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nAfternWorld War II, China had a civil war in which communists under MaonZedong gained control of the government. The defeated government, lednby Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan and claimed to be the “real”nChinese government. n

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nAmericannPresident Truman intended to recognize Zedong’s communist government,nsince U.S. tradition (after Woodrow Wilson, at least) was to recognizengovernments once they had demonstrated control of their countries.nBut political and military advisors urged him to wait just a fewnmonths so that Chiang’s supporters couldn’t blame the U.S. for hisninevitable defeat.

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nHowever,nthe Korean War broke out. For two whole decades, the U.S. didn’tnrecognize China – and that meant no diplomatic relations, no tradenagreements, no nothin’! n

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nThat began to change in the summer of 1971. The U.S. ping pong team was in Japan fornthe World Table Tennis Championship. The Chinese government extended an invitation for the team tonvisit China. And when the team said “yes,” they became the firstnAmericans to step foot in China’s capital city of Beijing in 22nyears!

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nDidnthe ping-pong visit actually help make better relations between the U.S. and China? You bet! By thennext year, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China, and the ColdnWar shifted and resettled. Nixon called hisnvisit to China “the week that changed the world,” and “Nixonngoing to China” has become a metaphor people sometimes use whenntalking about unexpected actions taken by politicians. n

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nSincenthe U.S. ping pong team’s visit to China also lasted a week, I thinknwe could say that THEIR visit was “the week that changed thenworld”!

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nDidnyou know…?

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The guy who just hit the ball
is Zhuang Zedong.

nOnenreason that the U.S. team was invited to China was probably the encounter between American table-tennis player Glenn Cowan andnChinese star player Zhuang Zedong.

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nOnenafternoon in Japan, at the Table Tennis Championship, Glenn Cowan hadnbeen practicing with a Chinese player, but the training area wasnabout to be closed for the day. Cowan looked around for his team bus,nbut it was nowhere to be found – it turned out that it had left without him! The Chinese player invited Cowan tonget onto the Chinese team bus.

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Zhuang Zedong and Glenn Cowan,
with the silk-screened art piece.

nCowanntalked to all the players, using an interpreter. And suddenly ZhuangnZedong came up to Cowan and presented him with a silk-screened art piece of mountains.

nCowan told him that he wished he hadnsomething to give back, but he didn’t have much in his bag – othernthan a comb.

nCowan apologized for not having anything he could givenback.

nWhennthe athletes left the bus, there were some photographers who took anpicture of the American and Chinese athlete unexpectedly together.

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nCowannwas able to buy a T-shirt that he later gave Zhuang. It was decoratednwith a red-white-and-blue peace-sign flag along with the words “LetnIt Be.” (It’s said that Cowan was a bit of a hippie.)

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nLater, interviewers from both countries asked the American and Chinesenathletes about their encounter. Asked why he had given a gift to the American player, Zhuang explained that China’s ChairmannMao had said that China should place its hope on American people. So when he saw Cowan on the bus, Zhuang rummaged in his bag, looking for something good enough to give as a gift.

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nAnd when a journalist asked Cowan if he would like to visit China, Cowan immediately said “Of course!”

nAnd he probably said it really enthusiastically. In the photo below, Cowan is the guy who is waving exuberantly as he arrived in China.

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nInlike diplomacy, including the diplomacy that happens when sports areninternational (like the Olympics), and ESPECIALLY when sports ends upncreating moments like this gift exchange between people who werenraised to think of “the other” as an enemy!

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nAlsonon this date: