It was an unlikely diplomatic tool amid the escalating rhetoric of the Cold War: a few paddles, a few ping pong balls and nine giddy US table tennis players in a country Americans hadn’t seen for decades.

Yet the week of table tennis exhibition games in China in April 1971 helped open China to the world, changed public opinion and paved the way for a groundbreaking visit from President Richard Nixon, who is credited today with restoring diplomatic ties between the nations.

More than three decades later, China and the US will pay homage this week to the now-famous “ping pong diplomacy” with a three-day event at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace that culminates in a rematch between several of the original— and aging— athletes.

The games also are designed as a tribute to the friendly relations between the two nations today and as a prelude to the Beijing Olympics, an event that some believe would not have been possible without the detente that began over a ping pong table.

“Back in the ’70s, the communist Chinese were evil people and it was a very dark country that we knew very little about,” said Steve Bull, director of government relations for the US Olympic Committee and a former Nixon aide. “No one was envisioning that this dramatic trip to China would be a precursor to re-establishing diplomatic relations.”

The invitation from China came during the 31st World Championships in Nagoya, Japan, where the Chinese team was competing for the first time in six years. Just two days later, nine US team members, team officials and two spouses flew to Hong Kong and then crossed into China— the first group of Americans to visit the country since 1949.

... contd.