Tell the story of "ping pong diplomacy"

Since the late 1960s, China and the United States, which have been hostile for a long time, began to explore and secretly contact with each other in order to improve and ease relations. The event began in March-April of the same year at the 3 1 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan. On the eve of the competition, Zhou Enlai called a meeting of relevant people and asked them to "contact teams from many countries". "We can also invite them to participate in the competition". At the same time, he asked the people present to "use their brains". On the first day of the competition, when the China team went to the stadium by bus from their residence, American athlete Cohen hitchhiked, so China athlete Zhuang Zedong took the initiative to shake hands with him and gave him a brocade from Hangzhou, China as a souvenir. This detail was captured by the reporters present and became explosive news. On April 3rd, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Sports Commission of China asked the Central Committee whether to invite the American table tennis team to visit China. After three days' consideration, Mao Zedong decided to invite the American team to visit China on the eve of the game. The next day, the State Council received a report from the Japanese Embassy about China's invitation to the American table tennis team to visit China and immediately reported it to the White House. After Nixon learned the news late at night, he immediately sent a telegram to the American ambassador to Japan, agreeing to the Chinese invitation. Nixon said afterwards: "I never imagined that the initiative for China would be realized in the form of a table tennis team visiting Beijing."

1971April 10, the American table tennis delegation and a small group of American journalists became 1949, the first batch of Americans allowed to enter the territory of new China. On April 14, Zhou Enlai, Prime Minister of the State Council, China, met with members of the American table tennis team in the Great Hall of the People and said to them, "You have opened a new chapter in the relations between the Chinese and American peoples. I believe that this new beginning of our friendship will be supported by most people in our two countries. "

A few hours after Premier Zhou Enlai's speech, US President Nixon announced a series of measures to ban China. In return, the American table tennis team invited the China table tennis team to visit the United States, and this invitation was immediately accepted. In April 1972, 1 1, the China table tennis team paid a return visit to the United States and arrived in Detroit for the first time. The exchange of visits between Chinese and American table tennis teams has aroused international public opinion and become a world-renowned event, which has been called "table tennis diplomacy" by the media. "Ping-pong diplomacy" ended the isolation of personnel exchanges between China and the United States for more than 20 years and achieved a historic breakthrough in Sino-US reconciliation.

1971April 2 1 day, Premier Zhou Enlai sent an invitation to the US head of state to visit China through Pakistan;

On July 9, Dr. Kissinger, Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs, secretly visited China;

1972 February 18, Nixon left for China and arrived in Beijing on February 2 1, becoming the first incumbent president of the United States to visit China. On February 28, China and the United States issued a Sino-US joint communique in Shanghai, and Sino-US relations began to normalize.

The concrete story of ping-pong diplomacy

Table tennis diplomacy refers to the event that China invited the American table tennis team to visit China 197 1.

The event began in March-April of the same year at the 3 1 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan. On the eve of the competition, Zhou Enlai called a meeting of relevant people and asked them to "contact teams from many countries". "We can also invite them to participate in the competition". At the same time, he asked the people present to "use their brains". On the first day of the competition, when the China team went to the stadium by bus from their residence, American athlete Cohen hitchhiked, so China athlete Zhuang Zedong took the initiative to shake hands with him and gave him a brocade from Hangzhou, China as a souvenir. This detail was captured by the reporters present and became explosive news. On April 3rd, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Sports Commission of China asked the Central Committee whether to invite the American table tennis team to visit China. After three days' consideration, Mao Zedong decided to invite the American team to visit China on the eve of the game. The next day, the State Council received a report from the Japanese Embassy about China's invitation to the American table tennis team to visit China and immediately reported it to the White House. After Nixon learned the news late at night, he immediately sent a telegram to the American ambassador to Japan, agreeing to the Chinese invitation. Nixon said afterwards: "I never imagined that the initiative for China would be realized in the form of a table tennis team visiting Beijing."

1971April 10, an American table tennis delegation and a small group of American journalists arrived in Beijing, becoming the first Americans allowed to enter China since 1949. On June 4th, 65438, when Zhou Enlai met the American table tennis team in the Great Hall of the People, he said, "You have opened a new chapter in the relationship between the Chinese and American peoples. I believe that this new beginning of our friendship will be supported by most people in our two countries. " On April 1972, China table tennis team paid a return visit to the United States.

The exchange of visits between Chinese and American table tennis teams has aroused international public opinion and become a world-renowned event, which has been called "table tennis diplomacy" by the media. Since then, it has ended the isolation of personnel exchanges between China and the United States for more than 20 years and achieved a historic breakthrough in Sino-US reconciliation.

1972 February 2 1 day, Nixon visited China, and Sino-US relations finally moved towards normalization.