50th anniversary of ping-pong diplomacy highlights tenacity of China-US ties amid current stalemate

Xu Yinsheng (left), honorary president of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), plays table tennis with Sha Hailin, chairman of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, at the Champion Hall of the International Table Tennis Federation Museum and China Table Tennis Museum in Shanghai on Saturday, where the commemorative event took place. Photo: Chen Xia/GT

A commemorative event to mark the 50th anniversary of ping-pong diplomacy, a milestone in the history of the China-US relations that once mildly and smartly broke the ice for the two powerful countries, was held in Shanghai on Saturday. 

April 10, 1971 was the day when the US table tennis delegation arrived in Beijing and started its visit to China on China's invitation, prior to which the two countries had no official contact at all for more than two decades. Chinese table tennis players conducted a same visit to the US the next year.

The exchanges between Chinese and American table tennis players at that time, later becoming known as ping-pong diplomacy, largely contributed to the re-establishment of suspended China-US relations. "People use the phrase 'the little ball moves the big ball' to describe China-US ping-pong diplomacy," Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said in a video speech he gave for the commemoration on Saturday.