Ping‐Pong Diplomacy

On April 10, 1971, the US table tennis (ping‐pong) team began its first China visit, when the two nations did not have diplomatic relations. On April 14, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai met with US ping‐pong players and accompanying American journalists. Following this ping‐pong event, national security adviser Henry Kissinger visited China in July 1971, followed by President Richard Nixon in February 1972. The US–China rapprochement was achieved after more than twenty years of a US non‐recognition policy towards the People's Republic of China (PRC). Behind the scenes, however, the US–China reconciliation did not happen as suddenly or accidentally as it appeared. Underneath the success of ping‐pong diplomacy were both “long‐term causes” and “short‐run occasions,” combining the hard work of statesmen at the policy‐making level and the efforts of unsung heroes at the grassroots level. Ping‐pong diplomacy employed people‐to‐people diplomacy in order to improve state‐to‐state relations.