![]() This woven basket from a farming community was given to Connie Sweeris as a gift. She approached them for a better look, and one of the women presented her with this small basket as a gift. While visiting the farming community, Sweeris noticed a group of women weaving baskets. Visits to selected examples of life and work in Mao’s China were also on the itinerary, including a steel mill and a farming community. Players were provided with translated menus so they could understand what they were being served. Featuring eight or more courses, the banquets introduced them to unfamiliar foods. Photo courtesy of Connie Sweeris.Ĭonnie Sweeris, one of the nine players, kept this menu from one of the many banquets they were invited to during the trip. Table Tennis team poses on the Great Wall, April 1971. While touring the Great Wall, they posed for a group photo that would become iconic of their trip - and be featured on the cover of Time magazine. ![]() The team visited some of China’s most famous landmarks, including the Forbidden City palace compound in central Beijing and the famous Great Wall of China. team included not only the exhibition matches but banquets, entertainment, and tours of sights across the country as honored guests. Beyond Ping-Pong: Chinese and American Players Exchange Culture Photo of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, April 1971. The Chinese characters translate to “Shanghai City Women’s Table Tennis Team Match, April 1971.” Pennant commemorating a match in Shanghai. Photo courtesy of Connie Sweeris.Īfter a match in Shanghai, one of the Chinese players Sweeris had competed against gave her this pennant. Table Tennis team, Chinese players, and Chinese officials pose for a group photo on the tarmac in Beijing, April 1971. team, Chinese players, and welcoming Chinese officials posed for a group photo on the tarmac. Upon arriving at their first destination and disembarking their plane, the U.S. Once in China, the team traveled by plane and train to Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Table Tennis player Connie Sweeris quickly took this photo of the guarded Hong Kong-China border that the team crossed on foot in April 1971. Connie Sweeris took out her camera and quickly snapped a photo of the bridge and the guards on it as they crossed the border on foot. The team left Japan for Hong Kong, where they crossed a bridge connecting British-controlled Hong Kong to mainland China on April 10, 1971. On the page warning travelers of legal penalties for traveling to Communist-controlled places, State Department consular officials crossed out “China” for this trip. ![]() On the page warning travelers of legal penalties “for travel to or in Communist-controlled portions” of the listed countries, the officials simply took a black marker and carefully crossed-out “China.”Ĭonnie Sweeris’s modified passport. ![]() Department of State consular officials in Japan, in advance of the team’s onward journey to China, made a simple but profound change to their passports. The United States accepted the invitation and everyone rushed to make arrangements. team received an official invitation to travel to China and play exhibition matches against the Chinese team. When they exited the bus, journalists snapped photos of the two together. Chinese three-time world champion Ping-Pong player Zhuang Zedong (left) presented a Yellow Mountain silk weaving art piece to American athlete Glenn Cowan (right) on April 4, 1971. Zhuang approached the American, shaking his hand and offering him a depiction of the Huangshan Mountains on a piece of silk cloth. Cowan had missed his bus following practice and boarded the Chinese team’s bus. team and Zhuang Zedong of the Chinese team became an international sensation. team was at the 1971 World Table Tennis Championship in Nagoya, Japan, when an encounter between Glenn Cowan of the U.S. The Beginning of Ping-Pong Diplomacy: A Surprise Invitation The museum is thrilled to share these items with the public and to include them in future exhibits and programming. Ping-pong diplomacy also led to improved people-to-people understanding and cultural exchange.Ĭonnie Sweeris, one of the nine players who traveled to China, recently donated a collection of personal mementos from that 1971 trip, as well as subsequent anniversary trips, to the National Museum of American Diplomacy’s permanent collection. Their trip was the start of what became known as “ping-pong diplomacy” and helped lay the groundwork for establishing official diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Following the 1949 Chinese revolution, there had been no diplomatic ties, limited trade, and few contacts between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Table Tennis team took a historic trip to China, becoming the first delegation of Americans to visit the country in decades. In April 1971, nine players from the U.S.
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