How did two ping pong players manage to definitively change their countries’ diplomatic relations by exchanging gifts?
War chaos, ideological rivalries, and a universal suspicion painted the canvas of the 1970s. Against this warlike current marched two champions in 1971 during the World Ping Pong Championship in Nagoya, Japan, which constituted fertile ground for bridging relations between two major superpowers of the time, the US and China, two countries that for many decades were in rival camps.
During the championship, the American player Glenn Cowan does not board his team’s bus but, luckily for him, a bus with boarded players in red shirts accepts him. The Chinese team, however, was not very friendly with the American Cowan. Given the climate of the time and not-so-good relations between China and the United States, he was treated with aggression and thus, shrunk in front of them, which was inevitable. In a gesture later considered historic, Chinese champion Zhuang Zedong approached Glenn with his interpreter to shake hands and talk. He decided to give Cowan a silk cloth depicting Mount Huang in China, a mountain worshiped by the Chinese people for its beautiful flora. As they were leaving the bus, reporters managed to capture the two players together. The next day, Glenn Cowan presented Zhuang with a T-shirt stamped with the peace sign and the Beatles’ “let it be” lyrics. A personal gift from the self-proclaimed “hippy” American champion.
The discussion that was caused due to the photos taken by the journalists, prevailed in the arena of the championship. It was a gesture of goodwill that aroused the interest of both governments. Zhuang’s inadvertently excellent diplomatic thought was the starting point of a China-USA bridge operation.
A few days after the gift exchange, on April 6, 1971, the Chinese President Mao Zedong sent a formal invitation to the American ping pong team for friendly matches between the two teams. This move shocked the Americans, who accepted the invitation, starving for connection opportunities with China, especially at a time when US President Richard Nixon wanted to lift the embargo soon. In his memoirs, President Nixon writes that he would never have expected the Chinese initiative to come in the form of ping pong.
All that was left were the player’s passport arrangements and everything would be ready. In the aftermath of the “Red Terror” and McCarthyism, traveling to communist countries was banned by the United States, with the violations being accompanied by harsh punishments and accusations of treason. This was the US’s way of preventing the spread of communist ideas, which were dangerous to governments and capitalist interests. The People’s Republic of China, since its founding in 1949, was considered communist and had faced the Americans on many battlefields.
The transfer of the players had to be done in peaceful procedures. The opportunity to start a new economic and diplomatic relationship was essential to be ceased. With all the necessary arrangements completed, on April 10, the American team crossed the bridge that connects Hong Kong with China in a historic moment for the relations between the two countries.
Certainly, the pride and enthusiasm for their team would have overwhelmed the American citizens who, according to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), got up every morning to pick up the newspaper and read the news across the Pacific. To their disappointment, however, the American team was constantly losing. After all, they had to deal with the ping pong champions, one of the best teams in the world. The defeats, however, did not seem to daunt the American players. Traveling to the Great Wall and Beijing Summer Palace, coming into contact with ordinary people and the culture of the country filled the time of the American team. The experiences of the trip were invaluable and shaped the views of the American champions as well as the citizens who saw through the eyes of the team and the journalists. About a week later, on April 17, the friendly matches ended and the American team left the Chinese territory.
The diplomatic effort had been crowned with success, with its fruits now ripe to be collected by the governments. During the trip, Nixon had already lifted the embargo and made travel to China easier. The tidal wave of a simple exchange of gifts led to the formation of relations between two countries that urgently needed a motive. On July 15, 1971, Nixon announced that he would visit the People’s Republic of China, becoming the first US president to realize a visit.
The will of two simple players to share their cultural goods in the context of noble rivalry is an important event in the history of sports and diplomacy. The image of China in America began to change. It turned out that it’s not stereotypes that matter, but the relationships that athletes were willing to develop, along with the reciprocal desire to share their cultures. If two players who grew up with stereotypical perceptions of opposing peoples and ideologies were able to overcome them and through their actions raise bigger issues, what can we achieve if we try?