A file photo of Xinhua shows China and U.S. pingpong players exchange gifts at the welcome ceremony in Beijing, China for the visiting U.S. pingpong team on April 13, 1971.
Politics: From "ping-pong diplomacy" to candid exchange
There were no people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S. in the first 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China until the breaking news in 1971 when ping-pong players from both countries met each other and exchanged gifts. "Ping-pong diplomacy" thus became a landmark event in the history of China-U.S. exchanges.
The then-American president Richard Nixon's visit to China on February 21, 1972 signaled the normalization of China-U.S. relationship. Seven years later when the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S. on January 29, 1979, China and the U.S. signed the agreements on cooperation in science and technology, and culture, which deepened bilateral mutual understanding, friendship and trust.
Now political exchanges between the two countries have become norm, candid and diversified from the "ping-pong diplomacy".
