No, it's not just a memorable scene from Forest Gump, America did actually use the game of ping pong to smooth over relations with China in the 70s.
While the term Ping Pong Diplomacy is often associated with this historical trip, the term actually originated many years before, it was the visit of the US ping pong team in 1971 that cemented the phrase in popular culture.
Richard Nixon was by that point in time ready to end the Vietnam war. Relations with the Russians were certainly frost if not full-blown cold by that stage, and the only other major influence in Vietnam at the time were the Chinese. So the 37th President of the US decided to send the nation's best ping pong paddlers to pave the path of his eventual visit in February of 1972 by taking part in the 31st World Ping Pong Championships in Nayoga, Japan, where they received an invitation to visit the People's Republic of China.
The popular myth of the 19-year-old star player Glenn Cowan had missed the team bus after practise one day before being beckoned on to the Chinese team bus, before Cowan was presented with a silk-screen tapestry of the Huangshan Mountains by their star player, three-time world champion Zhuang Zedong.
The moment just so happened to be caught by journalists and photographers, as did next 'chance' encounter which featured the reciprocal gift of a red, white, and blue t-shirt with peace emblem and the words "Let It Be" printed on the front.
The photos went viral, being printed in newspapers across the world, such was the importance of a peaceful exchange between communist China and capitalist USA, even if those involved were merely ping pong players.
While it would appear to be a unexpected case of sport conquering cultural and political differences, it eventually became public knowledge that both sides had viewed the tournament and subsequent visit to China as an exercise in foreign affairs, with China viewing ping pong as possibly the only outlet to extend an olive branch with the US, as it was arguably the only sport that they had a clear level of superiority over their western counterparts.
The feel good story led to the US team accepting an invitation to visit China after the tournament, where further steps were made in relations between the nations and opened the door just enough for correspondence between the nations to occur, setting in motion a chain of events which would eventually aid the peaceful conclusion of the Vietnam war.
For a full, more in-depth discussion of the trip and its historical significance, have a listen to our podcast with Nicholas Griffin, author of ‘Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World’.
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