WORLD PING PONG DAY (TM), APRIL , 04 , 2009

1ST SATURDAY IN APRIL EVERY YEAR IN TRIBUTE TO PING PONG DIPLOMACY
APRIL , 4 , 2009
According to a PBS article, One of the first public hints of improved U.S.-China relations came on April 6, 1971, when the American Ping-Pong team, in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, received a surprise invitation from their Chinese colleagues for an all-expense paid visit to the People's Republic. Time magazine called it "The ping heard round the world." On April 10, nine players, four officials, and two spouses stepped across a bridge from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland, ushering in an era of "Ping-Pong diplomacy." They were the first group of Americans allowed into China since the Communist takeover in 1949.

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