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Sporting Witness: Ping Pong Diplomacy

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Ping Pong Diplomacy

11/11/2011

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, Ping Pong Diplomacy

How table tennis helped bridge the divide between the US and Maoist China in 1971.

At the start of the 1970s, the United States and Maoist China were cold war enemies.

Then the world table tennis championships of 1971 helped improve relations between the two countries.

Sporting Witness hears from the American ping-pong players invited on a pioneering visit to China.

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