China News Service, Beijing, April 10th, title: Half a century ago, she experienced "ping-pong diplomacy"
Reporter Yue Chuan
That is half a century ago.
But when Zheng Minzhi reopened the old photos that were cherished, time seems to have never gone far.
On April 10, 1971, the American table tennis team visited China historically and became the first American to be invited to visit China after the founding of New China.
The following year, the 27-year-old Zheng Minzhi visited the United States with the Chinese table tennis team, adding new luster to this "table tennis diplomacy" that is well-known inside and outside.
The ping pong ball that popped and bounced back changed the world.
Sports has become a link connecting China and the United States.
In the eyes of bystanders, it was a good story in the history of world diplomacy, which made the world "shock"; in the eyes of those who witnessed it, the feeling that "the small ball turns the big ball" is more than "shock".
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Before all that happened, Zheng Minzhi didn't expect that in the end, athletes from China and the United States would become messengers of peace and friendship, and opened the door first.
Ping pong, known as the "national ball", was chosen by history.
At the 28th World Table Tennis Championships in Ljubljana in 1965, Zheng Minzhi, who was only 20 years old, and his teammates won the first Corbylon Cup for the Chinese team, which symbolized the women's team championship.
Before that, an earlier group of athletes represented by the world champion Rong Guotuan had made table tennis permanent in the annals of Chinese sports history.
The first world championship, the first team world championship, these breakthroughs from scratch, just like to open a door-table tennis has not only become a shining business card for China, but also provides communication between China and the world. New window.
During the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, American player Cohen got on the bus of the Chinese team by mistake. Chinese athlete Zhuang Zedong took the initiative to speak up and presented a Chinese brocade with the scenery of Huangshan as a souvenir.
The next day, Cohen gave a T-shirt with the words "LET IT BE" printed on it, which means a call for peace, as a gift.
"Ping-Pong Diplomacy", thus spread out.
Taking the opportunity of sports exchanges, Sino-US relations have gradually broken the ice.
The ice melts, and everything happens.
Zheng Minzhi said: "In historical things, there are accidents and inevitables."
Picking up those yellowed photos, Zheng Minzhi's thoughts were completely recalled half a century ago.
After the Chinese table tennis team arrived in Canada, the US sent a special plane to greet them.
"I saw two words written on the plane,'Friendship'." This became Zheng Minzhi's first impression of the United States during this trip.
Although I have heard my parents talk about the United States, Zheng Minzhi has no concrete knowledge of such a country separated by oceans.
What is the United States?
What about Americans?
Would they be surprised to see us?
On the "Friendship" that flew to the United States, questions emerged from the bottom of Zheng Minzhi's heart.
Her mood also changed from the excitement at the time of departure to the anxiety before landing.
Fortunately, these uneasiness quickly disappeared.
Photos saved by Zheng Minzhi
The first stop of the Chinese table tennis team's visit to the United States was Detroit, the hometown of the then chairman of the US Table Tennis Association.
As the plane slowly landed, Zheng Minzhi looked out the window and saw the welcoming crowd holding the Chinese and American national flags.
The sense of isolation caused by unfamiliarity gradually faded with the swing of the arm.
After getting off the plane, what left the deepest impression on Zheng Minzhi was a Chinese American surnamed Jian in the crowd.
With just one sentence, "I'm so excited, I haven't seen my relatives in so many years", and the distance between them is instantly narrowed.
The interpreter of the press conference soon became one with the compatriots who had come from afar.
Zheng Minzhi and his teammates all call her sister Jian.
Many Chinese, including Sister Jian, shed tears. They kept repeating, "The relatives of the motherland are here, and the relatives of the motherland are here..."
Zheng Minzhi, who was in it, was completely infected.
Although the words are not clear, Zheng Minzhi can still feel full of enthusiasm. He is warmly welcomed wherever he goes, and the visit is always in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
While playing an exhibition game at Stanford University, Zheng Minzhi suddenly heard cheering behind him, someone calling her name in the authentic Shanghai dialect.
"I turned my head, there was someone in the stands beckoning to me with a very excited expression." Taking a closer look, Zheng Minzhi recognized that it was her old classmate, and later moved to the United States for permanent residence.
About ten years have passed since the last time the two met.
"She told me that after reading the news in the newspaper, she drove to follow the Chinese table tennis team." Zheng Minzhi wanted to hug his old friend, but was stopped by the staff for safety reasons.
"She was crying and beckoned to me. The environment was special and it was not easy to see it." For this reason, security personnel kept apologizing to Zheng Minzhi, which relieved her a lot.
Photos saved by Zheng Minzhi
From the entourage to the factory workers, if they find common ground for the Americans encountered along the way, they will leave the deepest impression on Zheng Minzhi: friendly, warm and simple.
"Their people are very simple, not as scary as I thought. I believe that the Americans saw us and the American table tennis team must have felt the same when they came to China. There is so much need for communication, and this gap should be completely eliminated."
From Detroit to Washington, Zheng Minzhi and her teammates were surprised by the new things and customs of foreign countries.
The photos and the smiling faces in the photos became the best annotations for that journey.
Photos saved by Zheng Minzhi
These precious photos are collected by Zheng Minzhi in file bags and kept in categories.
Seeing them, she would think of those people and things.
Old yellowed photos are the anchor of memory.
To this day, Zheng Minzhi still tells these stories to his younger generations.
Looking at the familiar foreign friends in the photo, Zheng Minzhi said: "I sincerely hope that they will be in good health and health. I miss this friendship very much."
Time has passed, things have changed and stars have changed.
Starting from a table tennis ball with a diameter of only three centimeters, the exchanges between China and the United States have already expanded from sports to various fields.
People-to-people exchanges have also become one of the three pillars of Sino-US relations.
The precious historical archives of Sino-US ping-pong diplomacy are exhibited in Shanghai. Photo by Tang Yanjun
As a "person in the song", looking back on the "ping-pong diplomacy" at the time of 50 years, Zheng Minzhi lamented that this kind of exchange cannot be interrupted, and she believes that this is also the will of the American people.
"I think it is necessary to use the friendship between the people to expand world peace, and the historical trend cannot be stopped."