Bigger Than The Game: And Forrest Was There

Forrest Gump remains one of my all time favorite movies. Many of the historical events Gump was a part of are easy enough to pin-point. The one event that has long baffled me was his trip to China on the “All-American Ping-Pong Team.” Little did I know, the U.S Table Tennis team actually helped to pave the way for better U.S./Chinese relations at the height of the Cold War.

"In the land of China, people don't ever go to church"
but the did play some serious ping-pong

Long seen as one of the best ways to spread diplomacy throughout the world, table tennis had gain popularity impart from its development by British expatriates on over-seas assignment. The game took hold in China during the early 1900’s thanks to English involvement in the opium trade. It has been said that forces in the Chinese Civil War were so fond of the game that truces were set up so that the opposing sides could pit their best players against each other.



 In the 1970’s China went as far as adopting the slogan "Friendship First, Competition Second". Though not taken as seriously in the states, in 1933 The United States Table Tennis Association was created giving the game a governing body before football and basketball. Known officially as table tennis due to copyrights, the game was extremely popular among teenagers and service men, which of course is where Forrest Gump picked up the game.

The Trip

 Already in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championships (no Americans medaled at the games), the American team was unofficially invited to China. There are, however, three conflicting legends on how the team was extended the offer to play behind the “red curtain” The first, and most likely, is through a fluke practice session between Glenn Cowan and a Chinese player. In the thick of the session, Cowan missed the team bus, but was invited to ride the Chinese bus to the event area. As the story goes, the Chinese where so impressed with the civility in which Cowan interacted with them, that they made the offer. A second tale arises that the offer was extended to Leah ‘Miss Ping” Nuberger, who was playing with a Canadian team and able to travel to China.

Miss Ping Herself

In any event, when the Chinese Department of Foreign Affairs received a report that the U.S. Table Tennis Team hoped to get invited to visit China, the Department declined as usual. Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong initially agreed with the decision, Mao eventually decided to invite the U.S. Table Tennis Team. It was reported that Mao Zedong said, "This Zhuang Zedong (then one fo the best player in the world) not only plays table tennis well, but is good at foreign affairs, and he has a mind for politics. On April 10, 1971, nine American players, four officials, and two spouses stepped across a bridge from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland and then spent their time during playing fun matches, touring the Great Wall and Summer Palace, and watching a ballet. A Time magazine writer with the team called the trip "The ping heard round the world."

So why had the American been invited? Many experts believe the Chinese felt that by opening a door to the United States, they could put their mostly hostile neighbors on notice about a possible shift in alliances. The United States welcomed the opportunity; President Richard M. Nixon had written: "We simply cannot afford to leave China outside the family of nations." Either way, the 1971 trip by the Americans led to a trip by the Chinese to America in 1972. In April of that year, the National Committee made history initiating round two of what became widely known as Ping Pong Diplomacy. The Chinese delegation, led by Zhuang Zedong, consisted of 13 players, 8 newsmen and photographers Arriving in Detroit from Canada by chartered plane on April 12, the team for left San Francisco for Mexico on April 30, with Ann Arbor, Williamsburg, Washington, New York, Memphis, and Los Angeles and the Bay area (including Palo Alto and Napa Valley) in between.

Though More Of A Bowler, Nixon Still Loved The Idea

Though easily looked over, these event marked a deep thaw between the People Republic of China (PRC) and the United States. The popularity of the trips opened doors not only for further sporting relations but a new wave of political relations. Many international relations experts have seen the 1971 trip as the seminal set up of President Richard Nixon’s visit to the country in 1972. And to think, Forrest Gump was there using his Flex-o-Lite ping-pong paddle