A collection of events, interviews, and photos commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy.
In April 1972, the National Committee made history by hosting the Chinese Table Tennis Team in round two of what became widely known as Ping Pong Diplomacy. The watershed visit — the first-ever of a delegation from the People's Republic of China to the United States — set the Committee on its path of becoming the pre-eminent exchange organization between the United States and China.
The National Committee brought the first group of Chinese mayors and deputy mayors to U.S. soil in September, 1978. Led by Beijing Deputy Mayor Zhao Pengfei and Shanghai Deputy Mayor Yen Yumin, the 19-member delegation also included city planners, architects, and engineers. The visit was the first of approximately 50 exchanges the Committee has sponsored in the area of municipal and state/provincial management and planning.
In 1990, the National Committee organized a visit by a high-level Chinese delegation to the United States. Led by Shanghai mayor and future PRC premier Zhu Rongji, the delegation included former Shanghai mayor Wang Daohan and the mayors of Wuhan, Chongqing, Taiyuan, Hefei, and Ningbo — six of China's largest and most outward-looking cities.