How Muhammad Ali helped land knockout blow to end China’s 20-year ban on boxing

Muhammad Ali, the American three-time world heavyweight boxing champion, whose death at the age of 74 was announced by his family on Saturday, will be remembered as a superstar in the ring – but also as cultural icon who touched the hearts of people around the world – including China.

Ali made two important visits to the mainland during this lifetime, which effectively helped to end the Communist Party’s two-decade-long ban on the sport of boxing.

The first of the trips to China came in 1979, after Ali passed through Hong Kong and then Guangzhou, before being invited to Beijing to meet “an important person” – Deng Xiaoping, then China’s paramount leader.

Deng was waiting to personally to greet the boxer, who was then taken by officials to see the Great Wall of China.

Ali’s visit followed the example set by the “Ping Pong Diplomacy” – in which a US table tennis team’s Beijing trip played an important role in the thawing of Sino-US diplomatic relations in the 1970s.