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Associated Press

Zhuang Zedong, a key figure in 1971’s groundbreaking “ping-pong diplomacy” between China and the US, has died. He was 73 and long struggled with cancer.
His gift of a painting of the Huangshang mountains to American player Glen Cowan in 1971 led to a US tour of China later that year, and preceded the historic visit of then president Richard Nixon to the communist country in 1972.
It led to the coining of the phrase “ping-pong diplomacy”.

Zhuang’s death on Sunday was reported by China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Cowan’s unplanned role in the thawing of relations occurred when he was given a ride on the Chinese team’s bus after missing his lift while competing in Nagoya, Japan. That incident led to China inviting the US team and Nixon becoming the first American leader to visit the country.
That breakthrough led to improved
 relations between the two countries which had been on ice since 1949 and eventually led to normal relations being resumed in 1979.

Zhuang became a hero in the table-tennis mad country as millions tuned into his matches on radio and his triumphs at the 1961, 1963 and 1965 world championships, where his innovative penholders style and daring offensive backhand strokes took him to the peak of the game.

	 
Zhuang – who was also subsequently to lead a Chinese table tennis delegation to the United States – reportedly ignored criticism from teammates who advised him not to approach the Americans.
He took the unprecedented step of presenting Cowan with the painting.
“Although the US government is unfriendly to China, the American people are friends of the Chinese. I give you this to mark the friendship from Chinese people to the American people,” he said.
The event caught the attention of Chinese leader Mao Zedong who swiftly offered an invitation to the Americans.
“Zhuang Zedong not only knows good ping-pong, he knows good diplomacy too,” were Mao’s reported remarks.
The twice-married Zhuang was later jailed after Mao’s death and the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976 before being released and going on to coach table tennis in the provinces.


Zhuang Zedong, key to China-US ping-pong diplomacy, dies at 73

Zhuang Zedong shakes hands with US table tennis player Glenn Cowan during a visit to the United States in 1972. Photo: Xinhua

Zhuang Zedong (R) competes in the men's team finals of the 26th World Table Tennis Championship in Beijing in 1961. Photo: Xinhua

Zhuang Zedong (centre) talks with Graham Steenhoven (right), president of the US Table Tennis Association in 1972. Photo: Xinhua

Sasaki Atsuko (left) takes care of her husband Zhuang Zedong in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

Zhuang Zedong (shown in 2007) is a three-time table tennis world champion in the 1960s. Photo: Reuters

News

China

Zhuang Zedong's gift of a painting of the Huangshang mountains to American player Glen Cowan in 1971 led to a US tour of China later that year, and preceded the historic visit of then president Richard Nixon in 1972.
