Table tennis player who won three world singles titles in a row from 1961 to 1965. His friendly exchange with US player Glenn Cowan in 1971 began the 乒乓外交 (Ping-Pong Diplomacy) that led to Nixon's visit to China.
Zhuāng Zédòng shì pīngpāng wàijiāo de guānjiàn rénwù.
Zhuang Zedong was a key figure in Ping-Pong Diplomacy.
Tips
culture
Chinese sums up the episode as 小球转动大球, 'the little ball turned the big ball': a ping-pong ball moved the globe. Mainland books write Glenn Cowan as 科恩, and Zhuang's gift to him on that bus was a piece of Hangzhou silk brocade.
history
He rose politically during the Cultural Revolution and headed the State Sports Commission from 1974. After the fall of the Gang of Four he spent four years in detention. In 1987, with Deng Xiaoping's approval, he married Sasaki Atsuko, a Japanese woman who gave up her citizenship.
