
How a simple ping pong ball thawed the Cold War. Griffin reveals how a British spy, Soviet intrigue, and Mao's cunning transformed table tennis into geopolitical theater, secretly orchestrating Nixon's historic 1972 China visit while concealing famine behind championship matches.
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What happens when a scruffy American hippie accidentally boards the wrong bus and ends up surrounded by Communist Chinese athletes? In April 1971, long-haired table tennis player Glenn Cowan made exactly that mistake in Nagoya, Japan. After an awkward silence, Chinese champion Zhuang Zedong approached him with a gift-a silk portrait of mountains. The gesture, captured by cameras, became the catalyst for ending 22 years of silence between America and China. Within days, the U.S. team received an unprecedented invitation to visit Communist China, becoming the first official American delegation since 1949. This "ping-pong diplomacy" captivated the world and paved the way for Nixon's historic visit the following year. But the real story runs far deeper than a spontaneous friendship between athletes. Behind the scenes was Ivor Montagu, a British aristocrat who spent decades transforming a parlor game into a vehicle for Communist influence, espionage, and ultimately, geopolitical transformation. The small white ball that bounced across tables would prove more powerful than missiles, treaties, or threats in bridging two hostile superpowers.
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Creado por exalumnos de la Universidad de Columbia en San Francisco
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Creado por exalumnos de la Universidad de Columbia en San Francisco

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