The distinctive noise of table tennis being played in China
might be heard around the world this summer. But unlike the
"ping-pong diplomacy" of 1971 which signaled a warming of
Sino-American relations, this time it'll simply be about the game
itself.
If things go according to plan, around 10,000 Beijing residents
and foreigners could be playing the game in Tian'anmen Square in
June or July.
The event is being planned as part of the city's sixth sports
festival and a prelude to the 2008 Olympics Games, said head of Beijing
Municipal Sports Bureau, Sun Kanglin, in a radio interview
Monday.
And according to a senior Tian'anmen Area Administration
official, it would be the first non-political event in the world's
largest square since Chairman Mao Zedong declared the founding of
the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
"Such an event is unprecedented but we're going through a
special period for the Olympics so there's a possibility," said the
official. The sports bureau proposes to have over 1,000 ping-pong
tables in the 880-meter-long and 500-meter-wide square.
"I think nothing could be more exciting than playing ping-pong
on Tian'anmen Square" said Sun. Competitors have to advance through
community playoffs to quality for the tournament proper, he
explained.
A sports bureau official confirmed yesterday that the tournament
was one of the 15 events being planned for the sports festival
running from June 23 to July 23. The plan had just been completed
and required approval from the Tian'anmen Area Administration to
proceed, added the official.
Ping-pong is one of China's most popular sports with its players
winning over 130 world championship medals since Rong Guotuan
earned the men's gold at the World Table Tennis Championships in
1959.
The sport is also significant in world politics. One of the
first public hints of thawing Sino-American relations came in April
1971 when the US ping-pong team, in Japan for the 31st World
Championships, received a surprise invitation from their Chinese
counterparts to come and visit. Time news magazine
described it as, "The ping heard around the world."
Four days later nine players, four officials and two wives
walked across a bridge in Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland and
ushered in the era of "ping-pong diplomacy." They were the first
group of Americans to enter the mainland since 1949.
(China Daily January 24, 2007)