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Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World

About the Book

Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World

The spring of 1971 heralded the greatest geopolitical realignment in a generation. After 22 years of antagonism, China and the United States suddenly moved toward a détente --- achieved not by politicians but by Ping-Pong players. The Western press delighted in the absurdity of the moment and branded it “Ping-Pong Diplomacy.” But for the Chinese, Ping-Pong was always political, a strategic cog in Mao Zedong’s foreign policy. Nicholas Griffin proves that the organized game, from its first breath, was tied to Communism thanks to its founder, Ivor Montagu, son of a wealthy English baron and spy for the Soviet Union.

PING-PONG DIPLOMACY traces a crucial inter­section of sports and society. Griffin tells the strange and tragic story of how the game was manipulated at the highest levels; how the Chinese government helped cover up the death of 36 million peasants by holding the World Table Tennis Championships during the Great Famine; how championship players were driven to their deaths during the Cultural Revolution; and, finally, how the survivors were reconvened in 1971 and ordered to reach out to their American counterparts. Through a cast of eccentric characters, from spies to hippies and Ping-Pong-obsessed generals to atom-bomb survivors, Griffin explores how a neglected sport was used to help realign the balance of worldwide power.

Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World
by Nicholas Griffin

  • Publication Date: January 7, 2014
  • Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sports
  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Scribner
  • ISBN-10: 1451642776
  • ISBN-13: 9781451642773