Documentary revisits ping-pong days of 1971

In 1971 the American table tennis player Glenn Cowan boarded the wrong bus during the world championships in Nagoya, Japan. He missed the U.S. team's bus and got on the next one, only to find himself on the Chinese team’s bus.

- MINLU ZHANG

On the bus a Chinese player, Zhuang Zedong, saw the unfamiliar American, stepped forward and introduced himself.

“They didn't speak each other's languages, but somehow they were able to communicate because they tried,” the film producer Bill Einreinhofer said. “And their picture was taken and traveled around the world. They started a dialogue between America and China that continues today.”

Einreinhofer, a three-time Emmy Award-winning producer, documented the period in his new film Your Serve or Mine. The encounter led to what became known as ping-pong diplomacy.

The group of nine U.S. table tennis players embarked on a milestone journey to China, helping break the ice between Beijing and Washington and laying the groundwork for the eventual establishment of diplomatic relations.