"In this vast world, there is no enemy for a lifetime, there is no friend for a lifetime, everyone only has interests," said British Prime Minister Churchill during World War II, and the same is true between countries.
In the late 1960s, the United States was mired in the Vietnam War and was in a passive position in the struggle for hegemony with the Soviet Union.
On the morning of February 21, a luxurious U.S. military plane landed at an airport in Beijing, and as soon as Nixon stepped off the plane, he saw Premier Zhou looking at him with a smile.
Seeing this, he got off the plane in three steps and two steps, and the premier immediately came to greet him, and when he saw this, he hurried forward to shake hands with Premier Zhou Enlai, who later said that this was a "trans-Pacific grip."
In Nixon's memoirs, he describes the meeting as "the end of one era represents the beginning of another." It was a day worthy of a world record and a grand "ice-breaking trip".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > ice-breaking initials - "ping-pong diplomacy"</h1>
In 1971, at that World Table Tennis Championships, there were many stories, and an American athlete accidentally "hitched the wrong car", which opened the story of "table tennis diplomacy" between China and the United States.
Speaking of 'ping-pong diplomacy', there is one person who has a very big role in promoting this incident - Harrison, deputy head of the US table tennis delegation, who took the initiative to propose to the upper echelons of both sides to visit China.
However, when he proposed to visit China, he actually did not have too many expectations in his heart. After learning that the Chinese authorities had invited him to visit China, an excited Harrison threw the coffee in his hand into the sky.
On April 13, 1971, a welcoming ceremony was held at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium, and Chinese players and coaches warmly welcomed the American table tennis players who came to China. After that, table tennis players from both sides played a friendly match in the gymnasium.
Despite the diversity of athletes on both sides, the experience of "ping-pong diplomacy" became a special emotional bond between them, which has never weakened for decades.
The deeds of "ping-pong diplomacy" show that cultural exchanges are a special "diplomatic method", which is of great significance to promoting the process of bilateral relations, which represents a further step in the relations between China and the United States and paves the way for enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > a handshake across oceans</h1>
In the late 1960s, after US President Richard Nixon entered the White House, he wanted to improve Sino-US relations, he wanted to strengthen the strength and power of the United States abroad, and actively established channels for oral information exchange with China through Pakistan and Romania.
In the early 1970s, Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai proceeded from the need to adjust the diplomatic strategy of Sino-US and Soviet triangle relations. They expressed their willingness to engage with the United States by inviting American writer Snow to post articles and inviting the American table tennis team to visit China, and worked hard to break the deadlock in Sino-US relations.
At 11:30 a.m. on February 21, 1972, Nixon embarked on what he called a "journey of peace" Chinese mainland.
When Nixon saw the prime minister, he was very excited and said, "Mr. Prime Minister, this is my honor, and I am very happy to be in China." And Zhou Enlai also replied: "Mr. President, you are very welcome. ”
Television footage has been facing this historical scene and spreading this fact to the whole world through satellites.
The American people have always had a very obvious sense of strangeness to Chinese land, and so has President Richard Nixon.
Knicks later confessed in his memoirs that from the moment he got off the plane, everything was so fresh and strange that it was a wonderful thing that could not be felt in other lands.
In Lao Mei's view, the honor guard of the Chinese People's Liberation Army is very spectacular, with neat steps, consistent movements, and a clear queue, which is very representative of China's cultural symbols. Although it was a surprise, Nixon still felt that our greeting team was slightly "shabby" at the time.
But what they don't know is that this honor guard is already super standard treatment, a total of 360, 370 people, which fully illustrates the importance of our country to Nixon's arrival. Because according to the previous reception practice, our country can only arrange an honor guard of up to 155 people.
At this time, Nixon also thought that this was a "surprise" that China had secretly prepared for him. When Nixon and his party got into the car prepared by the Chinese side, when they drove through Chang'an Avenue, his previous expectations were disappointed again.
The road was deserted and empty, and there was no sign of careful preparation.
In fact, this is precisely the principle of immodesty, immodesty, and incivility advocated by Premier Zhou in his diplomatic work. After all, China and the United States had not yet formally established friendly diplomatic relations.
If we were too enthusiastic, it might give each other and the other media a sense of flattery, so except for Nixon meeting premier Zhou and other leaders at the airport, Chang'an Avenue was deserted.
Kissinger also said in a subsequent memoir that he did not know that he would not be welcomed by the masses in any way after arriving in China. As the convoy drove into the city center, he felt that the real welcome ceremony would take place in Tiananmen Square, but there was nothing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > world-changing meeting</h1>
On that day, this important historic meeting lasted more than an hour.
Mao Zedong was intelligent, humorous, and good at navigating the situation, and some very serious and principled issues, such as the Taiwan issue, the Japan issue, the Indochina issue, and the opposition to "hegemony", were all mentioned in Mao Zedong's witty and casual conversations.
A few weeks later, when Kissinger carefully studied the transcripts of Mao's and Nixon's conversations in his White House office, he found that Mao had actually sketched out the contents of the Shanghai Communiqué in his conversations. He later likened this dialogue to "a prelude to Wagner's opera."
In one of the little episodes, when Nixon inadvertently mentioned the glare of the slogan he saw along the road, "Down with the Us imperialists," Chairman Mao laughed and said, "That's an 'empty cannon' joke, don't take it seriously." ”
Hearing this, the clever Nixon also understood, and he smiled and said, "Haha, people like me." ”
Chairman Mao also replied with a smile, "If we all fall down, we will have no friends." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > conclusion</h1>
At this point, the relationship between China and the United States has entered a new historical period.
With the improvement of Sino-US relations, us-China-Soviet triangular diplomacy has begun to take shape, and it has long become one of the important factors determining the development of the international situation.
The U.S.-China rapprochement forced the Soviet Union to step up its détente with the United States and Western Europe, forced Japan to urgently demand diplomatic relations with China, and ultimately promoted the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations.
In September 1972, as Nixon said at a banquet on the eve of his departure from China, his seven-day visit to China was "a week that changed the world."