Source: CCTV.com

01-14-2009 09:21

A photo exhibition kicked off at Beijing's Cultural Palace of Nationalities on Monday, offering a retrospective on the past rocky but fruitful three decades of Sino-US relations. Chinese and US leaders sent congratulatory messages to the opening ceremony.

The historic thaw began with a ping-pong game. In 1971, China invited a U.S. table tennis team to visit Beijing, the first friendly overture in decades. It was the small ball of ping-pong that got the big ball of diplomacy moving on Sino-US relations.

A photo exhibition kicked off at Beijing's Cultural Palace of Nationalities on Monday, offering a retrospective on the past rocky but fruitful three decades of Sino-US relations.

While President, Richard Nixon, and Mao Zedong opened the door, it was President Jimmy Carter and Vice Premier, Deng Xiaoping, that finally normalized relations on January the 1st, 1979.

Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger were present at the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition. The two former colleagues relived one of their career pinnacles.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart, George W. Bush sent congratulatory messages to the opening ceremony.