An American delegation was in China to mark the 35th anniversary of a visit by US table tennis players that helped end the Cold War between Beijing and Washington.

Chinese and American table tennis players practice in April 1971. An American delegation was in China to mark the 35th anniversary of a visit by US table tennis players that helped end the Cold War between Beijing and Washington. [AFP]

The 25 delegates were scheduled to travel to Beijing, Shanghai and the east Chinese city of Changshu to commemorate the surprise visit of the US national team in April 1971, the Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend.

The delegation, which included several eyewitnesses of that first visit, was headed by Sheri Soderberg Pittman, president of USA Table Tennis, the nation's governing body of the sport, according to the agency.

The table tennis players' visit 35 years ago ushered in an era of low-level "ping pong diplomacy," helping the United States and China to gradually reach an understanding to put an end to hostility that had lasted for a generation.

The warming of relations culminated in a visit by then US president Richard Nixon to China in early 1972.