Stars mark 40 years of Ping-Pong Diplomacy

BEIJING - Four decades on from their landmark match in Beijing that helped bring Sino-US relations out of the deep freeze, ping-pong maestros of the 1970s from the two nations reunited in the Chinese capital on Thursday.

Champions from yesterday and today from China and the US met to play an exhibition game at the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the Ping-Pong Diplomacy in 1971 that helped to bridge the two countries.

Vice-President Xi Jinping and former US president Jimmy Carter were among the hundreds in attendance to cheer them on.