Table tennis still fosters friendship between youth from China, US

"It was inspiring to hear about the history of ping-pong and how ping-pong was so crucial in the US-China relations at the start of it," says Misa Layne, a UVA sophomore.

"If we want to have better relations in the future, we really need people-to-people exchanges."

UVA freshman Keane Tao smiled at his partner Yin Tianyue, a student at Shanghai University of Sport, after winning the first group stage games and said: "Our group was really competitive. This man has pretty much carried me throughout the entire thing."

Yin says: "Friendship is more important than competition. Learning from such a wonderful friend is an enormous honor."

Throughout animated rallies, the constant encouragement from each other kept players' nerves at bay. Their budding rapport reflected the goodwill sowed decades prior, which continues to nourish ties today.

"If the general population of the two countries understand each other much better, then I could see how the governments would be more willing to cooperate later on in the future," says Paul McKissock, a third-year UVA student, expressing his belief that what they are doing is crucial.

The exchange is part of UVA students' "ping-pong diplomacy tour", which attempts to better understand the role that cultural and educational exchanges, as well as civilian interactions, have had in the development of China-US relations. They have already traveled to Hong Kong and Beijing, and Shanghai was their last destination.