Great Hall of the People

Ping-pong diplomacy: Australian table tennis players return to China, five decades after historic tour

Retrieved on:

Friday, October 27, 2023

Only weeks after the team’s headline-making tour, Australia’s then opposition leader, Gough Whitlam, led a delegation to Beijing promising to open diplomatic relations “when elected”.

Key Points:

Only weeks after the team’s headline-making tour, Australia’s then opposition leader, Gough Whitlam, led a delegation to Beijing promising to open diplomatic relations “when elected”.
One was table tennis, one was basketball and one was volleyball.
One was table tennis, one was basketball and one was volleyball.

‘A crowd of 8,000 people’

A revolutionary who became one of China’s most revered statesmen, he advocated peaceful co-existence with the West and other nations.
The American team embarked on their tour first – setting the stage for then-President Richard Nixon’s famous visit to Beijing in 1972.
Paul Pinkewich had just turned 20 at the time of the visit, teammate Steve Knapp was only 18.
Our first match in Canton, now Guangzhou, I think it was a crowd of 8,000 people,” he recalls.
“Do you wear this hair because of your disagreement with society or because it is a style?” Knapp replied, “It is the fashion.”

“Can you believe, one table in the middle of the Capital Stadium [in Beijing] with 18,000 spectators, and that was just an amazing experience.
But they always let the woman win.” That woman was Anne Middleton, the other player on the 1971 tour, who has since passed away.
After the trip we were labelled as communists […] but we were interested in friendship first, competition second.”

Why sport diplomacy matters

Beijing has continued to use sport as a diplomatic tool, including becoming the first city in the world to host both a summer and winter Olympic Games (Beijing in 2008 and 2022).
French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, believing Olympics were a global event.
A new term has also emerged in recent years – almost always applied by researchers in democratic nations – to describe undemocratic nations’ forays into global sport: sportswashing.
“Amity between people holds the key to sound relations between countries.” At the heart of such amity, sport continues to play a significant role.

Tracey Holmes was one of the fifty Australians interviewed in the 'Fifty People, Fifty Stories' book due to her experiences of previously living and working in China.

CGTN: Xi Jinping urges actions to stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Xi, Renmin University of China, Cold War, State, Communication, CGTN, History, Great Hall of the People, The Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, G20, Great hall, Renewable energy, Insurance, Drug

During the meeting, Xi urged actions to stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations, and emphasized that whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future and destiny of humanity.

Key Points:

During the meeting, Xi urged actions to stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations, and emphasized that whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future and destiny of humanity.
"Planet Earth is big enough to accommodate the respective development and common prosperity of China and the United States," he said.
The Chinese, like the Americans, are "dignified, confident and self-reliant" people, and they both have the right to pursue a better life, Xi stressed.
"China respects U.S. interests and does not seek to challenge or displace the United States," said Xi.

CGTN: Xi Jinping urges actions to stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Xi, Renmin University of China, Cold War, State, Communication, CGTN, Multimedia, History, Great Hall of the People, The Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, G20, Great hall, Renewable energy, Insurance, Drug

During the meeting, Xi urged actions to stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations, and emphasized that whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future and destiny of humanity.

Key Points:

During the meeting, Xi urged actions to stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations, and emphasized that whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future and destiny of humanity.
"Planet Earth is big enough to accommodate the respective development and common prosperity of China and the United States," he said.
The Chinese, like the Americans, are "dignified, confident and self-reliant" people, and they both have the right to pursue a better life, Xi stressed.
"China respects U.S. interests and does not seek to challenge or displace the United States," said Xi.

Global Times: Role of overseas Chinese stressed in promoting global peace, development

Retrieved on:

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Overseas Chinese include Chinese nationals living overseas and Chinese people who have acquired foreign nationalities, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.

Key Points:

Overseas Chinese include Chinese nationals living overseas and Chinese people who have acquired foreign nationalities, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government has attached great importance to giving full play to the role of overseas Chinese, developing friendly relations between China and the countries and regions where overseas Chinese live, and promoting world peace, expert noted.
These important expositions are exactly the affirmation and expectations of overseas Chinese in promoting the construction of a global community with shared future, experts stressed.
The new chapter stated that one main task of the work regarding overseas Chinese is to guide overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese and their families to become devoted to promoting friendly cooperation and exchanges between Chinese and foreign people and to promote the construction of a global community of shared future.

CGTN: China, Singapore upgrade relations for higher-quality cooperation

Retrieved on:

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has the deepest engagement in China's reform and opening up, and shares the closest integration of interests with it, Xi said.

Key Points:

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has the deepest engagement in China's reform and opening up, and shares the closest integration of interests with it, Xi said.
And Singapore continued to maintain its position as the largest source of foreign capital in China for the 10th consecutive year in 2022.
During Friday's talks, Xi hailed China and Singapore as important partners, describing the relationship as "forward-looking, strategic and exemplary."
Singapore and other neighboring countries are looking forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China, he said.

CGTN: China, Singapore upgrade relations for higher-quality cooperation

Retrieved on:

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has the deepest engagement in China's reform and opening up, and shares the closest integration of interests with it, Xi said.

Key Points:

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has the deepest engagement in China's reform and opening up, and shares the closest integration of interests with it, Xi said.
And Singapore continued to maintain its position as the largest source of foreign capital in China for the 10th consecutive year in 2022.
During Friday's talks, Xi hailed China and Singapore as important partners, describing the relationship as "forward-looking, strategic and exemplary."
Singapore and other neighboring countries are looking forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China, he said.

A construction worker's pathway to China's top legislature

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

"I will continue to be a voice for all frontline construction workers, helping to address their concerns and improve their work and life," Zou told Beijing Review.

Key Points:

"I will continue to be a voice for all frontline construction workers, helping to address their concerns and improve their work and life," Zou told Beijing Review.
Born into a family of construction workers in a village in Xinhua County, Hunan Province, Zou began working as an apprentice bricklayer 200 km away in Changsha, the provincial capital.
In two years, Zou became a fully qualified bricklayer and reached the first major turning point of his life.
When he returned to work, Zou was recruited as a construction quality controller for China Construction Fifth Engineering Division Corp.

China endeavors to promote high-level development of its relations with Central Asian countries

Retrieved on:

Thursday, January 12, 2023

BRI, Great hall, Partnership, Great Hall of the People, Belt, People's Daily, Airline, Management

BEIJING, Jan. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from People's Daily: Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing recently during the latter's state visit to China.

Key Points:

BEIJING, Jan. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from People's Daily: Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing recently during the latter's state visit to China.
This marks China's success in establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership, advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind at the bilateral level, and signing BRI cooperation documents with all five Central Asian countries.
With similar visions and goals as well as intertwined interests, China and Turkmenistan have achieved fruitful results in exchanges and cooperation in multiple fields and at all levels, and seen their bilateral friendly ties grow from strength to strength under the strategic guidance of the two countries' heads of state.
The two countries' decisions to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership, continuously deepen bilateral cooperation across the board, and build a China-Turkmenistan community with a shared future is expected to push forward the development of their bilateral relations at a higher level.

CGTN: China sees off Comrade Jiang Zemin, pooling strength for striving forward

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

People across the country paid a three-minute silent tribute on Tuesday morning when a mourning session was held at a solemn memorial meeting.

Key Points:

People across the country paid a three-minute silent tribute on Tuesday morning when a mourning session was held at a solemn memorial meeting.
Jiang guaranteed the great ship of China's reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization forges ahead on the right track, Xi said.
Eric Chu, chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, as well as Taiwan compatriots on the mainland, also expressed their condolences over the passing of Jiang.
He also called the reform and opening-up a crucial move in determining the future and destiny of contemporary China.

CGTN: China sees off Comrade Jiang Zemin, pooling strength for striving forward

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

People across the country paid a three-minute silent tribute on Tuesday morning when a mourning session was held at a solemn memorial meeting.

Key Points:

People across the country paid a three-minute silent tribute on Tuesday morning when a mourning session was held at a solemn memorial meeting.
Jiang guaranteed the great ship of China's reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization forges ahead on the right track, Xi said.
Eric Chu, chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, as well as Taiwan compatriots on the mainland, also expressed their condolences over the passing of Jiang.
He also called the reform and opening-up a crucial move in determining the future and destiny of contemporary China.