we are so proud of her. representative of the international table tennis federation and headed junior development. now, it is my great honor to introduce our mayor, mayor lee. we are so grateful for his support. when we found out the delegation was coming, asked for his help, and what a big help he has been. we also found out that he plays a big pingpong himself, so we look forward to seeing that. mayor lee, the show is all yours. [applause] mayor lee: thank you, everyone. welcome to city hall, and welcome to our celebration of the 40th anniversary of ping- pong diplomacy. i also want to welcome supervisor eric mar. thank you for being here. i know he has a wealth of chinese residents and residents in the whole district that want to play ping-pong this year. i want to welcome everyone here.

our counsel general in china, the head of the table tennis association in china. thank you very much for being here. the wonderful guest from our bay area sports organizing committee and the united states table tennis association. thank you for being here as well. 40 years ago, i was studying really hard in college. i was actually studying about china and wondering where my parents came from and what they were doing in those years and what caused them to come to america and give birth to six kids and start us on our journeys in our own education. now, 40 years later, i find myself year as the leftist mayor of any great city in the whole united states, being the mayor of san francisco, and to be part of this really wonderful historic connection between our country and the people's republic of china and to be, of

course, celebrating with our citizens here to be the first asian american mayor in the city. this all comes together the same year. we were talking about is so many times the past few weeks as we were getting excited about this visit, to really have the athletes that were here and perhaps some of the athletes and representatives that were here 40 years ago. or looking at each other, wondering what history would be, what relations they would be. two of the most important countries of the world and finding out what we can do to open a relationship and a dialogue, and it took this for of being wrong. today, we were thinking it could be anything -- baseball, track and field, golf, for that matter. if you have heard about golf in china, you know that is going extremely fast. 40 years ago, it took a couple of players.

eventually allowing the president of people between them to open up a dialogue in this relationship. that is historic. that is what caused me to not only steady china, to study my own roots, my family, but to make a commitment as i can do my best here as one in in added states and being an american, what could i do to contribute to our country's understanding of foreign relations. fast forward 40 years, i did not expect that i would be the head of an international city, a city known for its relations not just as an american city but a city that offers relationships between the people's republic of china and the people of the united states and offering cultural exchanges as well as sports exchanges, and i am constantly reminded of that because we have a chief of protocol.

charlotte schulz has been such a wonderful participant in our government here, and to make sure that we keep attention as an international city, so i find myself as part of history, being very lucky to be the mayor of the city at this time and also finding ourselves to be so fortunate that we remember 40 years of history, 40 years of building relationships between our two countries, and i continue to feel that i am is a student of this activity because there's so much in our futures in our country working with china to understand how we could help in that relationship, help people to people, culture to culture, and then realize that we are as a city, a gateway to so much of this activity, making sure that we can celebrate this but also helping to continue improving relationships, improving dialogue between your two countries. we understand that that is

important. if through programs like china sf and what we do here in our great city to welcome businesses, both american as well as businesses out of china, to come here to this city and establish offices, create relationships, create communications and information so that we can, as a country, sell the product that we create here -- whether it is technology, clean-cut, biotech, but also welcomed chinese businesses, help them establish their markets here as well as they continue to contribute dramatically to the economy of the world. we will continue to do that and to build our city the way we can do it as an international city. so i want to welcome all of you here to this historic occasion to one where we know san francisco can really be very proud of, and that is hosting the 40th celebration of

international diplomacy up ping- pong diplomacy, and i want to give this proclamation. i'm not going to shake your hand too hard, but i'm also going to take this privilege and honor on behalf of san francisco to provide you -- please come up to the table as well. you with this proclamation. it has a lot of the whereases that depicts our history year, but i would like to, as the mayor of san francisco, on behalf of the people of this great city and county, in celebration and recognition of the official 40th anniversary, commemorating ping-pong diplomacy, we do provide

proclaim july 5, 2011, as ping- pong diplomacy day in san francisco. [applause] >> please welcome representative

-- the chinese table tennis president of the table tennis association and vice president of the chinese olympic committee. welcome. [applause] >> [speaking chinese] >> friends from the media, good afternoon. this afternoon is a very special moment. i took the chinese olympic committee to make a very special trip here to join you today for the very special celebration of

ping-pong diplomacy. >> [speaking chinese] >> 40 years ago, the tenant -- table tennis players from both the u.s. and china, played during the u.s. -- the 31st world championship. it is because of that money assets between the players, we certainly opened the door. this door opens something remarkable for our future in terms of our relationship

between u.s. and china. this afternoon, players come together to celebrate this remarkable moment. i feel very honored and very pleased and just feel a kind of family bond. thank you. [applause] >> [speaking chinese]

>> let me say something about our delegation. this delegation is consisting of three generations. you might notice that we have the first generation to participate in ping-pong diplomacy 40 years ago. also, we have the leader generation, who are also our national players. she studied at the university of wisconsin, madison, right now, and also a player just finished his study in the u.s., now in

china. a third-generation of the delegation is two young ladies representing the future of the friendship and the relationship, so this is a very good combination of our delegation, and it symbolizes the deep relationship and tradition of friendship between the two countries, especially in a circle of table tennis. >> [speaking chinese]

>> the celebration of ping-pong diplomacy is also one of the important events recommended by u.s.-china consultation of people to people exchange. this mechanism is supported by the two presidents of our country's year before last year. we very much like to use this mechanism to strengthen our established relationship between the sports circle and also people in general, and we want to make good use of the experience and resources of both sides to further develop the

areas of the sports industry. while this is a very good moment for us to strengthen our cooperation for the means of the mechanism for people to people exchange, and i would like to emphasize especially the importance of the cooperation in a circle for sports and also the necessity of broadening the cooperation between the two countries. >> [speaking chinese] >> to honor our visit this afternoon to san francisco, we made a very special gift that we

would like to present to the mayor of san francisco. [applause] >> thank you very much. i would like to introduce the council general, who has been very much help to us during this visit. welcome. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone.

first of all, i wish to express my heartfelt thanks to mayor edwin lee. i know you are very busy. you are the busiest man in the city, in the bay area. you just passed a budget, but you also made a new agenda. thank you for making your time free to help in this event. 40 years ago, i was a middle school student. the dramatic counter of the two young table tennis players from china and america surprised me and shocked the world. thanks to the vision of older generation leaders of our two countries, the small ball moved the big ball, and this event and

the later on coming efforts paved the way to the rapid development of china-u.s. relationship, and changed the world completely. after decades of concerted efforts, the relation between china and america has developed into one of the most important dynamic and promising bilateral relations in the world, which benefits tremendously not only our two nations, the world as a whole. to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ping-pong diplomacy, there will be several events in the coming days. i think myself that these events are magnificent. they will help people, especially our young

regeneration, know more about the history of the development of china-u.s. relations. they will help us review the achievements we have made over the past 40 years. and encourage us to do a better job in the future. this event will also reaffirmed the key role which people to people exchange place -- plays in the promotion of mutual friendship and understanding and trust. i am very happy to see that both our leaders in our two countries give prominent place to exchanges between our peoples in the san francisco bay area, getting closely involved in the exchanges on the grass roots

between our two countries. i think all these events, all these exchanges will help build a solid, cooperative partnership between china and america, and the coming event will contribute briefly to that endeavor. once again, thank you for coming, and again, welcome to the delegation. your presence today and tomorrow will undoubtedly provide enriching perspective to all celebrations, and on this occasion, i also wish to express our heartfelt thanks to our friends from the city and the county, from the office, from

the olympic committee of america, and all the individuals and groups closely involved in the preparation and organization of this grand event and wish all the celebrations great success, and invite you all tonight to see the demonstration between the vice minister and the mayor. tomorrow, there will be another professional demonstration in the university of stanford. thank you. [applause] >> now, i would like to introduce a veteran of the 1971 visit, who will speak just a little while, and then we will get to the exhibition. judy was a teenager when she went to china in 1971. here she is now. welcome, judy. [applause] >> thank you.

for the introduction. thank you, mayor lee, for your comments and your support of our sport, diplomacy, and encouraging good will between the u.s. and china. thank you, mr. counsel general for welcoming us, for your hospitality, and for being here today to honor and commemorate ping-pong diplomacy. as a member of the team that went to china in 1971, it is a thrill to be here again being a pink condom a black -- ping- pong diplomat. as like 39 years ago with a reciprocal tore of the team usa, table tennis has been a platform for events to promote peace between our countries. i am pleased that three veteran players from the 1972 reciprocal tore from china are here today.

it is such a pleasure to be with you again. and also, my 1971 friends from our trip to china. my teammates, george, and our official. i am really glad that you are joining us today as well. the 40th anniversary u.s.a. tour, which takes us from milwaukee to san francisco to los angeles, is a special time for as a veteran ping-pong diplomacy players to share all pictures and stories and continue our friendship while sharing the legacy of ping-pong diplomacy with the young degeneration. for the athletes four decades ago and now, pingpong diplomacy has always been about bringing people together to transcend political, national, and cultural barriers. i was just 15 years old when i went to china. i was a member of the u.s. team for the world championships. it was my first international

competition, my first time outside north america, and it was a really exciting world championship because it was also the first time that the chinese team was participating in the world championships since the beginning of the cultural revolution in 1976. i really look forward to seeing the chinese team. there was a great mystique since they had been gone from the table tennis team for such a long time. i still remember the first time i ever saw the chinese team. we were playing in the practice hall. many countries, many tables. we were all playing. the sound of the ball going. we were all talking, and suddenly, a huge crush came over the whole room. we were looking around, and up there, the chinese team walks in. to us, they were the gods of table tennis. [laughter] i will never forget.

then, the tournament went on for two weeks, and almost the last day of the tournament, we received the invitation to go to china. it was an amazing surprise, and it was great excitement. i was really excited to go, of course. and i was full of curiosity. i really did not know what to expect. no american group had been to china in years, and a was an incredible experience. if i had any expectations, it would have far surpassed them. china in 1971 was a very different place from my life in usa in 1971. also, china in 1971 was very different from china now or china on my next trip, which was 25 years later. we were in china for eight very full days. the highlight of the trip was meeting the premier at the great hall of the people.

we also went to the great wall, and they closed the wall just for us that date. other highlights for me were going to the summer palace, to a chinese opera, to a technical university, to an industrial exhibition, to m model commune near shanghai. we ate great chinese food and experienced the most wonderful hospitality. the chinese girls taught me two songs. "the east is red" and "sailing the seas depends on the helmsman." we learned about chinese communism and read mal's "little red book." and of course, we played friendship matches. we played in three cities -- and fortunately, very fortunately for me, the mantra over and over again was friendship first, competition second. i would like to brag here today

that i won three matches out of four in china. and it was only do -- and i'm very well aware it was only due to the philosophy, "friendship first, competition second." [laughter] i am also grateful for the wonderful hospitality that the chinese association and chinese people have extended in my subsequent ping-pong diplomacy visits to china, and i thank the chinese association and the people of china for keeping alive the spirit of ping-pong diplomacy. today, we are celebrating ping- pong diplomacy and the role it played in normalizing relations between u.s. and china. however, pingpong diplomacy does not justify -- just apply to the u.s. team trip to china in 1971 and the chinese team trip to the u.s.a. in 1972. ping-pong diplomacy also applies to the role of sports in

bringing people together in peaceful interactions. in sports, we have a common language that transcends national boundaries and cultural differences. we gain perspective and understanding, and we learn appreciation for each other. through the legacy of ping-pong diplomacy, we carry forward to the new generations a new people's revolution. it is one that carries a world wide message of peace, love, and cooperation. [applause] >> thank you. now, i would like to ask mayor lee to come back to the podium because we have some presentations to make to the delegation. and we are going to be helped, too, with the pronunciation of the names so we make sure that we get them all correct.

[applause]