9 judge terri l. jackson. the court is now recruiting prospective civil grand jurors. our goal is to develop a pool of candidates that is inclusive of all segments of our city's population. >> the jury conducts

investigations and publishes findings and recommendations. these reports them become a key part of the civic dialog on how we can make san francisco a better place to live and work. >> i want to encourage anyone that is on the fence, is considering participating as a grand jury member, to do so. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call

>> good morning. good afternoon. i think some of those of you who are standing could take a seat over in a chair if you would like to. welcome. my name is ann warner cribs. i'm a 1960 olympian, but i as swimming, not in ping-pong. i am the president and ceo of the san francisco bay organizing committee. we are so honored to be part of this 40th anniversary celebration of ping-pong diplomacy, and we are honored to welcome the delegation from

china. welcome. the promotion of peace and good sports is one of our missions. ping-pong diplomacy is what i love about the will of the games because it brings the world together through sport. ping-pong diplomacy is probably the best demonstration of the power of sport in diplomacy over the past 50 years, so i congratulate all of you. i should say it is important for all of us to remember the past. we had a wonderful party last night watching the fireworks, and i got a fortune cookie, and my fortune said this -- "good fortune will come to those who treasure items from the past." that is what we are doing here today with the celebration of ping-pong diplomacy. i would like to introduce some of the guests who are in the audience who will not speak but be introduced.

the president of united states table tennis association. the ceo of usa table tennis, a director from the state department. welcome. how what took table tennis club, and the united states olympic committee coach of the year. rose, where are you? what a wonderful party you put on last night. it was absolutely outstanding. thank you. [applause] bruce pickering, executive director of the asia society of northern california, who has helped us with the forum. the executive director of the chinese historical society. and then the libyans in the audience. if i could ask you to stand -- then, the olympians in the audience. if i could ask you to stand. [applause] thank you.

willie is the president of the united states olympic alumni association, and our future olympian, who was just out here. where are you? wait to everybody -- waived everybody. [applause] we have watched her grow up, and 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. people to people exchange. this mechanism is supported by