"For China, the 2008 Olympic Games serve as a unique opportunity to showcase an efficient and modernized China to the world. Some may remember that it was originally sports that played a substantial role in opening a mysterious and secretive communist China to the West in 1971. Known as 'Ping-Pong Diplomacy,' American table tennis players accepted a special invitation to play in matches with the Chinese and tour famed landmarks. President Richard Nixon soon followed up on that encounter the following year with a historic visit to Beijing, lifting the “bamboo curtain” while working to normalize diplomatic relations."