Fifty years ago today (April 10, 1971), a group of American table tennis players and diplomats arrived in Hong Kong and then traveled to China to kick off their national tour in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, which was later dubbed by the media as the "Ping Pong Diplomacy." That was the first US delegation to set foot on Chinese mainland in over 20 years.

The 1971 "Ping Pong Diplomacy" for the United States and the People's Republic of China paved the way for President Richard Nixon's historic visit to Beijing in the following year. The rest is history.

Fifty years on. What have we learned? What have we misunderstood? Food for thoughts...

(Photo: Forrest Gump, the 1994 movie based on some true events)