Marcia Burick will help us observe the 50th Anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy by taking us back to April, 1972, when the Chinese Table Tennis Team arrived in the U.S. at the invitation of the United States Table Tennis Association, which had visited then-Peking a year earlier when hosted by Premier Zhou En-Lai. Organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, this was the first visit to the U.S by any delegation from the Peoples Republic of China since the 1949 break in diplomatic relations. Marcia served on the Committee staff as Press Officer, traveling with the teams, along with members of both the Chinese and U.S. press, as they played competitive ping pong and toured from Detroit/Ann Arbor to Memphis, Colonial Williamsburg, Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles. Billed as a people-to-people visit, the theme of "Friendship First" prevailed, even as the Vietnam War loomed in the background.

This TigerTalk is open to interested college and high school students, and young adults, who are studying with or are related to members of our Tiger Community.  If you know someone who may be interested, please encourage them to contact:  htl.legacy@gmail.com to register to attend by indicating that you referred them.