The distinctive noise of table tennis being played in China might be heard around the world this summer. But unlike the "ping-pong diplomacy" of 1971 which signaled a warming of Sino-American relations, this time it'll simply be about the game itself.

If things go according to plan, around 10,000 Beijing residents and foreigners could be playing the game in Tian'anmen Square in June or July.

The event is being planned as part of the city's sixth sports festival and a prelude to the 2008 Olympics Games, said head of Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, Sun Kanglin, in a radio interview Monday.

And according to a senior Tian'anmen Area Administration official, it would be the first non-political event in the world's largest square since Chairman Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

"Such an event is unprecedented but we're going through a special period for the Olympics so there's a possibility," said the official. The sports bureau proposes to have over 1,000 ping-pong tables in the 880-meter-long and 500-meter-wide square.

"I think nothing could be more exciting than playing ping-pong on Tian'anmen Square" said Sun. Competitors have to advance through community playoffs to quality for the tournament proper, he explained.

A sports bureau official confirmed yesterday that the tournament was one of the 15 events being planned for the sports festival running from June 23 to July 23. The plan had just been completed and required approval from the Tian'anmen Area Administration to proceed, added the official.

Ping-pong is one of China's most popular sports with its players winning over 130 world championship medals since Rong Guotuan earned the men's gold at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1959.

The sport is also significant in world politics. One of the first public hints of thawing Sino-American relations came in April 1971 when the US ping-pong team, in Japan for the 31st World Championships, received a surprise invitation from their Chinese counterparts to come and visit. Time news magazine described it as, "The ping heard around the world."

Four days later nine players, four officials and two wives walked across a bridge in Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland and ushered in the era of "ping-pong diplomacy." They were the first group of Americans to enter the mainland since 1949.

(China Daily January 24, 2007)