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Ping-Pong Diplomacy: Ivor Montagu and the Astonishing Story Behind the Game That Changed the World
It was one of the most significant developments of the post-war era: China finally abandoning its close relationship with the Soviet Union to begin detente with the USA. Astonishingly, the man who helped make it happen was a British aristocrat, Ivor Montagu, a Soviet spy who knew Stalin and dined with Trotsky. Even more remarkably, the means to this rapprochement was table tennis, a sport loved by both Chairman Mao and Montagu. For years, Montagu had lived a dual life, working to spread communism and also table tennis around the world. Surprisingly, the two strands of his career would come together in an event of global significance. Nicholas Griffin weaves a compelling story to reveal the background to the famous occasion in 1971, when the USA's Glenn Cowan, a 19-year-old hippie, befriended China's world champion Zhuang Zedong, who was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. Within days, the Americans would be playing the Chinese in front of 18,000 fans in Beijing, with the whole world watching. It was the beginning of a thaw in Sino-US relations that forced the Soviets into a crippling arms race that acted as a catalyst to pressuring them into errors that would draw the Cold War to an end. Sometimes sport truly can have the biggest consequences.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 2, 2014
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401 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Griffin
31 books26 followersNIcholas Griffin is the author of seven books. He has written for film, TV, newspapers and magazines. He currently has two works, Ping Pong Diplomacy and The Year of Dangerous Days, under option for film and television. A soccer addict, a carnivore of books, Griffin lives in Miami Beach with his wife and two children. And his dog. The dog is very important.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 15, 2014
China shows up so often in business and cultural headlines these days that it's hard to remember how isolated it was a few decades ago. That's what makes it so interesting to take a trip back to the sixties and seventies with Nicholas Griffin, who does an able job of showing what conditions were like how China's ping-pong team was a key part of its reconnection with the world.
Griffin goes quite a bit further, in fact, exploring the origins of competitive ping-pong and how it was essentially a Communist plot. (The British father of competitive ping-pong was an active Soviet spy, though his ambitions to conquer the world through cultural exchange seem a bit ahead of their time.) I'm not sure the book adds up to anything particularly insightful in the end -- it's more an extended historical anecdote than anything else -- but it's an interesting take on Chinese history and diplomacy.
Griffin goes quite a bit further, in fact, exploring the origins of competitive ping-pong and how it was essentially a Communist plot. (The British father of competitive ping-pong was an active Soviet spy, though his ambitions to conquer the world through cultural exchange seem a bit ahead of their time.) I'm not sure the book adds up to anything particularly insightful in the end -- it's more an extended historical anecdote than anything else -- but it's an interesting take on Chinese history and diplomacy.
May 5, 2018
3.75
My wife picked this up from the library. Fascinating to learn some general history of the East while interwoven with the history of Ping Pong. Some reviews said it read a lot like a story so that was my expectation and it didn’t quite live up to that. The history was interesting but not that much of a page turner. The author was well informed, well connected and well read. Hats off to his research and, again, to the way that he wove the political history of leading communist countries with ping pong. It definitely piqued my interest for further study on both histories.
My wife picked this up from the library. Fascinating to learn some general history of the East while interwoven with the history of Ping Pong. Some reviews said it read a lot like a story so that was my expectation and it didn’t quite live up to that. The history was interesting but not that much of a page turner. The author was well informed, well connected and well read. Hats off to his research and, again, to the way that he wove the political history of leading communist countries with ping pong. It definitely piqued my interest for further study on both histories.
January 11, 2014
Great read on the amazing story about how and English double agent introduced Mao to ping pong and how Mao used the game to change world politics. It's reads like a historical novel ,buts it's non fiction. An absolutely fascinating story that hasn't been told in this way. A Great first read for the year. I highly recommend it.
July 26, 2018
How did this one slide under my radar unnoticed? A surprising fun read.
June 15, 2017
Griffin frames the famous “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” incident of the Sino-Soviet split, by diving into the biography of Ping-Pong’s main developer and proponent, Ivor Montagu. Montagu was an aristocrat and long-time President of the International Association of Table Tennis, and also a Communist activist, probably on the payroll of Soviet spy services. He single handidly crafted the game from the 1920s on, and believed it would help promote Communism. Chinese Communist leaders adopted the game and when they came to power, it became the number one game promoted. Throughout the Communist world, it was a popular game because it was perfect in airless cramped factories for keeping the mind and body exercised. The Chinese ping-pong team quickly came to dominate as Mao used international tournaments to distract from the mass famine associated with the Great Leap Forward. During the Cultural Revolution, the ping pong team was attacked as a symbol of the Communist Party old guard and sent away to camps. Then, the survivors were released in order to lure the American team to play in Beijing in order to cover diplomatic outreach between China and the US, as Mao could not openly reach out because of fear of leftist radicals in the Communist Party, nor Nixon because of fear of right-wing Republicans. They used the games as a cover, and a year later Nixon came to China.
The book is divided into 1) the origins of the game and Montagu’s biography in promoting the game until the aftermath of WWII. 2) It’s embrace in Asia, especially in China. 3) The building of bridges between the US and China. 4) Developments since.
Key Themes and Concepts
-Table Tennis came to be a Communist game because of its cheapness and easy use of space. The Chinese came to dominate the game in post WWII. Today, it is the game of the older generation in China.
-Montagu largely took orders from Moscow. He believed that promoting table tennis would help promote Communism culturally. Many of the tournaments were held in cities with Soviet influence.
-Ping Pong was unexpectedly used as diplomatic covers to reach across channels.
The book is divided into 1) the origins of the game and Montagu’s biography in promoting the game until the aftermath of WWII. 2) It’s embrace in Asia, especially in China. 3) The building of bridges between the US and China. 4) Developments since.
Key Themes and Concepts
-Table Tennis came to be a Communist game because of its cheapness and easy use of space. The Chinese came to dominate the game in post WWII. Today, it is the game of the older generation in China.
-Montagu largely took orders from Moscow. He believed that promoting table tennis would help promote Communism culturally. Many of the tournaments were held in cities with Soviet influence.
-Ping Pong was unexpectedly used as diplomatic covers to reach across channels.
February 22, 2022
It's not the worst book I've ever read, but it's not quite what the title promised and frankly the author does a better job with recounting a chronology of events than of telling stories. I feel like there was a much more interesting way to tell this story. Just too dry for my tastes and I have a pretty high tolerance for dry.
August 27, 2025
Great in-depth look on how Ping-pong changed the course of human history, specifically during the Cold War. The author is very meticulous, and gives you a glimpse into various world players at the time. Learner so much about the Chinese revolutions and Mao’s China. A brilliant mix of sport and politics, Ping-Pong Diplomacy will fascinate any reader.
August 4, 2021
Written in breathless american historical journalist style, intriguing look at the domino effect in history (or at least in crafting a narrative). Helpful for getting the timeline clear in my head too.
December 19, 2021
The book suffers from the author not liking ping pong or having any respect for the players mentioned in the book. The book literally ends with him writing that basketball and soccer are more popular, as if he needed one last kick against ping pong. Why write the book?
September 21, 2023
It is rightly said that truth is stranger than fiction. It is such a gripping tale of how something as inconspicuous as ping pong could change the course of history. It is written in such a beautiful way, from a global view to personal account, to a glimpse of how the two countries think and act.
December 29, 2024
I enjoyed how the writer wove together a broad political history of China from the 1940s to 1980s, the personal stories of notable characters, and of course, ping pong. A niche topic for sure but an interesting one.
February 20, 2022
Bit long for ping pong
October 8, 2023
Interesting if a bit slow in parts. As someone who grew up with table tennis I had no clue as to the origins.
January 20, 2024
More of a 3.5/5. Not that special as far as nonfiction goes but it's a fascinating subject I had no idea about.
June 1, 2015
Review title: Little white ball, big Red game
If you have a chance to go to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, be sure to stop by the museum there, and take special notice of the display of the rail car mounted Minuteman nuclear missile. When I saw this a decade or so ago I was jarred to realize that within my adult lifetime this was a real proposal for shuttling armed nuclear warheads around the country's railroad racks and sidings to keep the equivalent Soviet missile launchers guessing where to strike.
You may, as I did, have a similar reaction to reading this book and its bizarre stranger than fiction retelling of the role that table tennis (Ping Pong is a trademarked name for a brand of table tennis equipment) played in bringing the US and China together after decades of political and diplomatic silence. Surely Ping Pong never changed the world! Ah, but it did, and Griffin does an excellent job of letting the story tell itself, writing in short staccato sentences and chapters that mimic the rapid fire exchange of points in a table tennis match.
The story starts in the most unlikely of places, a younger son of British nobility whose older siblings will inherit the land and titles, so is seeking his own place in the world. Ivor Montagu found his niche in table tennis--and Communism, in the early decades of the 20th Century when it was still possible, no matter how misguided, to sincerely support and believe in the Communist cause and Russia's guidance of the movement. But unlike most of his generation he never wavered from his views despite the horrors of Communism in practice under Stalin, and in fact became and remained a Soviet spy, using his leadership of the table tennis governing bodies which he founded and lead for decades as his hiding-in-plain-sight disguise.
Griffin tells Montagu's story as the foundation but this isn't just his biography. The history broadens and deepens as Ping Pong is introduce to Asia and becomes a favorite of Red China's revolutionaries and then a weapon of state diplomacy, all of which lead to the historic meeting of American and Chinese players across the table and across political borders never before breached.
Thanks to Griffin's research and writing we can now see these events in their true place in history. What at the time seemed coincidental and unscripted was in fact very much the result of political motives, plans, and actions undertaken by young players of a seemingly insignificant game on the highest stakes stage of world history. It was Ivor Montagu's vision for his game and his political worldview realized in its full potential. It was a tiny white ball that changed the world.
If you have a chance to go to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, be sure to stop by the museum there, and take special notice of the display of the rail car mounted Minuteman nuclear missile. When I saw this a decade or so ago I was jarred to realize that within my adult lifetime this was a real proposal for shuttling armed nuclear warheads around the country's railroad racks and sidings to keep the equivalent Soviet missile launchers guessing where to strike.
You may, as I did, have a similar reaction to reading this book and its bizarre stranger than fiction retelling of the role that table tennis (Ping Pong is a trademarked name for a brand of table tennis equipment) played in bringing the US and China together after decades of political and diplomatic silence. Surely Ping Pong never changed the world! Ah, but it did, and Griffin does an excellent job of letting the story tell itself, writing in short staccato sentences and chapters that mimic the rapid fire exchange of points in a table tennis match.
The story starts in the most unlikely of places, a younger son of British nobility whose older siblings will inherit the land and titles, so is seeking his own place in the world. Ivor Montagu found his niche in table tennis--and Communism, in the early decades of the 20th Century when it was still possible, no matter how misguided, to sincerely support and believe in the Communist cause and Russia's guidance of the movement. But unlike most of his generation he never wavered from his views despite the horrors of Communism in practice under Stalin, and in fact became and remained a Soviet spy, using his leadership of the table tennis governing bodies which he founded and lead for decades as his hiding-in-plain-sight disguise.
Griffin tells Montagu's story as the foundation but this isn't just his biography. The history broadens and deepens as Ping Pong is introduce to Asia and becomes a favorite of Red China's revolutionaries and then a weapon of state diplomacy, all of which lead to the historic meeting of American and Chinese players across the table and across political borders never before breached.
Thanks to Griffin's research and writing we can now see these events in their true place in history. What at the time seemed coincidental and unscripted was in fact very much the result of political motives, plans, and actions undertaken by young players of a seemingly insignificant game on the highest stakes stage of world history. It was Ivor Montagu's vision for his game and his political worldview realized in its full potential. It was a tiny white ball that changed the world.
September 22, 2015
How did a pastime usually associated with frat houses and unfinished basements come to herald a once-in-a-generation political realignment? In his rich and utterly engrossing history, Nicholas Griffin unspools this improbable story, from the game’s humble origins as a postprandial diversion (if you think ping pong is an undignified name, consider “whiffwhaff” and “gossima”), to its surprisingly deliberate expansion by an eccentric British communist who saw in this “faintly ridiculous” sport an opportunity to spread communism around the world, to, finally, the small group of American and Chinese athletes who became the catalyst for the United States’ rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China.
Griffin tells the story with a novelist’s flair for drama and characterization (no surprise, given that Griffin is also a novelist). The cast is as colorful and varied as a Pynchon novel or Coen brothers film: self-aggrandizing hippies, ideological aristocrats, calculating politicians, communist assassins and more all play a role. It’s enough to make me want to dust off the old paddles and get a little game of whiffwhaff going.
Griffin tells the story with a novelist’s flair for drama and characterization (no surprise, given that Griffin is also a novelist). The cast is as colorful and varied as a Pynchon novel or Coen brothers film: self-aggrandizing hippies, ideological aristocrats, calculating politicians, communist assassins and more all play a role. It’s enough to make me want to dust off the old paddles and get a little game of whiffwhaff going.
June 11, 2014
This is an interesting and complex analysis of the rise of ping pong (table tennis) in the West and its promotion in the East by an English traitor / spy for the Soviets. Griffin traces the history of ping pong and how Ivor Montagu, a British noble, fell in love with the game. He also became a dedicated Communist and staunch follower of Stalin. Montagu used the game, his position, and his family and friends to betray Britain and advance the Soviet cause. Stalin recognized the power of sport on the world stage, quickly seized control of all athletic endeavors, and made athletic excellence part and parcel of the Soviet ethos. Communist China also saw the value of using sport as a political weapon and followed the Soviet example. Both nations were utterly ruthless in the treatment of their own citizens in order to promote their agendas. I found it fascinating how one man's use of ping pong resulted in so many world changing events. This book truly demonstrates how complex and unexpected history can be.
November 24, 2014
In this book that traces the history of ping pong, Nicholas Griffin gives us a fascinating peek behind the curtain at some of the 20th century's great rivals. Who knew that a privileged Briton would revive a game for the purpose of advancing Communism throughout the world? And who knew that a team of nobodies would end up opening the door to a massive geopolitical transformation? And yet, Nicholas Griffin pulls no punches, refusing to whitewash the horrors of Communist misrule, nor glossing over the tragic ends of some of the key individuals involved in this most unusual drama, including hippie Glenn Cowan, who sought to use his 15 minutes of fame to further his own personal ambitions.
At turns fascinating, comical, insightful, and tragic, this book is very readable, and held my attention throughout the entire narrative. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in diplomatic history, the story of ping pong, or the backstory behind one of the great turning points in the Cold War.
At turns fascinating, comical, insightful, and tragic, this book is very readable, and held my attention throughout the entire narrative. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in diplomatic history, the story of ping pong, or the backstory behind one of the great turning points in the Cold War.
March 30, 2014
A Good read and the writing was good. The author wrote about the "behind the curtain" events and personalities that contributed to the US and China initial diplomatic interactions in 1971. Mr. Griffin did a good job of describing the personalities and how they fit into these events without being super long and laborious. However it never ceases to amaze me how people from the west, such as Mr. Montague, who is from a high ranking English family and well educated, could fall in love with communism and spend his whole life supporting its expansion. I guess it is easy when you can go back to your safe England and not be subjected to the political educations imposed upon citizens of those countries who cannot leave as easily as Mr. Montague. The author does a great job of being apolitical when describing the many political intrigues such as the "Cultural Revolution" and the "Great Leap Forward". I recommend it for a great insight to "Ping Pong Diplomacy".
January 27, 2014
Пинг-понговая дипломатия – это устоявшийся термин для событий, приведших к началу официального диалога между Китаем и США и потеплению отношений между странами. Книга – документальное произведение о том, как все это начиналось и развивалось, но читается как увлекательный роман, особенно первые процентов 70, когда автор рассказывает об Айворе Монтегю. Автор отлично выписывает портреты героев, рассказывает, что лежало за их поступками.
Мне лично было очень интересно – о многом я не знала, что-то «учила в школе», но давно забыла. В процессе чтения я искала дополнительную информацию в интернете, уточняла биографии исторических фигур, смотрела фотографии участников команд, проверяла даты событий. Мне кажется, такого рода книги очень полезны, они подталкивают читателя к какой-то дополнительной работе, к интерактивности, что ли :)
Мне лично было очень интересно – о многом я не знала, что-то «учила в школе», но давно забыла. В процессе чтения я искала дополнительную информацию в интернете, уточняла биографии исторических фигур, смотрела фотографии участников команд, проверяла даты событий. Мне кажется, такого рода книги очень полезны, они подталкивают читателя к какой-то дополнительной работе, к интерактивности, что ли :)
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March 3, 2016A non-fiction that starts off with a young British aristocrat, Ivor Montagu, who's obsession with ping pong and devotion to communism lands him a spy gig for the Soviet Union. Um what??
That's really only the beginning of this bizarre story of a sport that helps Ivor spread communism like Stalin's salami tactics did in the basements of Eastern Europe. His table tennis tournaments and ultimately world championships bring communist China to the international table eventually helping forge a relationship with the United States. This foreplay between the strongest and the largest country did not began through government leaders reaching out to each other directly, as in the recent times Obama did with Cuba, rather it began through meticulously crafted moves carried by the table tennis players of those countries. Just fascinating.
That's really only the beginning of this bizarre story of a sport that helps Ivor spread communism like Stalin's salami tactics did in the basements of Eastern Europe. His table tennis tournaments and ultimately world championships bring communist China to the international table eventually helping forge a relationship with the United States. This foreplay between the strongest and the largest country did not began through government leaders reaching out to each other directly, as in the recent times Obama did with Cuba, rather it began through meticulously crafted moves carried by the table tennis players of those countries. Just fascinating.
February 3, 2014
I kept waiting for this narrative to get really good. The history of table tennis was interesting enough. The travails of top Chinese table tennis stars and their interactions with Chairman Mao, Zhou Enlai, and top CCP brass during turbulent times also made for a good read. But, when the book reaches its supposed climax, the use of ping pong players to facilitate the Washington-Beijing thaw of the early 70s, the action didn't actually pick up. It just never made the jump from good to very good.
February 23, 2014
I thought it was interesting but did start to find it a bit heavy-going about half way through. It's not one that will keep you up half the night turning the pages but it does offer an enlightening look at how something so simple as an parlour game could (and did) end up shaping the modern world as we know it today.
(full review on my blog : http://madhousefamilyreviews.blogspot...)
(full review on my blog : http://madhousefamilyreviews.blogspot...)
June 21, 2014
An interesting read but is not really a book about Montagu, as the title would suggest. You are left with more question than answers about him as only the first 40 pages deal with his life. Perhaps there is little primary evidence to tell us more. The rest of the book gives an account of ping-pong diplomacy and I liked the final chapters setting out what happened to Glen Cowan and Zhuang Zedong.
December 22, 2014
Read as research for a work of fiction, but stranger than anything I could dream up, this is the story of table tennis in China and the chain of events and circumstances that led from Ivor Montagu, English eccentric, Communist, spy and ping-pong champion, to the history-making events of 1971 when the US table tennis team was invited behind the Bamboo Curtain.
October 23, 2016
This is a book that blends politics with sports. I'm fascinated with the history and espionage of the old days, but at the same time it was quite depressing to see thousand of lives wither before ping pong thrives. For one to appreciate the game, it is worth to know how it evolves and this book will serve the purpose .
May 25, 2014
The writing was entertaining but it lacked action and narrative. It was an interesting history of the sport and Griffin is definitely well researched, but the book never enveloped me. Unique idea but not written as a page-turner.
February 9, 2014
Easy and interesting to read
March 11, 2015
A good recounting of how sport diplomacy was used to thaw relationships between US and China. Notable for a detailed profile of the Chinese leadership and their style of working.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews