On April 4, 1971, in Japan, the American table tennis player Glenn Cowan missed his shuttle and boarded a bus carrying the Chinese team. The Chinese player Zhuang Zedong went up to him, greeted him, and gave him a piece of Hangzhou brocade.
On April 7, Zhou Enlai told the Foreign Ministry to have the Chinese delegation in Japan announce a formal invitation to the American team. On April 14, he received them in Beijing and said: “Your visit has opened the door to friendly contact between the two peoples.” The episode is remembered as “the small ball turning the big ball” (小球转动大球).