From ping-pong to pickleball, friendships endure

The Chinese embassy in Washington hosted an evening celebrating youth friendship and "pickleball diplomacy" on Saturday, with the premiere of a documentary following a trip by US students to China during Spring Festival earlier this year.

The event brought together about 200 US students, their families, teachers and guests. In the pre-event warm-up activities, participants tried on traditional Chinese outfits such as hanfu and viewed photo exhibitions. They also tried their hand at zongzi by carefully folding bamboo leaves and filling them with sticky rice and dates.

Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng delivered remarks at the event emphasizing the role of sports in building connections.

He said that through pickleball, youth in China and the US have developed a sincere friendship. They learned from each other and experienced an open China, connecting with one another and building bridges of communication.

"From ping-pong to pickleball, the paddles have changed. But our peoples' shared wish for friendship remains as strong as ever," Xie said.

"China and the US are like two players on the same sports court. We play by the rules and respect one another," he said.

Xie noted that half a month ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump held a historic meeting in Beijing and "agreed on a new vision of building 'a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability'".

That, he said, "provides strategic guidance for our bilateral relationship over the next three years and beyond".

Xie also highlighted President Xi's recent reply to a letter from Chinese and US students taking part in "A Shared Voyage: China-US Youth Friendship Program".

In the letter, Xi noted that the initiative to invite 50,000 US students to China for exchange and study over five years has reached its goal two and a half years ahead of schedule.

Unforgettable trip

The documentary, which premiered at the event, chronicled the February 2026 trip by the youth pickleball delegation from Montgomery, Maryland, to China. The students visited Guangdong, Jiangxi, Henan provinces, and Beijing during Spring Festival.

Jeffrey Sullivan, director of System-wide Athletics for Montgomery County Public Schools, spoke about the program's growth.

He said the February delegation added an additional layer of student leadership, pointing out that the students "helped prepare for the trip, leading cultural sessions and pickleball practices".

During the story-sharing session, one student described the trip as "a very pleasant experience … It was definitely a big difference from what we see in the media. It was very nice to see. It was very beautiful."

Coach Stacy Azizirad noted the sport's unique bonding power."They bond over pickleball or any other sport like ping-pong, and it's really unique in the way that we've had some kids not even play pickleball that came on this trip before, and they learned to love it," she said.

A parent shared the deep personal impact. "The impact of these last two years … to say life-changing, it truly has been life-changing. The friendships that my children have made … have truly been heartwarming."

She mentioned her son is now teaching his Chinese friends English on WeChat and recently booked a family trip back to Beijing and Shanghai.