China’s so-called Ping-Pong diplomat Zhuang Zedong plays against Richard Bowler, of East Providence, last night.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

SMITHFIELD — Zhuang Zedong stunned the world in 1971 when he used a Ping-Pong paddle to alleviate two decades of political strife between the United States and Communist China.

And last night, Zhuang stunned around 200 spectators at Bryant University, where the Chinese table tennis legend talked about his role in “Ping-Pong diplomacy” and briefly flashed lightning-quick skills in an exhibition match against Rhode Island’s top ranked table tennis player, Richard Bowling, of East Providence.

Zhuang, sometimes considered the Michael Jordan of Ping-Pong, became the face of international diplomacy more than three decades ago largely because he was the only player on the Chinese national team’s bus willing to speak to an American.

A brief conversation and the exchange of a gift during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan led China’s leader to invite the American table tennis team to visit China. Nine players accepted. And they became the first Americans allowed there since the Communist takeover in 1949.

The visit became known as “the ping heard around the world.” President Richard Nixon visited China the next year, becoming the first American president to do so.

Zhuang was invited to Bryant as part of the official inauguration of the university’s Confucius Institute, one of 20 such centers around the country dedicated to the promotion of Chinese language and culture.

He shared the tale of that fateful day in April of 1971 in vivid detail last night, but not before posing for photos and autographing paddles for adoring fans and curious Bryant students.

Zhuang told the audience that he was sitting on the back of his team’s bus on the way to practice during the 1971 world championships in Japan. A long-haired teenager got on the bus just before it left for the gymnasium, Zhuang said through a translator.

The Chinese team didn’t know that the boy, Glenn Cowan, was an American until he turned around and they saw the letters on the back of his shirt.

“We got nervous and nobody talked to him,” Zhuang said, adding that during competitions, the team had been told not to speak to Americans, not to shake their hands, and not to exchange gifts with them.

“He stood on the bus for 10 minutes and no one came to talk to him,” Zhuang said of Cowan. All the while, Zhuang was thinking about whether he should talk to the boy. He didn’t want to get into trouble. But he remembered his coach told the team to make friends during the competition.

And he didn’t think he should fault ordinary Americans for the decisions of policymakers in Washington, D.C.

So, Zhuang approached Cowan. He asked his name. And he gave Cowan a silk painting as a gift.

“He’s just an American player, not a policymaker,” Zhuang recalled. “He accepted my gift and said, ‘We wish you great success in the game.’ ”

The conversation and Zhuang’s gift would change Chinese-American relations forever.

Manny Silva, of Somerset, was among those who listened to Zhuang .

“I’m here for the history of it. I was 10 years old when he won his third title in 1965,” said Silva, one of several members of the Rhode Island Table Tennis Association gathered in the auditorium last night. “If he played in the U.S. he’d probably easily be in the top 10 — even now.”

Zhuang won the world table tennis championship three consecutive times in the 1960s. He coaches the game in China and still plays almost every day.

While many fans attended the speech, the Bryant University students in attendance hadn’t been born when Ping-Pong diplomacy changed the world.

“I just want to learn more about him — anything about how he affected the politics. I don’t know anything about it,” said Amber Torrey, a 21-year-old accounting major.

After his speech, Zhuang briefly rallied against Bowling on a table set up outside the auditorium. Most of the audience watched the pair spar.

While he is the state’s top ranked player and hopes to attend the Olympic trials, Bowling may be best known for previously holding the world record for the longest table tennis rally: 10 hours and 13 minutes. (The record was set as part of a fundraiser in 1983, not in a competitive game.)

Bowling said he was excited to have a chance to face off against a legend.

The 41-year-old recently left his engineering career to dedicate all his time to his table tennis game. He is featured in the latest issue of USA Table Tennis Magazine.

Zhuang was not paid for his speech last night, according to university spokeswoman Tracie Sweeney. He rarely speaks publicly in the United States, she said, and planned to leave Rhode Island today.