Zhou Enlai Welcomes President Richard Nixon on February 21, 1972, symbolically ending 17 years of Sino-American tension. Source: White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon Administration)

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President Richard Nixon spent eight days in China, during which he met Chairman Mao and signed the Shanghai Communiqué with Premier Zhou Enlai. This would begin a thaw in relations that would be made official in 1979. 

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