--- title: China Daily - TIME - Partner Content - How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points description: How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points canonical: https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/how-pickleball-diplomacy-is-scoring-points/ article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-25T08:58:53.641Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-25T08:48:58.974Z article:section: Paid Partner Content og:title: China Daily - TIME - Partner Content - How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points og:description: How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points og:url: https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/how-pickleball-diplomacy-is-scoring-points/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13f29f7d15b43592/6ab635344988857b691365cc/1_How_pickleball_diplomacy_is_scoring_points.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1575 og:image:height: 886 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: China Daily - TIME - Partner Content - How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points twitter:description: How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13f29f7d15b43592/6ab635344988857b691365cc/1_How_pickleball_diplomacy_is_scoring_points.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How pickleball diplomacy is scoring points > Sponsored content. 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Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=f3a4ea04-6a83-4a80-bc67-13a572add494&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=f3a4ea04-6a83-4a80-bc67-13a572add494&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1)  _Students from Qinghai and Utah participate in a fun activity during an exchange visit on May 29 in Xining, China’s Qinghai province. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the sister province-state relationships between Qinghai and Utah. MA MINGYAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE_ By LIA ZHU Jeffrey Sullivan, director of systemwide athletics for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, has not taken off a bracelet since February. A Chinese student from a visiting delegation knotted and tied it around his wrist and told him that it would bring luck for the entire year. Sullivan has no intention of removing it. In Utah a young woman named Ellie Phelps said she once sat in a Chinese-language class and was ready to quit for lack of a personal connection to the language. One summer camp in China changed everything. Today Phelps is on a Fulbright Scholarship at Tianjin University. In Tacoma, Washington, more than 200 students from Lincoln High School and its sister school in Fuzhou, East China’s Fujian province, have taken part in mutual exchanges since 2008\. Among them was a young woman whose single trip sparked a lifelong love of immersing herself in other cultures. In a park in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, couples have their wedding photos taken on a replica of a bridge located in Cincinnati, Ohio. An expanding network of subnational partnerships, spanning states including California, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Utah and Washington, is quietly growing stronger. Since Nanjing and St. Louis forged the first China-U.S. sister city bond in 1979, the two countries have built 238 such pairings and 50 sister province-state relationships. In the Chinese Reconciliation Park in Tacoma, an ornate pavilion, the Fuzhou Ting, was donated by the city of Fuzhou. “We’re so proud and grateful for the relationship with our beautiful sister city of Fuzhou,” said Jamika Scott, a member of Tacoma Council. “It’s been a privilege to nurture this relationship for more than 30 years, and we continue to learn and grow from our ties.” The ting, a traditional Chinese structure built to provide shelter, rest and viewing points, has since been the site of dragon boat races, welcomed musicians from Fuzhou for the sister cities international music festival, and served as a stage for film screening and cultural celebrations, Scott said. In Liuzhou a different kind of monument has taken on an unexpected role. A replica of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge that spans the Ohio River was built in a collaboration of Liuzhou and Cincinnati. The sister city relationship between the two, established nearly 40 years ago, has touched thousands of lives through teaching and professional exchanges, said Janet Huston, Ohio state representative for Sister Cities International. More recently, Joe Hamrick, a pickleball enthusiast and sister city committee chairman, recruited seven couples to travel to Liuzhou and present the sport. They visited high schools, universities and recreation centers. However, the games were never really the point, Huston said. “The real purpose of any sister city exchange is to foster peace and understanding between two cultures, and what both sides came away with was just this overwhelming sense of kindness and love, changing attitudes, literally one person at a time.” Much like how Ping-Pong Diplomacy helped reopen China-U.S. ties in the 1970s, Sullivan is betting on pickleball as a universal language connecting young people across cultures. His philosophy of the pickleball initiative is that international relations are built “one relationship, one rally at a time.” The initiative began in April last year when more than 30 Montgomery County student-athletes visited Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Shanghai for 12 days of shared play, school visits and cultural exchanges. Shenzhen made the return visit four months later. In February a Shanghai delegation arrived in Maryland, followed by a group of students from Montgomery County Public Schools traveling back to China, visiting Shenzhen, Shangyou, Jiangxi province, Hebi, Henan province, and Beijing. These cities have either established sister city ties with U.S. counterparts or taken part in people-to-people exchange initiatives, particularly youth and sports diplomacy. The program is already drawing interest from other Chinese cities. At a recent China-U.S. Sister Cities Summit in San Francisco, representatives of Guilin, Guangxi, and Xi’an, Shaanxi province, extended invitations to explore pickleball exchanges of their own. In Tacoma, Lincoln High School forged a partnership with the Affiliated High School of Fuzhou Institute of Education in 2008. “We have been very proud to host students from Fuzhou at Lincoln High School every summer and introduce them to Tacoma,” said Scott of the Tacoma Council. She said her younger cousin was one of those students and the experience helped her discover a lifelong passion for the world. A former teacher and artist, Scott envisions deepening the relationship through creative fields. “Students in Tacoma are especially engaged in the arts, including glassblowing, painting, photography, filmmaking, dance and so much more. Sharing these creative passions with their Chinese counterparts and learning more about the creative work in China will enrich the lives of our young people,” she said. “When youth share their perspectives through art, I believe they can deepen their understanding of each other and find ways to imagine a bright future working together in collaboration,” she added. [](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/) ## China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World Since its launch in 1981, China Daily has grown to become the nation’s leading English-language newspaper. 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