It all began when the Chinese table tennis team invited their U.S. counterparts to their country on an all-expense-paid trip during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan. "Time magazine" termed it: "The ping heard ‘round the world.'" On April 10, 1971, the team, and accompanying journalists, became the first U.S. sports delegation to enter and break the information blockade since 1949. Although the U.S. team was defeated by their hosts, in return to Premier Chou En-lai's invitation to more U.S. journalists, the United States government announced that it would lift its 20-year embargo on trade with China.