First conversation between Mao and Nixon: diplomatic relations are reopened. The American compliments the Chinese for having transformed Chinese society, but Mao replies: “I haven’t managed to change it. I’ve only managed to change a few places near Beijing.” According to Federico Rampini, this visit had enormous historical consequences: it spawned Deng Xiaoping and his market reforms, the Tiananmen massacre, China’s entry into the WTO, the rise of the Chinese middle class and the impoverishment of the Western one, and the resulting populism in Western democracies.
