Platt says that it was a "smart move" for both sides to initiate exchanges even before the official relationship.

That trip was significant "on several different levels: historically, musically, and probably most importantly, diplomatically", says Davyd Booth, one of the four musicians from the first tour who is still with the orchestra today.

It was made possible by enormous joint efforts by Nixon, the renowned diplomatic figures Henry Kissinger and Platt, and Eugene Ormandy, the orchestra's music director, Booth recalls.

Renard Edwards, a viola player, remembered the first China trip as a way to help them to "broaden their horizons".

Edwards said he "was amazed that so many people were riding bicycles" on Beijing's streets.

For him, it was mind-blowing to experience famed Chinese scenic spots he had only ever seen described in books, such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

"Being very much interested in the fine arts, painting, sculpture and drawing, it was amazing to see what had been created for the royal court," says Edwards, while recounting his visit to the Forbidden City on the sidelines of the 1973 performance in China.

Twenty years after its first visit, the full orchestra returned to China in 1993, and has been expanding its collaboration with its Chinese counterparts ever since.

The orchestra enjoys a longstanding partnership with the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. In addition, it has worked with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra since 2016 in advancing cultural exchanges between the United States and China.

Booth, who has participated in about a dozen performances in China, said the orchestra's relationship with China has been one of their strongest, most continuous and longest partnerships.

The Philadelphia Orchestra announced in late January that this year it will visit China between May 16 and May 28 - the orchestra's 12th tour to China - to mark the four-decade milestone in US-China diplomatic relations.

"The relationship between the Philadelphia Orchestra and the audiences in China predates diplomatic relations, so we have a responsibility to continue to build on those connections and to make them stronger," says Matias Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He adds that his orchestra is "always looking for the next chance for greater collaboration" with China.

The orchestra's 2019 tour will begin and end with 40th anniversary concerts and residency activities in Beijing and Shanghai.

It will also include performances in China's northern city of Tianjin, Philadelphia's sister city, before performing in Hangzhou and making its debut in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

Platt says the orchestra's 40-plus years of trusted partnership with China helps to keep the people of the two countries connected.

The former US ambassador used an unusual comparison to describe the US-China relationship, saying that it "sort of resembles an iceberg" because "a huge part of it is below the water, which keeps the whole thing stable".

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