How one fake stomach flu changed everything between the US and China | Part 3 of 4

History Onion · 2:59

On May 14, 2026, Xi Jinping escorted Donald Trump into the Temple of Heaven. The only other American president ever to walk through those gates was Gerald Ford — in 1975. And Ford only got there because of one secret trip, four years earlier. Part 3 of *The China-America Bargain* — from Mao's ping-pong invitation to Kissinger's stomach flu cover story, Nixon's 1972 visit, the Shanghai Communiqué, Carter's normalization, Deng's cowboy hat, Reform and Opening Up, the engagement theory, Tiananmen Square, Tank Man, Bush 41's secret Scowcroft trip, Clinton calling the crackdown "wrong" on live Chinese TV, and the WTO bet. Follow for Part 4 — *The Reckoning* (2001–2026). Some scenes are cinematic reconstructions of documented events. All quotes, dates, and sources are historically verified.