Jan Berris. [Photo provided to China Daily]

For many who are familiar with Berris, her sincerity is always coupled with an unfailing attention to detail.

In the '70s, most hotels had no water in their rooms, and Berris, a legendary workaholic and multi-tasker, would drive her staff crazy by insisting that they carry electric tea kettles to whichever hotel rooms the Chinese delegation members were staying. She also went to great length to make sure the hotel chef knew how to make xifan, or Chinese rice soup, the way the Chinese would like to have it, with no butter or salt.

"Back then, the hotels were really excited to have the Chinese delegations staying, and the airlines agreed to fly us very inexpensively, or even for free," she says.

"In 1972, before the ping-pong team left, the chef at the Biltmore Hotel made this giant sheet cake decorated with ping-pong balls and paddles, as well as the American and the Chinese flags. We never asked him to do that; it was purely his own way of welcoming the Chinese."

Over the past half century, Berris has brought hundreds of Chinese delegations to the US, in addition to traveling to China more than 160 times, taking with her various groups from governors, mayors and a supreme court justice to business leaders, academics and tennis players.

Her first trip to China was in 1973, when the young Berris met the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai.

"He's one of those people that you meet in your lifetime, that you are so impressed with and find their character so charismatic and engaging that you don't want to wash your hands for weeks after shaking their hands."