Her first ever state visit to China is full of pleasant surprises for Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president, including unexpected greetings for her 68th birthday and her involvement in "ping-pong diplomacy" with China.

The banquet hall at the Continental Hotel in south China's boomtown Shenzhen suddenly resounded with "Happy Birthday" on Oct.29, towards the end of the welcoming banquet hosted by Mayor Xu Zongheng. Before she blew out the candles on the cake, Liberia's "Iron Lady" wished her country's friendship with China would be long-lasting.

A birthday greeting opened her meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao last Wednesday. "This is my most memorable birthday," she said.

When Johnson-Sirleaf arrived in China on Oct. 28, she might never expect she was to become the heroine in a present-day version of "ping-pong diplomacy" -- she played table tennis with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing at her hotel last Wednesday.

Li, who became acquainted with Johnson-Sirleaf at her presidential inauguration early this year, happily joined her in the exercise. "It's always a pleasure to greet a friend from afar," said the minister, quoting ancient Chinese scholar Confucius.

"The game is the modern version of the 'ping-pong diplomacy' --this time between China and Liberia," said Lin Songtian, Chinese ambassador to Liberia.

A U.S. table tennis team visited China in April 1971 at the invitation of their Chinese counterparts, the first U.S. group to visit after New China was founded in 1949. It broke the ice after two decades of frosty Sino-U.S. relations and eventually led to the normalization of bilateral ties.

The "Iron Lady" was by no means tired out by her tight schedule, preoccupied by whirlwind meetings and formal visits. She made time for the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, two major stopping points for first-time travelers to Beijing.

She marveled at the Chinese people's wisdom in building the defense work more than 2,000 years ago. "The Great Wall is a huge project. It'd still be a miracle even if built today."

The Harvard-educated master of public administration was particularly interested in ancient China's imperial exams, the only way for civilians to become officials in the feudal society, and kept asking questions during her tour across the imperial compound of the Palace Museum.

Married at 17 and a single mother of four kids, Johnson-Sirleaf was particularly concerned with women's rights and interests. She said women in Liberia are encouraged to take any job, including top jobs at the government.

To that effect, her administration plans to build 50 more schools, train 500 teachers and set up 4,000 scholarship programs in the coming two or three years to help young women from poor families through an education.

When asked to comment on the differences of China's Africa policy from that of the United States and European Union at a press conference Thursday, the president said China has given the continent "bigger room" to map its own development strategy in line with the situations in different countries. Every country should map its own development plan bearing in mind its own limitations, she told a crowd of Chinese and foreign reporters.

She said the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which concluded Sunday afternoon, was a good opportunity to enhance relations, cement cooperation and explore further on trade, investment as well as cultural exchanges.