|
• 1986: Sea Day and Land Day
Certainly the most colourful and most widely publicised British business event in China in the 1980s was the two-day seminar ‘Sea Day' and ‘Land Day' in Shanghai in October 1986, coinciding with the Queen's historic visit to China, writes Janet Kealey.
It became known in late 1985 that the Queen would visit China the following year. British trade promotion agencies soon decided to hold a business event during the visit to gain maximum exposure for UK business potential while Chinese attention was focused on Britain.
Planning and organisation were a joint effort. On the British side the organisers were the British Overseas Trade Board (‘Sea Day') and the Sino-British Trade Council (‘Land Day'), and in China the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, and CCPIT.
In the months leading up to October the 110-strong British delegation was assembled. The Queen was to visit Beijing and Shanghai, then Xi'an, Kunming and Guangzhou, and to leave China on the royal yacht Britannia; the organisers were delighted when the Queen agreed to the use of Britannia for the first day of the seminar.
Finally Sea Day dawned, a breezy sunny day. The British contingent and Chinese guests embarked on a seven-hour cruise down the Huangpu river to the Yangtze, and presentations in sectors of key importance to China's modernisation plans, as well as ways in which China could increase its exports.
The following day there was a festive atmosphere in Shanghai as hundreds of thousands of people thronged the streets to greet the Queen and Prince Philip. There was live television coverage in Shanghai and Britain.
Meanwhile, the Land Day seminar took place at the Peace Hotel and Shanghai Mansions on Shanghai's waterfront. Of the more than 50 British companies continuing their discussions with 300 representatives of Chinese organisations on infrastructure and industrial projects, none was new to China: many had over 30 years' trading experience with the People's Republic. A total of 16 agreements were signed in the Peace Hotel's art deco ballroom, among them a major Yangtze Delta telecommunications project. Several project discussions concerned the proposed modernisation of Shanghai, whose city centre had changed little since the 1930s.
Among those pictured on board the royal yacht Britannia during the ‘Sea Day' seminar are: (front row left to right) Jack Perry, 48 Group (third from left); Sir Eric Sharp, president of SBTC; Lu Xuzhang, special consultant, MOFERT; Gordon Sloan, 48 Group; Sir James Cleminson (in the light grey suit), president of the British Overseas Trade Board; Li Zhaoji, vice-mayor, Shanghai; Liu Jingji, vice-chairman, Shanghai People's Congress; Bernard Buckman, SBTC
|
With events happening in various locations around Shanghai there was a great potential for chaos, but organisers kept in touch by walkie-talkie and events progressed smoothly. A banquet for 350 Chinese guests rounded off the seminar, while a select few Chinese VIPs and senior British businessmen dined on board Britannia with the Queen and Prince Philip. This was followed by a reception on Britannia for British businessmen, organisers and Chinese guests with an opportunity to meet the Queen and Prince Philip. Throughout the evening the docks were thronged with people gazing at the spectacle. SBTC Director Mary Penn recalls, "Leaving the reception we were nearly mobbed by people hoping to see the Queen. All along the six-mile route to the Queen's residence the streets were lit, and lined with people straining their necks to get a glimpse."
SBTC President Sir Eric Sharp said the seminar had been "different from any other seminar or conference that we have held in China. A unique feature is that 100 British businessmen have sat down in one place with more than 300 of their Chinese business partners, against a background of general political and economic goodwill."
|
