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• Shop window for the 1970s
The British Industrial Technology Exhibition, which took place between 26th March and 7th April 1973, was conceived to show the Chinese the wide range of products and services which Britain could offer in the field of advanced technology, with a view to increasing the size of Britain's contribution to the development of China's economy in the years ahead. British business as well as the UK government saw the exhibition as Britain's opportunity to drive forward, hard and fast, its relationship with China, and the resulting business. It was recognised that Britain's lead position in China would be short-lived.
The organisers were SBTC and Industrial & Trade Fairs, with DTI sponsorship. From the beginning, all concerned were determined that the exhibition would be a success. Preparations had begun more than a year earlier with a reconnaissance trip to Beijing in January 1972. British industry showed a great deal of interest in the project, which was the first major event for Britain in China since the 1964 exhibition.
The aim was to have an exhibition large enough to stimulate Chinese interest in British industrial goods as a whole, and to show British progress in technological fields in which China was specifically interested. With 364 companies taking part it was the largest exhibition seen in China to date (and one of the largest ever). Among the well known exhibitors which would later become some of the UK's biggest exporters to China were ICI, GEC, British Aircraft Corporation, Gullick Dobson and Rolls-Royce.
The influx into Beijing of over 900 British people posed some formidable problems for the organisers. For a start, the industrial and mining equipment to be exhibited weighed 5,000 tons. Shipping it to China began in the autumn of 1972. More than 200,000 invitations were issued to officials, technicians and end users, together with a 16-page guide to the exhibition. A 300-page catalogue with data sheets on hundreds of products was published, and issued to 10,000 visitors.
Foreign trade minister Bai Xiangguo cuts the ribbon at the opening ceremony of the British Industrial Technology Exhibition in the presence of Peter Walker (holding ribbon), secretary of state for trade & industry, Michael Heseltine, minister for aerospace & shipping, British ambassador Sir John Addis and John Keswick
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The exhibition itself was just one of the events. A seminar on power generation and distribution was given by the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers Association, and individual lecture sessions were held. These and a programme of technical films by British exhibitors, proved immensely popular, and there were requests for many of the discussions to be repeated. As a result, a programme of 230 lecture sessions was increased to over 500.
China's foreign trade minister, Bai Xiangguo, opened the exhibition together with the British secretary of state for trade and industry, Peter Walker.
Premier Zhou Enlai and a VIP delegation spent two hours touring the stands, and many thousands visited the exhibition.
As preparations for the exhibition were being made, the US was conducting the ‘ping-pong diplomacy' which would lead to American businessmen being allowed into China. The 1973 exhibition, though the organisers did not know it at the time, occurred at precisely the right time to become the foundation stone for a great deal of future business. – Janet Kealey
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