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• First Person - Derek Lyons
Derek Lyons casts his mind back 40 years to recall the first-ever British industrial exhibition in Communist China.
The British Industrial Exhibition, held in Beijing in 1964, was only the second exhibition by a non-Communist country since 1949 (the first was Japan). For the exhibition organisers, Industrial and Trade Fairs, this presented particular challenges. We had been advised by CCPIT to bring everything – by which I mean absolutely everything, right down to tea towels and nails – with us. We also had to ship in books, films, projector and games to entertain the exhibitors.
That cost us a lot of money, but one aspect came very cheap: the publicity. We paid something like £150 to have many thousands of tickets printed which the Chinese distributed to factories and workplaces over a very wide area, with buses being laid on to bring the visitors in. Each morning, we were met with the very gratifying sight of queues and queues of people waiting to come into the exhibition. The event was so unusual that it was the subject of a BBC Panorama special.
The ride from the airport, at which we arrived at night, was hair-raising. Our car travelled down the centre of the road, with its lights off most of the time, and it proceeded in fits and starts, first accelerating then slowing down. We discovered that this was intended to save the battery and fuel! We were very well received by the Chinese authorities, being treated as "honoured guests". Throughout the whole event and during our trip, the Chinese were unfailingly honest and courteous.
In a country in which the philosophy was "all men are equal" it was amazing to discover a staggering hierarchy, requiring us, for example, to rank all the exhibitors' personnel in order of importance for the opening banquet and opening ceremony. It was an impossible task: how, for example, was it possible for us to say whether the chairman of Shell was more important than the managing director of Rolls Royce and so on throughout the 360 exhibitors present? There was an established routine by which we were all taken to see the sights – the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs and, inevitably, some communes. Here, we were shown gigantic vegetables pickled in formaldehyde, which we were solemnly told were grown "guided by the thoughts of Chairman Mao", a mantra oft-repeated during our stay. Mao was worshipped as a god. We were taken to a performance of "The East is Red" in the Great Hall of the People" which was magnificent show with a choir of 1,000, ending with a huge portrait of Mao displayed on the screen, at which all present stood and cheered. The streets were crammed with millions (literally) of bicycles. It was the "cabbage season" with many of the bikes carrying huge loads of them on panniers. Policemen on podia solemnly directed traffic even though the only cars were those of diplomats, and taxis, which were all Austins.
Those of us who had business outside the exhibition (me, for example, needing to visit the bank regularly) were always accompanied by an interpreter and "minder". On one occasion, greatly daring, I decided to go by bus and took three of the girls from the organising team with me. We sat in the back of the bus whereupon every eye was swivelled, throughout the entire journey, to gawp at us, particularly at the girls' legs and ankles. Stockings had never been seen before, the Chinese being invariably dressed in Mao suits.
Several years later, post the Cultural Revolution, Industrial and Trade Fairs organised other exhibitions (with which SBTC were involved). I have an abiding memory of going somewhere with my interpreter (this time without a "minder") and of her breaking down in tears. When I asked what was troubling her so, she said that the Cultural Revolution had ruined her life and that of so many others. She had been sent hundreds of miles away from her home and "her career had been destroyed". Those who know the Chinese may well imagine her distress, as it is rare indeed for any show of emotion.
Derek Lyons worked for Industrial and Trade Fairs Limited.
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