MARGARET THATCHER'S plane landed in Peking at half-past one on the afternoon of 22 September, 1982. It was her second visit to China, the first having been when she was Leader of the Opposition in 1977.
She did not, according to one civil servant, find China very attractive: 'She was a great exception to the general rule among political and business leaders, that having reached Peking and had their tummies tickled, they are captivated by the place, seeing themselves as latter-day Marco Polo figures. When she went as Leader of the Opposition, she found it a rather unpleasant place governed by rather unpleasant people.'
The coolness was mutual. Her subsequent visit, the first to China by a serving British prime minister, was reported as the fourth item on Peking's main radio news that evening, deemed of less importance than a commentary on the Communist Party's recent national congress, a report on reactions to the congress among miners in Henan province, and the arrival in Xian of another foreign leader, Kim Il-sung of North Korea.
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