Beijing 1987: China's coming-out party

摘要

Two decades ago, Deng Xiaoping welcomed nations to an international meeting in Beijing. Mohamed Hassan recalls how China's leaders set out their plans for the nation to rejoin the world's scientific elite. The memory is still fresh. On 12 September 1987,I flew into a Beijing airport that comprised a few badly maintained structures, no larger than a small provincial airfield. All around was peeling paint and dim lighting, no signs, no assistance and an anxious wait for luggage. The drive from the airport was another eye-opener. The road we took was poorly paved. Street lighting was sporadic. A smattering of cars, mainly Japanese-made, had to make room for bicycles, wheelbarrows and the occasional donkey cart. Beijing was a busy, even frenetic place. It was certainly well cared for. But it was impoverished. The Beijing from the window of my car was the image of China in the West. Yet, over the next five days, the idea of China as a poverty-stricken backwater, unable to harness new ways of learning and ultimately modernity, would be tested and changed forever.