Riding a fast train to Derby, back in 1979, Hua Kuo-Feng, the first Chinese leader ever to visit the UK was so impressed that he told his minister for railways to learn from Britain.
Another Chinese VIP heads to the UK next week, but this time he is the one offering hi-tech help to upgrade our train services to Chinese-style high-speed standards.
Xi Jinping, 62, arrives in London on Monday for a state visit as president of a country that has transformed over the past three decades to become the world’s second largest economy. His more important title is head of the ruling Communist party, and he has become China’s most popular and powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping, who opened the country to the world.
Countless questions remain about what Xi will do with his and China’s ever-expanding strength. What we do know is that he has a “China Dream” that the whole country has to share, and a celebrity, singing wife.
For many years, Xi’s glamorous second wife, Peng Liyuan, was far more famous in China than her husband.
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An army singer who performs the folk and patriotic classics beloved of Chinese television, Peng entertained troops in Tiananmen Square soon after they had massacred pro-democracy demonstrators.
Xi, who rose through his leadership of various coastal provinces was confirmed as party boss in 2012. Peng has since proved a highly capable, diplomatic and fashionable first lady. Yet no pictures have emerged of the couple with their daughter, or of their only child, a Harvard graduate, as an adult.
His signature campaign against corruption, which is endemic nationwide, has jailed potential rivals, terrified millions of other officials, and boosted Xi’s popularity among ordinary Chinese.