Today’s formalities began with an overview by the Vice-Director of SAFEA in the conference room. I learned that the Friendship Award has been given to 1,099 ‘foreign experts’ over the years. There are usually 50 recipients a year but this year 100 will be dished out to experts from 28 different countries. Eight of those 100 are women, and three are from the UK –Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (a.k.a. the Celtic fringe).
After lunch the first of our ‘babysitters’, Wang Yanhui, arrived to take care of Freda and Edie while we headed off to the Great Hall of the People. It was slick and flawless. All recipients sat in alphabetical order of country which meant that the Brits were sandwiched between the Ukraine and the USA, on the back row. Dam-busters music piped through the building on a time loop for 45 minutes as recipients went to the front one by one for their medal and 3-kilo certificate. After receiving her award Lesley was a little hasty in offering her hand to Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang for the second handshake, with which she gave her thanks. He paused for a second then obliged though it was touch and go. Ali greeted him with “fit like?” and a warm handshake as VP Zhang made his way around all the accompanying spouses. Possibly not a greeting he receives very often. The recipients were praised for their “wisdom and hard work, which make and outstanding contribution to the development of modern China”. The Friendship Award is the highest award granted to foreigners working in China. VP Zhang gave a long speech, during which he referred to China’s path towards “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. By that we assume he means “capitalism”. It was a memorable and moving event, which we felt deeply honoured to attend.
After lunch the first of our ‘babysitters’, Wang Yanhui, arrived to take care of Freda and Edie while we headed off to the Great Hall of the People. It was slick and flawless. All recipients sat in alphabetical order of country which meant that the Brits were sandwiched between the Ukraine and the USA, on the back row. Dam-busters music piped through the building on a time loop for 45 minutes as recipients went to the front one by one for their medal and 3-kilo certificate. After receiving her award Lesley was a little hasty in offering her hand to Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang for the second handshake, with which she gave her thanks. He paused for a second then obliged though it was touch and go. Ali greeted him with “fit like?” and a warm handshake as VP Zhang made his way around all the accompanying spouses. Possibly not a greeting he receives very often. The recipients were praised for their “wisdom and hard work, which make and outstanding contribution to the development of modern China”. The Friendship Award is the highest award granted to foreigners working in China. VP Zhang gave a long speech, during which he referred to China’s path towards “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. By that we assume he means “capitalism”. It was a memorable and moving event, which we felt deeply honoured to attend.
Lesley, Freda and Edie with one of the hotel's security guards in front of our convoy of buses. We brought 6 lanes of traffic to a standstill in central Beijing today as we made our way to Tiananmen Square
RSS Feed