Travels in a time of history: Travel to Wuhan

Travel to Wuhan

As a microchip design engineer, I went to many places that have some historic significance.

This first post shows some photos from Wuhan in China (PRC). When I went there in May 1980, as part of a 100-strong Philips commercial exhibition, Wuhan was unknown to me.

Wuhan is 1,000 km or more from Beijing, the political and business heart of China, but we were told to go there anyway! There wasn't much electronics interest there at the time, but the organisers got huge crowds in every day to visit us!

China in 1980 was very different to the modern bustling and busy country we see today. The photos might give you some idea of that.

There was a slight complication getting there - someone in Philips had cancelled my visa to China, just before departure from the UK. On advice, I went on the first leg of the trip to Hong Kong with the main party. Our "man in Hong Kong" would arrange a visa - which duly happened (things just get done in HK).

Hong Kong passport stamps

Visa to get into China

But this took an extra day or two, so I was faced with getting to Wuhan alone. Fortunately, a Dutch guy from the HK office was going too, so we set off by plane across the border. But we arrived late and missed our train connection to Wuhan. We were left by the China Tourist escort to go it alone - by air! (In those days, with very strict Communist Party rule, you had to be escorted everywhere.)
We bedded down in a hotel in Canton (now called Guangzhou), after a game of snooker and a beer.

Guangzhou hotel

Early the next morning we took a taxi to the airport. We started to queue at the ticket office - but the local folk don't queue like we do! We soon learned to push and shove like them - easy for us as we were quite a lot taller than them.

Once on the plane, my colleague amused the passengers around us by playing a tape (!) of a Chinese language lesson.

The hall, inside.
Notice the Netherlands and PRC flags

It wasn't long before we landed at Wuhan airport - it turned out that this is a military airport. The local (lady) commander rolled up in an army vehicle muttering "Big trouble, big trouble"! Oh well ... We were eventually deposited outside the exhibition hall, just as the Dutch minister for trade was opening the show.

The exhibition hall

A Dutch colleague (Wim) and I were manning the telephone equipment stand. Each stand had a local "machine minder" and a translator. Our translator was a delightful lady who was very well educated. She told us stories of the hard years under Mao.

Our translator and Wim

Me on the stand!

Now on to the best bit - the people of the city!

Europeans in Wuhan were a rare sight. There was a rumour of a couple of Germans, who had been left behind after building a brewery. So when we went out we attracted a lot of attention - especially a couple of our red-headed team!

Street view

Adults wore drab clothes - in contrast to their children.

This man makes a confection by heating up rice under great pressure!

The team waiting for the bus from our hotel

Our hotel was fascinating. The bar was notable for very weak beer and even weaker local whisky. There was some kind of plaque inside, mentioning HMS Amethyst - this ship was involved in the Amethyst Incident in WW2 (but I think the incident was downriver from Wuhan).