Bridge Builders:
Stephen Perry

First trade

Stephen Perry spent his childhood witnessing his father's unusual role as one of the original 'icebreakers'. Jack Perry's adventure started at the beginning of the 1950s, with that Western trade embargo. The first premier of the newly formed People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai, sought to establish a new way to trade with the West. 

"In 1951, my father met with Zhou Enlai's private secretary, who came to London to ask people in Cambridge for advice on somebody who could reopen trade with China," Stephen Perry tells CGTN Europe. "And for a man who'd never really been out of the East End of London, it was an incredible experience and an incredible opportunity."

When Jack Perry arrived in China in the early 1950s, even the devastation of Europe in 1945 didn't prepare him for the destruction that had been visited upon China.

"The country was completely bombed to bits and there was disease everywhere," says Stephen Perry. "The famine and lack of food and no transportation – it was a country really in a bad way. 

"But it was a country that was putting itself back together through the hard work of the Communist Party and the people of China. They really worked. And he was so impressed by the endeavors that they had – he said 'It's the poorest country I will ever go to, but I've no doubt that they will achieve their objective of returning as a leading economy of the world again.' And they have."

London Export was the first company formed to start trade, "and through that, my father was able to support the growth and development of what became the 48 Group Club." The icebreaker mission was what made the group famous, and while the war in Korea made it difficult for Jack Perry and the 48 Group Club, over time he changed minds.

"He was able to impress people that this was not only a great opportunity for the UK, but that China would probably be the most significant country in the world economy by early in the next century," says Perry. "I think people thought he was a little bit mad, but he obviously had it right."

The pivotal 1970s

As part of the second generation of icebreakers in the 1970s, Stephen Perry faced different problems to his father. 

"What was amazing to me in my first visit to China in 1972 was that every inch of the ground was used for agriculture, that there were millions upon millions of people working in the fields everywhere you went. 

"The other thing that amazed me was the amount of knowledge they had about the UK, about the United States and about international relations. And it was the first time that I began to think that the Chinese really had something special. 

"And they do – they study in a way few other countries do… They really want to know what worked and what didn't work in the world. And it wasn't ideological, so you were aware that the Chinese were trying to solve problems."

Even so, at this time it wasn't a country geared up for foreign trade. "The only building over three stories in Beijing was the Beijing Hotel. And there were more horses and carts in the streets than cars… and lots of bicycles," he smiles. "By the turn of the century, they were really becoming equipped to provide for the foreigners what they would need to do the deals and to live in China."

After 1976 China experienced reform: opening up was being planned and implemented from 1978 onwards, and Perry saw great opportunities in an open China. 

"I was trying to put together the first big joint venture in China for the domestic market," he says. "I wanted to understand how the party worked in order that I could put up proposals that used not only the foreign interest, but also the Chinese interests. That was what I decided was my main mission: to understand China and how it worked. And that's been a long journey – it's been 20, 30 years."

More than trade

The 48 Group Club hasn't just been about trade – it has also made strides in cultural and sporting exchanges. 

"We went to China and did the first football match between Britain and China – Deng Xiaoping was there," Perry recalls. "We've done several football matches with Elton John and Graham Taylor, with Watford, Liverpool, Arsenal. They've been wonderful moments of bridging the cultural and sporting divides between our countries and giving the opportunity to create closer relations between the peoples of the two countries."

The cultural exchange included arts and theater, with Andrew Loyd Webber's musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Phantom of the Opera taken to China in the 1980s followed by the full Broadway production of Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel's Les Miserables playing in Shanghai in 2002.

The cultural exchange has flourished in both directions, with Raise the Red Lantern – a ballet based on Su Tong's novel Wives and Concubines – traveling from China to great acclaim in Britain.

"It's been a great experience which hasn't just been about trade," smiles Perry. "It's been about bringing the peoples together and the cultures and the sports together."

As someone who has traveled to China hundreds of times over the past 50 years, meeting and socializing with Chinese people around the country, Perry believes there are some elements of Chinese culture that could benefit British society greatly. 

The first is the abundance and availability of healthy and fresh food. Chinese food has been dominated by the cuisine of Hong Kong, but Perry insists other regions of China have lots to offer too.

"I think what we need to see is more understanding of healthy foods from China being available in restaurants in the UK, and I think that will happen," Perry explains. "Xi Jinping has said 'One of our greatest exports is our culinary capability.'" 

Perry also believes that Chinese healthcare can have huge health benefits in the UK, by turning some medical diagnostic procedures on their head. "British doctors and so on are all positive about Chinese traditional medicine, but they say they don't really understand it," he says.

"Chinese traditional medicine is based on understanding the root causes of the way the body operates, as opposed to the Western system, which is based more on the symptoms that people experience and managing those."

Perry has dabbled with Chinese traditional remedies, and has been impressed with the results. "If you take tai chi, which is the great exercise thing that you see older people doing – there is, with that, a health system and a breathing system that is about taking the strength of the body to areas which are weakened."

The future

Having dealt for decades with suspicion and Sinophobia, Perry half-cajoles, half-warns the Western world that working alongside China is the only way to futureproof business. 

"If we understand that China is going to be the trendsetter of the next 20 or 30 years," he says, "that is the country which we need to get alongside and understand what they're doing and why they're doing it, it'll transform the world."

Perry notes the speed and certainty with which Chinese influence has spread in recent years. "If you look at BRI [the Belt and Road Initiative], the new Silk Road that's being built out there, it was first announced only nine years ago by Xi Jinping. It's transformed countries across Asia already and in Europe it's had an impact, South America, Africa. 

Change can be scary, but Perry has words of comfort and advice for those considering partnering up. "You're going to have to be prepared to make some mistakes and recover from them. That's natural – I've done that a lot in my life with China: I've made mistakes, but I've been able to recover from them."

For Perry, who inherited his co-operative zeal from his visionary father, it's time to start handing on to a new breed of similarly widescreen minds. "This process of trying to build a new icebreaker generation, it needs all the benefits of the media to achieve it. They need to be encouraging people to do icebreaking."

For those who take the leap of faith, the benefits could be enormous. "We don't have enough people in this country who have the vision of being involved with China and understanding China. The great opportunities that are there today – that may not be there in 30 or 40 years' time – need to be grasped now by people who have that vision."