ARTICLE FIRST PUBLISHED IN Business Weekly, Guest blog: 15 May 2020

China’s appetite for UK health technology has never been greater. Investment capital awaits us in China if we could only access it, and the vast and growing Chinese market offers us the opportunity to generate the best form of company financing of all – revenue. But have travel quarantines and personal prejudice now extinguished any lingering aspirations to re-engage?

I think not.

There is a way forward, building on what we have learned. But let’s start with that polarisation of opinion:

• “Stop eating bats”; “confess to errors made”; “China has shown its true, dark and foreboding colours”; “leave well alone” say some.
• “China’s turn to lead”; “America’s loss is Britain’s gain”; “strong central government has some merit”; “Come to China” say others.

Both sides are broadcasting their messages with equal vigour, whilst the Dangerous Oaf blunders on, frightening scientists and others with his unending stream of self-promotion at the expense of all else (Dangerous Oaf? What a beautifully succinct moniker that is for America’s 45th President, as coined by Business Weekly’s own editor Tony Quested).

Board opinion of China has polarised too, depending on how a particular company has traded with China in the past:

• Companies that engaged with ‘old’ China as a sub-contract manufacturing base treat the crisis as a catalyst for change. Worried that too much manufacturing power was concentrated in one geography, many Boards had been considering whether to spread manufacturing capacity more widely. The crisis galvanises these fears into action and we will see many companies moving manufacturing to different locations. Interestingly one potentially attractive option that is apparently being considered by many, due to its low labour costs and an increasingly stable environment, is Mexico. I can almost hear the President’s reaction from here.
• But companies linked to the innovation economy see the crisis as a catalyst for change in the opposite direction. It is time to take the growth opportunities unique to the Chinese market. Take healthcare, for example, to understand the opportunity. Only around 15% of the Chinese population currently accesses Western Medicine, whilst the majority still rely on Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Chinese government has set a target of 80% access to Western Meds as an important commitment of government policy. With a population of around 1.5bn this provides an extraordinary opportunity for our pharma and life sciences companies. Imagine, then, if the world goes into a deep recession. Where will new revenue come from? With the statistics above, China will represent one of the few growth opportunities globally, even if China’s GDP goes backwards.

Personally, I come from the ‘Its China’s turn’ camp and have a happily biased view. We held the baton of world leadership once. America took it from us. China is stepping up to run the next leg – and of course the US is resisting handing it over. But new China will surpass US GDP before long and whilst I don’t expect a world dominated by one superpower I do believe that China will be the strongest force in years to come – whether we like it or not.

Much of my China experience has been centred around the now-famous city of Wuhan in Central China. I had never heard of Wuhan before my first visit there but was shown round by a friend at a Chinese contract research firm that I was talking to and he and his colleagues helped me participate in a major local funding competition called the 3551 Talent Program. We didn’t win in the first year, but in the second year we did – generating hundreds of thousands of pounds of what the Chinese call ‘free money’ ie non-dilutive funding from Chinese government sources designed to attract companies to a particular location.

As it happens I was in Wuhan – a City that I have been visiting every two months or so for the last eight years – on the 14th January this year, then flew up to Beijing for meetings with Chinese government ministers before flying back to the UK on 17th Jan, as the crisis took hold. Friends in Wuhan and across China have been giving me a running commentary on the crisis and China’s response since then. In Wuhan right now one’s degree of Lockdown depends on the incidence of Covid-19 in your community – the group of apartment blocks in the gated community you live in. Those with high incidence continue to have strict Lockdown measures in place. Meanwhile Beijing – where Lockdown measures were almost as stringent as those in Wuhan – travel and quarantine restrictions for those travelling within China have at last been lifted. International visitors flying in to Beijing still need to spend 14 days in quarantine, but visitors arriving in Beijing from within China do not. Life is slowly returning to normal.
But here is the problem.

As any China enthusiast can tell you, doing business in China is all about personal relationships and these must be developed face-to-face. It seems that Zoom might come to the rescue, however. Many of us have been re-trained to make initial contacts by video conference over these last few weeks. Just today I have met a tech team on Zoom to discuss use of their cloud service, had a team meeting that would normally have been held in Nottingham UK and had a 1:1 Zoom update with a friend in Wuhan whom I have always previously met face-to-face. He tells me that Zoom and WeChat video conferencing are being embraced but we are yet to prove that the Chinese will accept their use for first meetings once the dust has settled.

But I believe that the promise is there. More importantly we have confirmation that UK companies can participate in upcoming funding events in Wuhan by video conference. This would be genuinely useful and valuable.

Meeting China’s Prime Minister again – Premier Li Keqiang – 17 Jan 2020. Luckily, having just flown up to Beijing from Wuhan, I didn’t give him anything except a copy of my book

Meanwhile the most frustrating consequence of the crisis for my colleague Richard Leaver and me is that we have been forced to put our new growth capital fund on hold. It will come back, but we have decided to develop Team Kapital – our Advisory Division - to lead the way in the short term, with our new colleague and former listed company broker Nicholas Malins-Smith, which will run alongside the fund once it is back on stream. The Dynastybio advisory business is helping UK companies access China, it is using our local teams in China to make the local connections and it is making maximum use of Zoom et al. We are already in discussion with a number of listed and private life science companies who want to lean on our personal networks in China and our first virtual-delegation will be ready soon.

The louder the Dangerous Oaf complains, the stronger the relationship between China and Britain becomes. Grant funding, equity funding, subsidiary set up, market access, accelerated clinical trials and industry partnering are all on offer for our biotech, medtech and pharma companies prepared to make the effort. It is time for empathy, virtual engagement, humility and basic common sense on all sides. Much of that will be difficult for some world leaders. We have to ensure that we are not among them, start looking ahead and preparing for the next big issue of antibiotic resistance, allow ourselves to generate real benefit for UK companies and technologies by re-engaging with new China, and hope that the market realities post Covid-19 help us deliver on the promise of the UK-China relationship.

I am sat with three friends around a table at a local restaurant in Wuhan, China. The table itself is round of course, with a circular glass plate, laden with dishes, rotating slowly at its centre. Our bowls are blessed with delicious food, our glasses are full, our chopsticks are busy, friendly conversation fills the small private dining room, and the world is put to rights.

But not a word of business is spoken.

We talk of art, of culture, of music, of education, of history and of food – the freshwater crab that is perfect right now, the local caitai vegetables that are a Wuhan specialty, the spiced duck, the white fungi and of course the Baijiu. We talk excitedly about family: I had helped one friend’s daughter when she first arrived in the UK to go to university and he was able to update me proudly on her excellent progress. Meanwhile another member of the party had been to stay with us in the UK and asked after my wife and children. And then we talk at length about Wuhan.

As we chatted, my friends joked that Wuhan was my second home and it began to dawn on me that they were right. I have many friends here now. I have visited private art galleries with them, strolled along the banks of the Yangtze River with them, marvelled at the new airport with them and wined and dined with them all. I had seen ballet in Wuhan, light shows in Wuhan, international tennis in Wuhan and, if I had not been filming a documentary about my experience in Wuhan, I would even have been able to watch a little live rugby in Wuhan this very afternoon. My eldest son has been here with me, my grandparents came here before me, and my children’s children will follow after me.

And still not a word of business is spoken.

When I talk of China in the UK it is almost always about trade and investment, revenue potential and grants, free office space, different staff management systems, government engagement and support, intellectual property and branding. For the enlightened few who already know about the other delights of life that are on offer here, this business-only approach might be appropriate. But I realised today that if I am to capture the hearts of others, motivating them to step outside their comfort zones and lift their eyes a little beyond Europe to China then perhaps I should spend more time telling the tales of friendship in Wuhan than the tales of investment and growth.

Wuhan has a lesson for us all.

In fact it is much more than a lesson. Wuhan understands the secret of life, China style. Here is the recipe:

1. Take one round table

2. Fill table to overflowing with freshly-cooked Chinese food

3. Open a bottle of Baijiu (or two, if very brave/foolhardy)
   

   Add friends, and stir gently for 2 hours

   (Additional flavoring: discuss the implications for international friendship and cultural exchange raised by the book Cambridge Notes by YU Tantan of course – found on Tmall and Dangdang in China if you search for 剑桥笔记 or click on this LINK, and available direct from me if you are in the UK – though only in Mandarin at the moment!)

Below: the sights and sounds of Wuhan – art, music, education, history, scenery. AND business!

Dear Friends

Re: Publication of Cambridge Notes, promoting friendly exchange between Wuhan and Britain

It gives me great pleasure to announce publication of ‘Cambridge Notes’, a book written by renowned Hubei author and journalist Mr YU Tantan of the Yangtze River Daily. Mr YU uses my family’s long association with Wuhan and China over a period of 140 years and spanning 6 generations to illustrate the power of friendly cross-cultural exchange between Britain and China, and with Wuhan specifically.

Contact me if you are in the UK and want a copy – Mandarin version only, at the moment.
If you are in China, then you can order you copy of Cambridge Notes online here.

The book is published by Wuhan Publishing House and is the culmination of four years of research by Mr YU. The book brings the idea of Sino-UK engagement to life, reminding readers that effective, friendly exchange concerning the arts, science, business and education between the UK and China, between Cambridge and Wuhan, and between Chinese people and their English counterparts has been going on for many, many years. The book makes it abundantly clear that we can create value through broad, mutual understanding – by working together, this Sino-UK partnership will become even deeper and will continue long into the future.

This publication marks a positive moment in my own Wuhan journey:

• Education: We have recently established our first Sino-UK collaboration in education – arranging for our first Chinese scholar (from the Hubei Traditional Chinese Medicine University) to partner with our connections at Nottingham Trent University for a one year academic secondment in the UK, starting this month. The project will also involve direct collaboration with our Cambridge University TCM friends. Investigation of common understanding between TCM experts and Western Medicine experts is an extremely exciting area and I look forward to the deepening of research knowledge that will result as well as development of treatments, services and devices that galvanise the best of both disciplines. The existing integration of TCM and Western Medicine within Wuhan hospitals, and the high standing of those hospitals, means that Wuhan is our favoured international partner for this research. I believe that we can link many Wuhan professors and academics, teachers and students across a multitude of different disciplines with their counterparts in the UK over the coming years;
• Science: We are currently initiating further research on a Tuberculosis project in collaboration with Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital. The project will require approval for sharing of data before moving forward to commercialisation but the resulting product is worth the effort because it will have a major impact on public health. We are in the process of investigating a further collaboration with Tongji Hospital concerning lung cancer and I look forward to many fruitful collaborations between UK and Wuhan institutions;
• Trade: On 2^nd Nov 2019 we concluded our first UK-China company introduction visit to Wuhan, bringing 15 of the UK’s leading cancer institutions and companies to Wuhan. This visit was a UK Department for International Trade Mission, supported by our work with the Wuhan Publicity Department and Wuhan East Lake Hi-tech Development Zone via a project called Window-on-Wuhan (see below). Attendees on the UK-China Oncology Mission included three of the most important cancer institutions in the UK, companies with ground-breaking oncology technology to develop in China and service companies linking UK medical knowledge with Chinese expertise, none of whom had previously visited Wuhan. We will be arranging 5 subsidised follow-up trips specifically to Wuhan over the next 12 months and would be pleased to hear from any interested parties;
• Investment into Wuhan: We have just concluded a critical step in development of our Sino-UK Fund, investing Chinese capital from both private investors and, subject to appropriate approval, the Hubei Province government fund. The Sino-UK Fund invests in medical, cleantech and agritech technologies from the Cambridge|London|Oxford ‘Golden Triangle’ and wider UK market, enabling our companies to access China for development and commercialisation. The majority of our investments will be located at our soft landing points in Hubei Province, in preference to other China locations, because we believe that the business ecosystem and government support available in Wuhan provides the ideal environment for our world-class technologies to thrive. If Wuhan performs as well as we expect then we will raise a second, much larger fund to drive a dramatic increase in trade and investment between the UK and China via Wuhan;
• Window-on-Wuhan: The Window-on-Wuhan program is itself reaching the conclusion of its first year. I am delighted that we have been able to raise the profile of Wuhan significantly in the UK – via digital media, printed media and BBC reports – resulting, for example, in the Oncology Mission, BBC coverage and widespread engagement with UK business leaders. We have been able to introduce Wuhan in one-to-one meetings with over 100 UK science companies during the course of the last 12 months and, whilst Brexit issues have distracted many UK officials during this period, it is a mark of the importance now placed on Sino-UK engagement that we have been able to keep UK government sources engaged. The new British Consul-General in Wuhan Mr Gareth Hoar and his team are fully briefed about Window-on-Wuhan and will support our upcoming Wuhan missions in 2019 and 2020.

When you have a chance to read Cambridge Notes you will, I am sure, agree with me that it describes a great history but that it represents just the first chapter in our engagement. It is up to us to move forward now and write the next chapter. I am fortunate to have support from SAFEA (State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs) in connection with my People’s Republic of China Friendship Award in 2017. SAFEA recognise that the book represents a significant catalyst for additional engagement and I have informed them that we have a number of further milestones coming up that will serve to maintain high interest in Wuhan as a demonstration of what China can offer to the world. Here are the first steps of the next chapter:

• Firstly, we are promoting Cambridge Notes widely across the PRC, UK and other international communities to promote friendly international exchange across many areas of society;
• Secondly, we will publish the English-language edition within 6 months – promoting broad cross-cultural engagement with China and confirming Wuhan as an ideal soft landing point for companies seeking HQ locations or first physical office and factory locations in China. It is important to emphasise that this book is not just about business, however, and we will be promoting the sharing of ideas and skills in culture, the arts, education and history as well as in trade and investment;
• Thereafter, I hope to publish copies of my Grandmother’s diaries written when she visited China and Wuhan in the 1960s, backed up by silent video footage filmed by my Grandfather during those trips. The diaries are highly detailed accounts, include many physical mementos such as photographs, tickets, documents and invitations, stamps, maps and other items collected during their trips plus wonderful descriptions of their engagement with the Chinese people. The film footage supports the diaries with vivid images of Chinese people at that time, going about their daily lives;
• We will also hold a launch event for the Sino-UK Fund in early 2020.

Finally, the impetus of the book has given us the energy to begin realising an ambitious dream of mine: to build a Yellow Crane Tower in the UK, as an iconic symbol of the partnership between us. In the first instance we are proceeding with establishment of a dedicated Cambridge-Wuhan incubator in Cambridge which we seek to twin with suitable incubators in Wuhan. In parallel we are beginning the exciting but challenging work of planning and building the UK Yellow Crane Tower itself. This will take some considerable time, but I am committed to achieving this ambitious target and look forward to a grand opening at some point in the future.

I hope that you enjoy reading Cambridge Notes – contact me if you would like to get a copy in the UK (Mandarin version only, at present). Online ordering in China is available here. Now let’s get on and write the NEXT chapter!

Dr Simon Haworth BSc PhD

Founder, Sino-UK Fund
CEO Intelligent OMICS Limited (PRC subsidiary: CompanDX (Wuhan) Ltd.)

The mission was organised by the UK Department for International Trade with assistance from CBBC and Window-on-Wuhan – a program designed to raise awareness of Wuhan in the UK. Attendees included three key UK cancer institutions (The Christie Hospital, Royal Marsden Hospital and the giant cancer charity Cancer Research UK) plus a dozen UK healthcare technology companies bringing world leading technology to Wuhan.

So why did the Mission come to Wuhan in preference to other China locations? 

“Wuhan is something of a hidden gem,” says Dr Simon Haworth, mission delegate and leader of the Window-on-Wuhan program “But Wuhan itself is larger than London, and located in a Province with a population almost identical to that of the UK as a whole. The business ecosystem is extraordinary with hundreds of healthcare, biotech, cleantech, agritech and EV companies. We were shown a vertical science park developed by Greenland Group in the centre of the city overlooking the river, and we met companies from the giant Wuhan Biolake science park – now boasting over 40,000 staff.”

“We are all now following up on a successful visit,” concludes Dr Haworth. “Now that we can fly direct to Wuhan from Heathrow and can see the depth of technology for ourselves, we can really start to link to Wuhan from the UK. I have a team now set up to help companies connect and we will be taking a further 5 delegations out to Wuhan over the next 12 months, driven by the power of the industry ecosystem and the breadth of support being provided by local government.”

Wuhan visitors and local team including Chris Hay, British Consulate-General (Wuhan), Dr Simon Haworth, Michael Salako CRUK, Alastair Ring Royal Marsden hospital, Geoff Muckle Imagen Therapeutics and Lynzi Wang, Mediihealth 

So now I am hoping to persuade others to embark on their own China journey as we support the UK Government’s upcoming “Oncology Mission to China” in October. This is a business matching trip set up to establish new relationships between UK and Chinese companies and institutions. We start the trip in Beijing, move on to Shanghai and then fly to my second home – Wuhan, in Hubei Province – for the final leg of the one-week Mission.

Wuhan is one of the most important pharma, life sciences and medtech clusters in China but few UK business leaders have ever heard of it, despite its 30-year Twinning with Manchester. I think the main issue in the past has been getting there – I always had to fly to Shanghai or Beijing first, and then take an internal flight on to Wuhan. But not anymore. As of 2019, China Southern Airlines has opened direct flights to Wuhan from London Heathrow. Access via the brand new Wuhan International Airport is now straight forward and flights to Wuhan are also cheaper than flights to Beijing.

Wuhan has grown exponentially since my grandparents visited in 1963. In those days it was a city of two million people and the first bridge over the Yangtze River at Wuhan had just been built. Roll forward just over 50 years and, believe it or not, Wuhan is now larger than London, in a Province that has almost the same population as the UK as a whole, and the Yangtse is criss-crossed by 11 road and rail bridges at Wuhan.

Dr. Haworth meets Mr Qian, Director of Wuhan Biolake

Industry in Wuhan has also been transformed. I first visited the area on my second trip to China, pitching in a funding competition on a science park called Wuhan Biolake. Apparently, the park was established as a green field site in 2009. By the time I got there in 2012 it was already a thriving centre for biotech, med tech, cleantech and agritech (what China often refers to as the ‘emerging industry technologies’) and over the last few years it has blossomed to become a thriving ecosystem of related companies and institutions.
According to my good friend Mr Qian, Director of Wuhan Biolake, the 7,000 acre park is now home to over 2,400 companies and 60,000 staff. Many of these companies originate from outside China and Wuhan Biolake has become a thriving hub for international trade. Unfortunately, the UK has largely missed out on this revolution so far and has a lot of catching up to do.

“I was always surprised that we didn’t have more UK companies on the park.” says Mr Qian. “We have the perfect environment for them with local and international science companies collaborating in a dynamic ecosystem. We are however seeing many more UK visitors, now that direct flights have been established, and I know that the work that Simon and his team are doing is beginning to show UK business leaders just how valuable Wuhan can be as a first soft landing point for a company entering the Chinese market”.

Why Wuhan?

I engaged with many Chinese cities before decided to locate our China subsidiaries in Wuhan and I think that the work that Mr Qian does, helping companies access Wuhan Biolake, and our relationship with the Wuhan Publicity Department were the two key factors in that decision. Many Chinese cities offered support for incoming companies but only Wuhan followed through and delivered the promised support. In China, relationships matter more than pretty much anything else and it has been the Wuhan relationships that have helped us progress.

The Old Customs House, Wuhan, built by the British in 1924

Wuhan Biolake is just one park within the wider Wuhan community and Central Wuhan is the vibrant home to thousands of Chinese and international companies. The Old Customs House in the centre of Wuhan is testament to long UK influence (c150 years) and the City’s university community contributes significantly to its ability to grow science/tech companies – in fact there are more graduates and top university places in Wuhan than in any other City in the world.

Wuhan is in fact one of China’s top medical cities.  It is home to two of the country’s top 15 hospitals and ranks number three in China in terms of hospital facilities with a total of 27 Triple-A rated hospitals (the highest ranking in China). In oncology, Wuhan leads the National Cancer Screening public health programme, supported by a world-class clinical and industry oncology ecosystem. Meanwhile the majority of the local oncology companies and institutions are seeking to engage with British counterparts for trade, investment and collaborative research.

Overall there are just under 100 major research institutions located in Wuhan alongside 21 state laboratories. This attracts global companies, and more than half of the world’s top 500 companies hold investments in Wuhan. Infrastructure is important and Wuhan is one of China’s four primary rail hubs. Officials assert that Wuhan has easy access to 92% of the Chinese economy because of its central location and advanced transport infrastructure. For UK companies, the scale of the city means that Wuhan is a destination market in itself. In my experience it is the ideal location for a first Chinese subsidiary and its central location in China means that one can roll-our products across the wider China market.

But I am of course very biased in this view as Wuhan has been extraordinarily helpful to us.

Financial support: Window-on-Wuhan program

We have begun to help promote Wuhan to others, over the last 12 months, through a program we call “Window-on-Wuhan”. As a result, I am delighted to report, we can now offer visiting companies an excellent initial benefit: we can offer financial support for a company to come to Wuhan in the form of in-China travel and accommodation, free of charge. More importantly we are also able to help companies arrange meetings within their chosen target market – with companies, academic partners, regulators or industry collaborators – and follow up those meetings in Wuhan once delegates have returned to the UK.

Is this as close as one can get these days to a Free Lunch?

The only catch is that Wuhan doesn’t pay for your international flights – though your local DiT might help. If you are not already in China for the Oncology Mission or some other event then you will need to pay around £500 (return) for the flight to Wuhan from Heathrow. In my experience, this flight cost is repaid many times over by the opportunity to accelerate the growth of one’s business. To be clear, we are offering this support to the delegates of the Oncology Mission to China, but we can also make it available to any company seeking to investigate China and the opportunities on offer in Wuhan.

The city is providing this support because we have been able to explain that, whilst most of us know that China is important for our future business, few of us know where in China to start. So the Window-on-Wuhan program makes that choice easy by opening up access to Wuhan specifically for UK science companies. Uniquely Wuhan is not just interested in Blue Chip top 100 companies, like many Chinese cities, but also recognises the extraordinary value of attracting small and medium sized businesses to the community. Start-ups with global aspirations take note!

But now it is time to get on with the arrangements for the Oncology Mission to China. We have a conference call for interested parties this morning, led by Joshua Lawrence of DiT and the British Consulates in Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai to advise possible delegates. I look forward to sharing news of the support we can offer for the Wuhan leg of the trip.

For this lucky group, their China journey is beginning. They will be joining the Christie Hospital, the Royal Marsden and CRUK in a stellar line-up of top UK oncology connections on this Mission. If you are in oncology, then you should sign up before the deadline at the end of this week and join the party.

See you at Heathrow!              Link to event info: https://eu.eventscloud.com/oncologymission2019

Last Saturday evening I caught the train down to London, waved off by my darling wife and youngest daughter at the station.

I was destined for a tiny hotel in Docklands – close enough to the Marathon start point for me to be sure that I could get there in time on Sunday morning. It was nerve-racking actually: whilst I slept OK, I awoke to the realisation that I really was attempting to run the full 26.2 miles of the London Marathon that day (i.e.just over 42k). In a few hours time. Ridiculous questions crowded my thoughts: What exact time should I go down for breakfast? What time should I put my Dementia Revolution running top on, affixing my London Marathon running number to the front? How much water should I drink this morning? Would my hamstrings give out after 2 miles, forcing me out of the race before it had even really started? Would I make it to the Finish line? Is this the last day of my life?! (a ‘drama queen’ soundtrack seemed to be playing in a loop in my head).

On the platform, ready to go …. and kit hanging. Nothing left to plan.

The Docklands Lodge Hotel is right on the marathon route, close to the 20 mile marker. “Will I see that marker again soon?”, I wondered as I set off for Poplar Station. By the time I found the train to Greenwich I was really feeling the pressure. Around me, silent figures shouldered their see-through Marathon kit bags stoically. “Are you ready?” I asked the runner I sat next to on the DLR. “It is a long way” he replied, curtly. When we arrived at Greenwich Station the tube driver wished the marathon runners luck. ”I ran it myself 4 years ago” he enthused as I thanked him. He turned away. “Hard” he muttered, as if to himself.

It is strange to be so nervous. I had done the training, following an online training program. Yes I had damaged my Achilles tendon and had to stop training for a period in the middle. Yes I had strained a hamstring two weeks prior. But I was OK now. I had put in the miles – building up to the obligatory 14 mile and 18 mile training runs. I had picked up my running number, timing widget and kit bag from the ExCel event on Thursday, and fitted the widget to my shoe as instructed. I had my nutrition gels, and of course my jelly babies snuggled in my running belt. I had rested for a week.

Surely I was ready?

I was certainly not alone. Of the 414,168 applicants for the Virgin Money London Marathon 2019 a total of 42,905 other runners had secured a place and were headed for the Start. With so many participants, runners have to be separated into three groups, each starting from a separate start point and, at each start point, runners set off from their allocated zones at ten minute intervals. Your group is advised by email in advance and your zone is printed next to your running number. Everyone runs the same distance of course and the three groups converge after a few miles. But it is pretty difficult to get over 40,000 runners on the road! I had been allocated to the Red start point and, because I had predicted a relatively slow Marathon time of 5 hours, was allocated to Red Zone 6 – in the last mass group to set off, starting at 10:48am.

The hardest part of the start is the waiting. I took off my jacket and track suit and dropped my numbered kit bag at the correct truck from the long row of lorries lined up in the massive waiting area in Greenwich Park. Luckily for us overall, the day was cool, with no wind and no rain. But cool means cold when one is standing around waiting. And waiting. The organisers did their best to keep us entertained and before long we got to see Andy Murray get the race underway but my start time was still 45 minutes away (I generously gave Sir Mo Farah a head start). Eventually it was time for the Zone 6 ‘mass start’ thousands to line up. I can see the quiet determination on my face, tinged with fear, on the selfie I took as we got ready to go. Race time!

Zone 6, 10:48am and we are ready to go

With a wave to the TV cameras as we passed over the red pad at the Start, and the widget on our running shoes triggering our recorded start time, we were off. I was amazed to see two or three people stop and walk after less than 2 miles. It was going to be a long day for them. I had decided that, however slowly I went, I was going to run the whole way except when saying hello to my darling wife Fawzia and my support team (children George, Will, Katie and Amara and Katie’s boyfriend Sam). The first planned meeting point was at halfway – Dementia Revolution had 10 ‘Cheer points’ around the course including one on the north side of Tower Bridge. I had heard how difficult it was to spot family members in the massive crowd so we had agreed that they would stand at the Cheer Points at 14 and 23 miles.

Running en masse was odd. On all my training runs I had been accompanied only by my training partner, Pickle – our two-year-old dog. Now I was surrounded by thousands of runners on all sides. Water bottles get discarded and need to be avoided. A vast amount of track suit tops and sweatshirts get discarded. The clothing is a windfall for the clothing banks that collect it but discarded bottles and shirts are a real hazard for runners running in a close packed group. But to be honest the first half of the race passed without much incident. I twinged my hamstring in mile 4, which was initially painful, but found that I could cope with it by taking paracetamol and slowing my pace. The route was lined with cheering crowds from the start but I put my earphones in, connected Strava (running App that told me how fast I was going every half mile so that I could judge and adjust my pace), put on some music and got on with it. Before long I began to see landmarks that I knew from when we lived in Bermondsey – and eventually I passed Boss Street where our flat was and I knew we were about to turn right on to Tower Bridge. Hurray! Almost half way, and still running. Trenchtown Rock/Bob Marley spurring me on.

Almost half way. Arriving at Tower Bridge!

I have always loved Tower Bridge but this was a special moment, crossing the river with new energy and turning right with the expectation of seeing my support team soon. Of course the mental challenge after crossing Tower Bridge is that one sees fast runners on the track on the other side of the road heading left to the Finish line. How on earth can they possibly have run so fast? They are more than 10 miles ahead. For some it can be a bit troubling to turn right, away from the finish line, whilst others are heading in the opposite direction but I was prepared for it. And Fawzia and co were just round the corner.

One of the strangest experiences of the race was about to hit me – and them. For some reason we all began to feel deeply emotional. Perhaps it was because Dad’s plan to run the London Marathon was actually HAPPENING? Perhaps I was really appreciating the support I had needed to get this far, as well as the fact that they were all there cheering me on? What ever the reason we all agreed afterwards that it was a powerful moment as I found them at the Cheer Point, waving their Dementia Revolution stuff, wearing Dementia Revolution T-shirts and tattoos and shouting like crazy! ”Go on Dad. So proud of you!” they yelled. As a father, life doesn’t get much better than the moment when your children tell you that they are proud that you are their Dad.

“As a father, life doesn’t get much better than the moment when your children tell you that they are proud that you are their Dad.”

Then we went our separate ways: I headed off in to Docklands for a long, winding 10 mile slog – broken only by the joy of running down West India Avenue towards 1 Canada Square. This was the point at which I broke through the 18.5 mile mark – the longest distance I had ever run before. I knew that if I was still able to keep going at this point then I would be on the home straight (literally – after Canary Wharf the route turns back towards Tower Bridge and the Embankment for the final sector). Passing my hotel of the night before was a good moment too.

My support team headed in the other direction – to a relaxed lunch at Côte Brasserie in St Katherine’s Dock. It wasn’t until after the race that I reflected on the fact that, whilst it was me that was doing significant exercise, it was my support team that were adding fuel. I was missing out on lunch. I was eating running gels every four miles and sipping water every half mile, but was it enough?

After lunch Fawzia and co sauntered back to the nearby Cheer Point at mile 23. I was on that Home Straight by then. But all was not going quite as planned. Around me, runners were showing significant signs of stress. A shocked runner was stopped by the side of the road every 5 or 10 yards. The pace had slowed significantly. I put on a brave face when I saw my supporters but I was in pain too. But it wasn’t ‘The Wall’ by that stage. On the running app I can see that my pace was really consistent up to that point, increasing speed very slowly over the race. I said good bye to the family swiftly though as I did not trust my legs to get started again if I stopped for too long. Running a marathon really does take you in to unknown territory in terms of endurance.

For me The Wall moment came at about mile 24. Spectators were shouting “Nearly there!” but my eyes were telling me different: The Embankment is longer than I ever remembered. What a slog. “Can I make it?” I wondered. I slowed my pace further but refused to stop running. At one memorable point I was overtaken by a walker! That spurred me on and before long I was seeing signs saying “5/8ths of a mile to go”, “800 meters to go”, “364 meters to go” and so on. Unbeknown to me George and Will had nipped down to watch from a point just outside Buckingham Palace where the route turns in to the Mall for the final few yards to the finish. Delightfully Will videoed his athletic father as he sprinted towards the finish line. The resulting video – now known as the Blistering Pace video due to the commentary from George amidst the laughter – is one of my favourite images of the event. Blistering pace? OMG I was going SO SLOWLY. But I was still going, and still technically running, so that is all that matters. (People who run a marathon always seem to say “I did it in x hours” but I was not interested in the second half of that. I just wanted to be able to say the “I did it”). As for those elite runners with their fluid running and their incredible speed, I don’t know quite how to describe them. Absolutely astounding. I will watch every marathon with humble awe from now on.

I finally crossed the line and my phone bleeped with a text from the timing system: finished in 5 hours 43 minutes. There were still thousands of runners behind me but many, many more ahead of me. I was handed my medal and my phone rang almost immediately: it was Fawzia. All I can remember is that she was incredibly excited but I could not really hear her. I was beginning to feel extremely sick. I actually cut the call before she had finished and tried to recover. I decided to keep moving and it was a good choice. The sickness subsided. I walked on and picked up my Finisher pack including T-shirt, water, apple and foodbars, foil blanket and other stuff. Then I had to wander down the numbered line of lorries to find my kit bag. It seemed to be a long way. St John’s Ambulance teams were attending to various crumpled runners by the roadside. Pain and joy, in a heady mix. “Are you OK” asked one of the attendants. All I could reply was the same as I’d heard earlier: “It is a long way”.

And if you want to have a nice, comfortable perception of a straight forward London Marathon, or you are an athlete who knows all about proper nutrition before and during a race, then I suggest you stop reading now. If however you are a normal mortal like me then read on …

Eventually I got to Horse Guards Parade where my family and I had agreed to meet at meeting point H after the race: H for Haworth. As I approached the meeting point I was aware that my sight was ‘a bit funny’. It was as if I was looking through a pane of glass with droplets of water on it. After a few short minutes, George and Will arrived. Congratulations were cut short as they could see that I was suffering. I rebuffed the suggestion that I might need a doctor. But I began to feel worse. I had to take off the medal and pass it to Will because it was simply too heavy. I could hardly stand. Then I looked up … and realised that I did need medical help:

Horse Guards Parade as it was meant to look … and how it looked to me!

In the care of the St John Ambulance team

Will ran off to get help. I couldn’t walk and felt absolutely terrible. I was frightened by the failure of my sight and by the fact that I could not hold my own head up. I used George for support and eventually Will got back with a St John Ambulance team and their wonderful wheelchair. Humiliating? No. I was beyond caring and slumped into the seat. I couldn’t even lift my own feet onto the footrests. “Sorry about the bumps” they said. What bumps? It was the most comfortable seat I could ever remember. I was soon inside the medical tent for blood tests, blood pressure, heart monitor and eventually, once dehydration-driven low blood pressure had been diagnosed … a saline drip. I missed the Dementia Revolution after party. We cancelled the family supper celebration. I now need to ‘Offset’ my use of St John Ambulance resources with some fundraising for them too – all because my drinking strategy had NOT been adequate! Finally we took some pics of me being treated, just for fun (“You English people have such a strange sense of humour” mused Fawzia) and then, after two hours of friendly but efficient attention by the dedicated Dr Ramayooloo and her team, I was fit to go.

As we wandered back past the Finish line I was shocked to see runners still coming in. A long day!

On the way home I thought about what I had learned …

The Marathon Miracle

All in all I actually really enjoyed the race. Yes there were 10 or 20 minutes afterwards that were hell. But I loved learning about myself, supporting a charity, bringing the family together and all the other parts of what I now call the Marathon Miracle. I am incredibly grateful for the support I received – from family, friends and physio. No I won’t be doing it again. Yes YOU should have a go.

What about fundraising? Well I am delighted to report that we smashed the £2,500 target that I set myself 12 months ago. More than 30 generous individuals and companies have helped me raise £3,240 with Gift Aid so far. A great result. A massive THANK YOU to each and every one of you!

Footnote:
So … I have run a marathon, walked barefoot over burning hot coals, climbed a snowy mountain with seal skins fixed to my skis, started my own business in China, brought up 4 children, learned to ride horses by taking up polo (fantastic game – thanks for the reminder about this one, Jane) and attempted to get a painting into the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (failed twice). What next: Skydiving? Learn Mandarin? Suggestions please

Help needed from all: the brilliant physio Sally Richt
http://www.letchworthphysiotherapist.co.uk/

Dr Ramayooloo’s nursing team doing a great job.
(She was doing her 7th Marathon of med support. What dedication!)

Pickle: my faithful running companion …

For me, that is amazing. So how do I know?

Late in 2018 I signed up to the London Marathon 2019 as a member of the Dementia Revolution team. My wife tells me that it always takes a ‘The’ to motivate me, as in: The Virgin Money London Marathon, or getting fit enough to ski The Russi Run above Andermatt (or indeed establishing The Sino-UK Fund). It has to be a big ‘The’ to get me fired up, apparently. I have never run a marathon before, and I have not done any sort of running in almost 40 years so family and friends were a little surprised by my commitment. My children joined in the ruse by giving me some quite extraordinary “Adidas Ultra Boost” running shoes for Christmas so I signed on to the Strava running app on Boxing Day and took my new kit for a test run. Strava keeps a record of your routes, speed and hill climb distance – click the logo for more info. On that first run (about 2 miles round the village very, very slowly!) I was utterly demoralised by how hard it was. Even on the flat my jog was little more than a shuffle, and the slightest incline brought me close to a standstill.

This is the point at which I need YOUR support. This is HARD! I confess that I found myself believing that I might have taken on a ‘The’ that was beyond me.

Link to my fundraising page

But the sun rose again and today I learned something: Strava has just told me that I have run 26.2 miles. Marathon distance!

OK so the 26.2 miles is the cumulative total distance I have run in my new shoes. Since 26th December. But … there is suddenly no part of me that says: “I can’t do this”. If it takes me 10 days or so to complete the London Marathon starting on 28th April then the timekeepers, crowd, finish line and even my long suffering, faithful family supporters will have gone home by the time I complete it. But still I now know with absolute certainty that I CAN run a marathon. I can see the fact right there in front of me on the Strava app.

Believing that I can’t do something is one of life’s worst nightmares for me. It holds me back so much. Proving to myself that I can is sometimes just a matter of perspective. For me, I now know that I can complete the marathon. Training over the next few months just needs to help me cut down the breaks a bit so that I get to the finish line in time to pick up my finisher’s medal :-)

So what else have I learned so far?

• Well after my second run I implemented an advanced warm-down routine – i.e. collapse immediately in front of the telly with a cup of tea. Unfortunately I can tell you with absolute certainty that this method is not a good idea. Something close to rigor mortis sets in within about 10 minutes. I was stiff as a board. It turns out that stretching, water, protein and a bit of chocolate work a whole lot better.
• Also, I had to update my training program compared to the last time I ran any distance. There are training programs that anyone can access that get you to the finish line. Enough people have attempted marathons in recent years for online apps and training programs to be developed that you simply have to adhere to and you will make it. When I was 18, a bunch of my fellow rugby team members and I decided that a 25 mile Sponsored Walk for Charity that our school had arranged would be far too boring to walk. So, three weeks before the day, we decided to train so that we could run it instead, which we then did (the 17th mile was hard, as I recall, and I also remember that we arrived at all the refreshment stops and finish line before the officials had even got there - whereas in April I aspire to get there before they have left). That gruelling 25 mile run was NEARLY marathon length and is my one, solitary claim to long distance running. But it is a lonely marker and more than double the length of any other run I have ever done so I don’t think that a three week preparation plan would work quite so well this time! The full four months is needed. (Here is a link to a very simple 16 week Training Plan, if you are interested –> Link)
• Some people get some benefit from comparing their performance with other runners. The Strava app has all sorts of gadgets and applications to help a user follow fellow runners and be followed by others, compare routes with others, compete with others, see ratings of one’s performance against others and much more besides. But none of this interests me in the slightest so I have turned all these features off. For me, motivation comes from within – the challenges I set for myself.

I am going to try to keep a record of the experience over the next four months – hopefully including details of what it feels like to run and complete the London Marathon. However I need to get your support along the way. I have set myself the task of raising £2,500 for the extraordinary cause that is The Dementia Revolution (another ‘The’). I have just put in £500 myself and my business will match that. But I need help from you to get to my target please. Judging by previous blog posts I only need £5 or more from you to hit the target though. Can you do that, please? Click on the link below and see what you think – and email me when/if you do contribute so that I can update you on progress.

Link to my fundraising page

Finally I am pleased to see that my faithful running companion – our 2 year-old dog – is sound asleep on her blanket as I write. She already gets excited when I get my new running shoes out as she knows that we are off for a run. And it apparently tires her a little too!

Thanks for your support. Please take it from me that what ever it is that you believe you can’t do … you are almost certainly wrong.  Find some way to prove to yourself that you can do it and you will find the strength to put in the hard yards. After that … you can start looking out for the final straight, with finish line in sight.

Note: All comments are curated. All marketing links and similar junk will be deleted

All I want for Christmas is …

Two-year old running companion

The Launch Event included senior government delegates from Wuhan in Hubei Province, China, and a Key Note speech by former Life Sciences Minister George Freeman MP.

“Great Britain, not Little Britain!” says George Freeman MP

In his speech, Freeman celebrated the power of UK innovation and the unique, creative talents of Cambridge. Match Cambridge innovation with the extraordinary business ecosystem of Wuhan, delivered through a safe ‘soft landing point’ for UK companies seeking to access the vast China market, and the potential is limitless. But Freeman also warned that the UK must engage with the opportunities offered by China and do so now or ”come second best” as other countries compete for this prize.  ”Simon Haworth and his team are launching this program at exactly the right moment” said Freeman. “UK healthcare and biotech companies need a conduit to China. Match the Window-on-Wuhan program with the funding provided by the Sino-UK Fund and we have the opportunity to power ahead. Great Britain, not Little Britain!”

The Sino-UK Fund is a new growth capital fund set up in parallel with the Window-on-Wuhan program. The fund has high level team members in Cambridge UK and Wuhan PRC: the UK team, led by Partners Simon Haworth and Richard Leaver, has the network and sector knowledge required to originate UK projects with high growth potential in China, whilst the China team’s local execution skills ensure that those investments achieve their potential in China.

The Launch Event was “A great success”, according to delegation leader Minister Yan of the Wuhan Municipal Government. Minister Yan introduced Wuhan to the audience, describing how Wuhan developed as a centre for innovation, in biotech, medtech  agritech, Electric Vehicles and other high technologies. UK company founder Professor Graham Ball reinforced Minister Yan’s message when Prof. Ball described the reasoning behind CompanDX’s selection of Wuhan as its first base in China – recognising that personal relationships had made as much impact as offers of grants and other financial support in the final decision in the CompanDX boardroom, aided by the simple fact that Wuhan had delivered on its promises when other China sites had not. “We couldn’t expect to go in cold and achieve success” commented Prof Ball. “We needed to be able to rely on relationships with key decision makers with access to government.”

Vice-Mayor Du of Wuhan Jing’an District introduced the Wuhan International Design City scheme, developing a design hub on the south bank of the Yangtze River, at the heart of Wuhan City. The design hub is expected to become another catalyst that attracts international companies to Wuhan. Both Savills (UK) Ltd and the Cambridge Design Partnership signed MOU’s with the entity responsible for the establishment of the design city and have thus become part of the Wuhan family advising on and promoting this considerable scheme.

Minister Yan and George Freeman MP formally confirm the Window-on-Wuhan to be OPEN!

Many of the delegates at the Launch event agreed with the words of Councillor Valerie Holt of Cambridge City Council, recognising that it is time to put aside old fears and engage with China. Councillor Holt, who had opened the event with her ‘Welcome to Cambridge’, mentioned the methods used by the Sino-UK Fund team to mitigate IP issues. “Often, collaboration with China has in the past been limited by the anxiety and fear of the loss of IP but now this problem has been roundly addressed by the Sino-UK Fund and the problem can be confronted and eliminated within 2 minutes of appropriate discussion” said Councillor Holt.

“With IP issues mitigated, grants and equity funding on offer via a pre-prepared network in Wuhan, plus experience and relationships shared by British entrepreneurs who have successfully penetrated the China market, what is stopping you joining us on our China journey?” concluded event host Dr Simon Haworth.

“Join the China journey” Founder Dr Simon Haworth

Wuhan Biolake, two hours flight time west of Shanghai, runs an annual funding competition called ‘The 3551 Scheme for Talents’, providing ‘free money’ to enterprises that bring high quality technology and technical knowledge to Wuhan.

The 3551 competition is a fantastically successful program and is worth entering, if anyone is interested. Winners gain up to £500k in cash for use as you see fit in your proposed project, plus the opportunity to gain a similar additional amount through investment. I haven’t seen the statistics for this year yet, but last year 602 teams applied (very few from the UK), of which 231 were successful in competing for RMB 285,000,000 (about £30m).

My pitch is done: a 10 minute presentation (timed by the officials – warned at 8 minutes and stopped precisely on 10 minutes) in front of a panel of 8 judges.

Over the last 12 to 18 months I have been fortunate enough to gain significant profile in Wuhan thanks to the help of Yangtze River Daily journalist Mrs Xiao and the local Talent Office. The Talent office – a government agency charged with bringing new skilled individuals to Wuhan – has helped us significantly by promoting our participation in the initial application at the start of the year and with advice during the preparation for the pitch. The Talent Office and our local Chinese Contract Research Partner (CRO) were extremely positive about the chances of success. “As long as you don’t make some dramatic error in the presentation, and you show enthusiasm for the competition, your project and Wuhan, then the chance of success is 100%” they assured me.

Of course a ‘sure thing’ seldom is.

The pitch was scheduled for 5pm on Saturday. As is usual in China, this had been changed at the last minute and brought forward by a day. Luckily I am getting quite familiar with the way of doing business here and my team and I had prepared the final documents well in advance. One can never resist tweaking a Powerpoint slide or two right up to the last minute of course, but the pitch was ready and so was the accompanying 2cm-thick, bound A4 book of completed forms and technical descriptions.

I am applying as an entrepreneur, rather than as a technologist, so the submitted information and presentation had to be biased towards descriptions of my experience of innovation and China connections to date rather than on the technical aspects of the Alzheimer’s Diagnostic that we are developing.

At 4:45pm my local Chinese colleague and I are instructed to proceed to the waiting area next to the presentation room: three chairs, in an empty corridor, filled only with reminiscences of waiting outside the Headmaster’s office to be scolded for some misdemeanour. Our mobile phones are ‘confiscated’ – placed in a brown envelope, as instructed, and handed to the stern attendant.

Tension mounts …

Having just flown in from Vancouver, my body clock was challenged. It felt like it was 2am in the middle of the night, my UK cell phone said it was 10am in the morning but my watch told me it was indeed just before 5pm in the evening here in China.

At 5pm the door opened and we were instructed to deliver the so-called Oral Defence of our proposal. My newly appointed colleague Nicole was with me to act as interpreter. “No need for interpreter” stated the leading judge as we entered. “We all speak English here.” It was a ‘brisk’ welcome.

The presentation itself was unremarkable. I am used to the polite but impassive attitude of Chinese professionals when listening to a presentation. Little emotion and little movement is shown. The pitch fitted exactly in to the 10 minute slot as planned – and as strongly advised by the Talent Office.

As soon as the questions started however it became clear that the judges didn’t have the Talent Office’s view of a ‘sure thing’. They dismissed 50% of the presentation with a curt “we all know about you”. Perhaps all the publicity in the local and national newspapers was getting a bit much. “But where is the technical information and research papers?” they asked. “You don’t have biology training” said another “… so how can you possibly undertake this work without a team?” And so on.

I provided all the information that I could. I reiterated the support we have from Professor Graham Ball and Professor Bob Rees, specialists in the relevant fields. I provided details of the CRO partnership that enables me to galvanise a large workforce here in China. And I outlined the extraordinary technical simplicity and elegance of the technology itself. Repeatedly. One of the judges confirmed her own bias – that bioinformatics companies are “just about some numbers, but without ‘real science’”  – whilst another judge clearly had diagnostics knowledge and provided positive feedback when I replied to his highly relevant questions.

But the overall tenor of the questioning was tough, sceptical and unrelenting from a very smart group.

Lively debate was halted abruptly on the stroke of 5:20 – 10 minutes presentation, 10 minutes questions. The head judge said “Thank you” and the judges disengaged. Clearly there was no room for comment or contribution. Our allotted time was up. Nicole and I left the panel to decide our fate, and went to re-claim our phones.

We won’t know the outcome of the panel’s deliberations for almost a month. We shall see. Strangely my prediction is still positive – because I know that we have the relevant data if follow-up questions need to be answered and because I know that what we are doing is extremely popular with the local Talent Office. The Talent Office gets to make the final decision so I hope they really do like what we are doing.

Next year will be the 10^th 3551 competition here in Wuhan. If you want to know more about it for your company and to learn from our experience, then give me a call. I am absolutely delighted to help anyone who wants to access this valuable funding source, to bring a company to Wuhan Biolake or indeed to engage with China in any way.

But be warned: free money is never a sure thing.

Wuhan Biolake after dark

6 generations: Henry Theodore, Harry, Lady Dorothy, Anthony, Simon, and George

“For my children and me, China is the future”

— A story of a British family in China that spans 140 years

 Reported by Xiao Juan

Dr. Simon Haworth, CEO of CompanDX Wuhan Biotechnology co., LTD, won the Yellow Crane Friendship Award offered by Wuhan government this year and shared his thoughts with Changjiang Daily (the Party Newspaper in Hubei Province):

 “The award is a great honor to me, which affirms my partnership with Wuhan,” said Simon.

Simon’s family story spans six generations in China, from 1875 through to the present day, beginning in the time of the late Qing Dynasty and extending through the establishment of the Republic of China and the two 30-year periods of the New China.  

At the end of April 2015, Changjiang Daily’s reporter visited Simon and his family in the UK. Over the following five months, Simon and our reporter worked closely together to research, verify and translate the details of this unique Chinese story.

Set up Biotechnology Company in Wuhan

Recognized opportunity in China from two photos taken in Wuhan Biolake

Wuhan Biolake was founded in 2009. In the same year, 48-year-old Simon came to China for the first time. Based on his previous experience in founding and developing 14 technology companies, he regards biotechnology and new energy as the next trade opportunity between China and UK.

Three years after first engagement with Wuhan, Simon was deeply impressed by the region’s progress illustrated in two photos taken in Biolake: One green field shot was taken prior to the establishment of Biolake in 2009, and the other taken in 2012. After three years, the second photo shows that the park is fully established, with many high-tech company buildings having been constructed. Without hesitation, Simon set up his own biotechnology company in Wuhan Biolake in 2013.

At that time, he did not realize that his family has such a deep connection with China. In August 2014, Simon visited his parents at their home and told them more about his business in Wuhan. “When you were two years old, your grandfather and grandmother visited Wuhan in China,” said Simon’s father, Sir Philip Haworth. “They came back with many videos and journals. Do you remember?” 

Simon is the second youngest son in the family of five children. He was educated at a UK boarding school from the age of 8 before going on to Rugby School and the University of Reading, spending very little time at home. He knew his grandparents had left many journals recording their travels, but had not seen these documents for some years. “I remember seeing the diaries and videos when I was young but did not pay much attention to them,” he confessed.

But at that moment, his father’s words about “China” and “Wuhan” urged Simon to climb to the top floor of the old house where his room was as a child. From under a bed, Simon pulled out a suitcase left by his grandparents. “The box was full of dust and filled with the relics of my grandparents,” he recalls.

Opening grandmother’s journal about China, Simon found that the first few pages recorded his grandparents’ experiences in Wuhan. The journals, videos and family books represent important elements of Simon’s family heritage and he is loath to remove them from his father’s safe keeping. So Simon used his mobile phone to copy key details for later study and to this day he always pulls out the diaries when he visits his parents, discovering new details each time.

When he comes to China and meets with his business partners, Simon often shares the pictures of his grandmother’s journal with them. “My relationship with my Chinese partners always becomes much closer once they learn about my grandparents’ visits and our long commitment to China.” Simon soon realized how fortunate it is that his grandmother recorded her thoughts and observations in such detail. Those same observations now help Simon to better understand and integrate in China.

Starting a business in an unfamiliar country is challenging and some would say that Simon has a more pioneering spirit than many of his compatriots. Simon is not so sure: “To me it seems like I am simply following the path prepared so well by my grandparents before me.”

Simon’s grandparents’ journal recorded the two visits that they made to China in the 1960s. Researching the early China connections in a family book, it became clear that business dealings with China actually began much earlier – in the generation of Simon’s grandmother’s grandfather – in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.

Simon’s father also reminded him that his grandmother’s nephew Anthony also had many business dealings with China in the 1980s and 1990s during the early stage of the reform of China’s market economy.

Simon’s grandparents have visited China twice

In their opinion, “the Communist China” is nice and friendly

Nowadays Simon lives in Ashwell, a town located between Cambridge and London. Driving 254 kilometers to the north, we find his childhood home at Free Green Farm near Manchester. Free Green, as it is known, is the ancestral home left by his grandparents and is now occupied by Simon’s father, Sir Philip Haworth, 88 years old and Simon’s mother Lady Haworth 89. Sir Philip and Lady Joan planned to visit Hangzhou, China recently and deeply regret that the visit was cancelled – thus ending their own aspirations to make direct links with China. At the end of April, when Simon was meeting the reporter from Changjiang Daily, he presented the cups made in Jingdezhen China as well as the tiger puppet brought back for him as a child by his grandparents. These items sit alongside the diaries in the family archive.

Sir Philip recalls how, shortly after his father Geoffrey married his mother Dorothy, they left Manchester where the family business originated, purchased Free Green Farm and began farming.

Sir Philip’s parents loved to travel throughout their lives, visiting 27 countries and regions. In 1963, at the age of 63, they joined a tourist group of 12 people that came to the “communist China” that they had always been curious about.

According to the journal records, the group spent 23 days in China, visiting Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing. After entering China, the first city they visited was Wuhan. They were shown the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge and the Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation, which was the pride of Chinese industry at that time.

Lady Dorothy Haworth wrote in her journal that the flight attendants, customs staff, tour guides and the interpreter are all very professional and friendly. Walking in the street, they were always greeted warmly by smiling Chinese people. Dorothy writes that on International Labor Day in Beijing, “there was a festive atmosphere everywhere”. People were wearing beautiful clothes. Many kites were flying in the sky.

Before departure, Lady Haworth wrote a letter to the China International Travel Agency, advising them that she and her husband had great interests in agriculture. On arrival in China, and in addition to the conventional tourism activities, the travel agency arranged free agricultural excursions for Simon’s grandparents near every city they visited.

When she arrived back home in the UK, Lady Haworth wrote an article entitled “Chinese women” published in a British newspaper (The Guardian). In the article she wrote that the Chinese are “happy and friendly”, and that the Chinese children are “clean, healthy, usually smiling, and impressively well-behaved and good-mannered”.

In August 1967, Sir Geoffrey and Lady Haworth joined a tourist group of 8 people and came to China again for three weeks. This time, they visited Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jinan, Beijing and Harbin. After the second trip to China, a British newspaper published a letter from Lady Haworth: “We travelled alone. No matter where we go, walking, riding rickshaw or boating at Beihai Park in Beijing, we can always meet people who are very kind and friendly, just as during our trip in 1963.”

The journals were recorded in two handbooks and include more than 200 pages in total. In each journal, there are many of Lady Haworth’s hand-drawn scenery illustrations of the trip. The journals are also filled with Chinese paper-cuts, postcards, stamps, invitations and even old cigarette packet labels depicting Chinese scenes, all collected during the trips.

The relationship between this family and China started at 1875

From Qing Dynasty until Now

“My grandmother loved China very much. Actually she was influenced by her own father.” Simon told the reporter that several books from the Gaddum side of the family, the family where Simon’s grandmother came from, showed that his grandmother’s father had lived in Shanghai, China for over two years.

In 1875, Henry Theodore Gaddum (‘HT’), at the age of 40, completed a business transformation in Manchester. HT ceased the agency business of spinning yarn and passed the cotton business to his brothers. Then he founded the new HT Gaddum & Co, focusing on silk trading.

In Manchester, the birthplace of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, electricity continued to promote the development of the textile industry. At that time, China was in the first year of Guangxu in the late Qing Dynasty and was forced to open up to the outside world by gunboats. Meanwhile, the Westernization Movement was growing rapidly and industrial development was gaining momentum. In August of the same year, the Qing court sent the first formal diplomatic envoys to a foreign country: to the United Kingdom.

HT chose the world-renowned company of Jardine Matheson as his business partner in China. For years, HT operated in partnership with Jardine Matheson and imported silk mainly from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces of China, as well as from India.

In 1887, Henry’s eldest son, Harry Gaddum, followed his father’s advice and came to China. Harry studied business as an Intern in Jardine Matheson’s silk trade department in Shanghai for two years. Many years later, Harry recalled this period of time in a family book describing his time in China as “the most wonderful days of my life”.

In those days Jardine Matheson had a special steam ship for delivering letters from Europe every month so Harry was lucky and could receive family letters days ahead of others in China. Harry’s time outside the office was very busy as he participated in polo, rowing, hunting and other activities. “To set up my own business, sometimes I need to travel between Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and other cities within a single week.” Simon complains light-heartedly. “The competitive pressures are much greater than for my forefathers.”

In Cambridge University Library, Simon found the original business letters between HT Gaddum & Co and Jardine Matheson. There are more than 30 original copies of such letters in the archive dating from the 1870s through to 1929.

According to Sir Philip, the HT Gaddum China business was passed down to his cousin Anthony Gaddum and the business grew to become an international agency for yarn. In the 1990s, Anthony developed the Chinese silk business further, visiting China many times on business until he retired in 2004. “It’s a pity that Anthony passed away suddenly in 2008, otherwise he would have been delighted to tell us more about his experiences in China”, said Sir Philip.

George, Simon’s eldest son, began his own engagement with China through an internship in Shanghai for three months in 2012, just as Harry did, sent by his own father, many years earlier. Simon is conscious of the obvious coincidence: “125 years apart, two fathers had exactly the same idea: to send their eldest son to China in the Far East. The motive is also the same: optimism about the development here”.

The difference is, the reason for Harry coming to China over 100 years ago was to experience the culture and exoticism. In those days it was customary to do a tour to far-off lands. However, after doing an internship in China, Simon’s eldest son George recognizes how important it is for UK and European youngsters of George’s generation to understand the opportunity in China. Their futures will be brighter if they are familiar with China.

For Simon the link continues. He is planning to send his second son William to China soon, and will bring his eldest daughter Katie to China in 2016. His youngest daughter Amara is already starting to learn Chinese and Simon is now building a major private equity fund investing Chinese capital in European science and technology.

“For my children and me, China is the future,” concludes Simon.  

 Link to original article: click here [Chinese]

(Thanks for the help from Cici Wang, Nichole Song, Chenyang Wang, Wei Hu and Dani Wang in terms of communication and translation.)