My first visit to China was in March 1991. At that time my father was engaged in one of the largest Sino-German joint ventures in Beijing: AMECO an aircraft maintenance company of Air China and German Lufthansa. My mother was working with the first German Kindergarden in Beijing. Beijing had far more bicycles than cars; traffic and pollution was different. The 3rd ring was still a project, there were two subway lines instead of 16 today. The pace was much slower, people were even less used to foreigners than today. Food was exceptionally good; I had my best lunches, dinners and parties here. And everywhere you could sense the spirit of the forthcoming boom. In 1993 I even had the chance to spend a week staying with a farmer‘s family in the mountains just north of Beijing. A very impressive experience!
Here are some images, all taken as 36×24 slides (diapositives), some not of the best quality but giving a very good idea about the atmosphere …
