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Book specifications:

Published April 2008 by Cities500 Ltd
Hardback (242 x 210mm) 80 pp
rrp:
ISBN: 978-1-905547-06-7

The ‘Icebreakers’

Commemorative Book Celebrates British-China Relations.

IN collaboration with the 48 Group Club - The ‘Icebreakers’, Cities500 has published a lavish, commemorative book to mark the British based Club’s long-standing relations with China.

The hard back, 80pp book was edited, designed and produced in approximately a month; another trailblazing first for Cities500 which has published other books in record breaking time.

It will be launched in Beijing at a special celebration event organised by the 48 Group Club on Friday April 11th 2008.

The book is bilingual in English and Chinese and was co-edited by Alistair Michie, the Honorary Secretary of the 48 Group Club and Lew Baxter, Editor-in- Chief of Cities500 International Publishers.

Contributions came from across the UK and China with many fascinating photographs supplied by the Xinhua News Agency whose London Bureau Chief Mr He Dalong coordinated the images for the editors.

The book was designed by Cities500 in the UK - and printed in Barcelona - and is a prime example of how the Internet allows cooperation, flexibility and creative support worldwide - spanning several time zones - to input into such a publishing project.

Throughout the production schedule ongoing contact was maintained between the Cities500 studio in Wirral, UK and contributors in London, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, to mention just a handful of locations.

The 48 Group Club name is almost iconic in China - from the President down - and is held in high esteem by those that know about its role in Sino-UK relations.

The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 and the history of the 48 Group stems from the early 1950s when the founding ‘Icebreakers’ were the first Westerners to establish trade relations.

In 1950 the United Kingdom became one of the first countries to recognise The People’s Republic of China but relations rapidly became hostile and frozen because of the war in Korea. Then in 1953 Lord Boyd-Orr – head of the newly formed British Council for the Promotion of International Trade – led a delegation of 16 representatives of British companies to China to open the first discussions on trade – and thus the ice was broken and the ‘Icebreakers’ earned their name.

The motto of the 48 Group Club is ‘Equality and Mutual Benefit’ which echoes the words of Zhou Enlai, China’s much –respected Premier from 1949 to 1976, who first used that phrase in 1953.

Today, the 48 Group Club continues to develop the work of promoting positive Sino-British relations and offers an important – and often key – network of contacts (guanxi) for those active in building relations through any field from commerce to culture.

According to Alistair Michie 48 Club members believe they have a vital role in unfreezing the cultural deficit between China and the world.

China’s President Hu Jintao recently summarised the challenge: “China has a massive trade surplus, but a vast cultural deficit with the world.”

And Alistair Michie added: “This book was also a logistical and cultural challenge but the team work between those involved in China and Britain has demonstrated just what can be achieved once we put our minds to it.”

The book - which is being distributed widely in China and the UK - was the original concept of 48 Group Club Chairman Stephen Perry, whose father Jack was among the original group of British business entrepreneurs and their companies that established trade links with China.

Stephen Perry commented: “This book celebrates the 55th anniversary of that early trail-blazing mission and highlights the challenge of building deep and real understanding between China and Britain.”

Apart from an historical perspective of the Club’s activities, the book features contemporary observations and photographs featuring meetings between high level Chinese and British political leaders including Hu Jintao and Gordon Brown, and China’s Premier Wen Jiabao and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, amongst others.

* For further information about the 48 Group Club see: www.48groupclub.org

* For details of Cities500 books contact publisher Guy Woodland on: + 44 (0) 151 632 3280
or email: 48group@cities500.com