Tall buildings display 70 years of New China. Tianjin 2019 [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

Between 1993 and 1997, then still in full-time employment back in Scotland, exploring China was achieved during holiday periods. Fortuitously, in my homeland I also developed many contacts and relationships both with the local Chinese community in Glasgow, along with the opportunity to attend official receptions, for example at the Chinese Consulate in Edinburgh.