Over 70 years have passed since Jack Perry Senior travelled to the International Economic Conference, held in Moscow, to kick-start East-West trade in the complex conditions of the Cold War.

At the conference, Jack Senior met with the Chinese delegation to showcase his determination and knowledge of the trade, which was foremost in textiles then. These meetings laid the basis for the London Export Corporation to become the new company, which would help China reopen its trade with Western Europe, particularly the UK.

The conference was in April, and the London Export Corporation started its business immediately after, signing its first agreement with the Chinese government in July 1953. LEC became the first company in the world to trade with China after opening its doors again after so many years. British LEC and China became tied together in history.

The first deals were for the supply of wool tops, which were, exported from an ailing textile market in Yorkshire. The great challenge was to find British suppliers prepared to sell to China - and then to find one who would accept a Bank of China letter of credit. It was, with great help from the Bank of China, both in Hong Kong and in London, that LEC could start its business. So it was very fitting that LEC was able to deliver the breakthrough of securing a supplier who would accept their letter of credit - that is, to accept, that the Chinese government was able to meet its obligations and was sincere in doing so.

It was all icebreaking, the moniker that has been labelled to the Perry name through the generations. Jack Perry Senior decided to focus his business on developing China trade in the clear belief that China would surely emerge again as a world trade force and that world trade was a force for good. These were hard days. It took seven days to get to Hong Kong and three more days, from there, to Beijing.