Remember A Day | A shocking method of tenderising meat and China’s bid to eradicate rats: headlines making the news 40 years ago
- A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history
An American scientist electrocuting steaks to tenderise meat, China setting up its own Oscars and Chinese scientists hoping to eradicate rats made the headlines 40 years ago this week.
January 20, 1980
● China would soon have its own version of Hollywood’s famous Oscar awards for films. The New China News Agency reported that a Chinese magazine, Popular Cinema, would run a national poll in February and March that year to select the best Chinese films.
● Japanese authorities, shocked by the worst spy scandal since World War II, began a study of possible countermeasures to blunt its effects and prevent future security leaks. It followed the arrests of a retired general and two Japanese Self-Defence Force officers for allegedly leaking classified information to the Soviet Union. Such information included locations of Japanese Self-Defence units and Japanese intelligence on China, particularly the deployment and hardware of the Chinese armed forces.
January 21, 1980