Guard dog dentistry, Mao’s widow on trial, and US ‘first brother’ Billy Carter’s Libyan adventure

Vicious border patrol dogs having their teeth capped, the Chinese Communist Party calling to purge feudalistic influence from party ranks, and a special Chinese court being set up to try the notorious Gang of Four made the headlines 40 years ago this week. September 28, 1980 ● About 2,700 refugees – 2,000 from Hong Kong and the rest from Macau – were to fly to Bataan in the Philippines for resettlement that week. It would be the largest number of refugees to leave the city in one batch for a single resettlement country. September 29, 1980 ● The border city of Shenzhen was suffering from a labour shortage after thousands of young, able-bodied men had flocked to Hong Kong in search of a better life. According to a leader of Guangming district in Shenzhen, practically every family there had a member who had left for Hong Kong, mostly illegally. Guangming, about a 1 ½-hour drive from the city centre, had a population of 18,000. September 30, 1980 ● China established a special prosecutor’s department and a separate court under the Supreme Court to try the Gang of Four political faction and six other people. The deputy secretary general of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Zeng Tao, did not rule out the possibility that the prosecution would call for the death penalty for the group. The defendants had already been branded as counter-revolutionaries. The Gang of Four included Jiang Qing, widow of Chairman Mao Zedong, and the most hated “empress” of the Cultural Revolution. October 1, 1980 ● Rolls-Royce would unveil its first new cars in eight years that week. They were two 6.75-litre models costing £50,000 (about HK$600,000 at the time) each. The luxury cars, introduced to coincide with the Paris Motor Show, were a bid by Rolls to reverse falling sales. Named the Silver Spirit and Silver Spur, they would replace the Silver Shadow range. ● Chinese Army patrol dogs on the border had their teeth capped – much to the relief of illegal immigrants. But it was not clear if this meant the Chinese authorities were adopting a more lenient policy towards people trying to leave the country illegally. In February that year, there were reports that British soldiers patrolling the border had witnessed nightly horror shows as Chinese soldiers set their vicious dogs on illegal immigrants. With the dogs’ teeth being capped, at least their lives would not be in danger any more. October 2, 1980 ● The Macau Trotting Club planned to run its own hovercraft service and build a 500-room luxury hotel in a bid to lure Hong Kong punters to the weekly harness races. Critics had earlier cited insufficient ferries and lack of accommodation as the two main factors plaguing attendance at the races, introduced only a month before. ● Two Soviet astronauts set a new world space endurance record after passing the old mark of 175 days and 36 minutes set a year before. The two were launched into space on April 9 that year and had been living and working on board the Salyut-6 space station, which was just 14 metres (47 feet) long October 3, 1980 ● Local homicide detectives were investigating the mysterious death of an American antique dealer. The naked body of Ian McLean, 50, was found at his Peak home a day before. Officers discovered that McLean’s damaged car had been abandoned in Happy Valley. Preliminary examinations showed that the cause of death was suffocation and the premises had been ransacked. ● US Senators who investigated Billy Carter’s Libyan ties criticised President Jimmy Carter and his top aides for their inaction in the controversial affair. In a unanimous report, the nine senators of the Special Investigating Committee said the president should have warned the Libyans they could not win influence in the United States by cultivating a relationship with his younger brother. However, the 249-page report made no charges of illegality. October 4, 1980 ● The Chinese Communist Party accused its late leader Chairman Mao Zedong of having acted at times like a feudal patriarch and called for a purge of feudalistic influence from the party ranks. People’s Daily said in a signed article that political life within the party should be democratic and no single person be allowed to dominate decision-making. ● Lavish trips to Hong Kong and questionable business connections in the city brought criticism for a Chinese vice-minister. The conduct of Vice-Minister of Chemical Industry Yang Yibang was brought up for scrutiny at an annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. During a business trip to the city in 1979, Yang stayed at a luxury hotel rather than in official quarters and was entertained by a luggage trading firm in a manner even “beyond the normal luxury”. Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history

Guard dog dentistry, Mao’s widow on trial, and US ‘first brother’ Billy Carter’s Libyan adventure

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history

A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history