When the first fleet of CAAC aircrafts came for service after the open-up, we had to put some Indians to stand guard over them and to ask for signatures when they went in for maintenance. The planes were “Viscounts”. I thought they demanded strict protection to avoid any kind of damage.

CAAC sent four “Viscounts” to HAECO early on, and there were strict rules to follow when we took over them. We had to ask for specific permit just to get close to them. Where they parked was a highly restricted area. They feared that someone would plant things inside the planes. The seniors said someone in the past planted a bomb on the plane of Zhou Enlai, but luckily he wasn’t on-board.

The CAAC planes were very clean, probably because they’re seldom used. No ordinary people in the mainland took planes; those who go on board were the military, and invariably they wore the Mao suits. You could never make out who was the pilot and who was the worker. Then, as we made more contact, they started to make uniforms. But even then we were unable to identify one from another, because all of them were still in the same outfit: blue pants, blue jackets and blue caps with a star. We had no idea which one of them was senior.

The CAAC staffs that came in the 70s looked very identical in the blue uniforms. At that time they sent a “Trident” to HAECO for overhaul, so we came into contact. I heard they were very finicky.

When the CAAC first came to us, it looked as if none of them dared to make decision and yet every of them were able to do so. They discussed every tiny thing together. They shouldered responsibility together and claimed credit together. Everything was collective, and there was no individual at all.

Those from CAAC were so demanding that they couldn’t finish with one aircraft when HAECO had already wrapped up ten. I guess that’s because they had not the nerve to make decision. They had to report to the superior for everything. In HAECO, on the other hand, a supervisor alone was able to make decision. So we could make money quickly.

In the early days of the open-up, the people from CAAC never took up responsibility. Everyone handed it over to the superior. Once I was asked to repair the keel of a “Viscount”. I found the screw broken, and I told them it was very easy to make another for you. But they insisted on buying it from Britain. They asked their foreman, who reported to the captain, who reported to the official of the Civil Aviation Department, who reported to the director of the Civil Aviation Department. It was only when the director approved of it that they took action. But it was just one screw!  No one was willing to make decision because everyone was evading responsibility. It was worlds apart from today.

They did only one type of aircraft, and that’s all they knew. In HAECO we were good at every type, like military plane, bomber, cargo plane, etc. They were doing just one kind of plane the entire time, so they could tell you clearly everything about that plane. They didn’t work in a team like we did; they worked one after another, slowly and unhurriedly.