This Day, That Year

Item from Oct 13, 1986, in China Daily: Queen Elizabeth II is presented with a bouquet at Beijing's airport ... She arrived in Beijing yesterday afternoon at the start of a weeklong official visit, the first to China by a British monarch.

As she stepped down the ramp onto the tarmac, the queen was greeted by a dozen Chinese officials headed by Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian.

Also greeting the queen were her husband, Prince Philip, and British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, who had arrived earlier in the afternoon, and some employees of the British embassy.