Leo Lacey -- a tribute

Leo Lacey, who recently passed away, saw the prospects of the Asian Century, long before the expression was ever coined.

Leo Lacey, who recently passed away, saw the prospects of the Asian Century, long before the expression was ever coined.

I met Leo and his charming wife Guo Zhao Li at the airport of Australia's Lord Howe Island. This tiny airport can only accommodate small planes. And being a small windswept island in the Pacific Ocean, planes are often delayed, sometimes for days.

And so it was, that I passed a few hours with Leo and Zhao Li waiting at Lord Howe's windy airport, waiting for a plane that would not arrive until the following day.

I was instantly taken by his feisty manner. He insisted that his limp was due to playing too much rugby, rather than old age. He used to play for the London Irish. Another passion was motorcycle racing.

Surely this was the spirit that drove the British Empire, I thought. Indeed, Leo was born in Britain, where he trained as a civil engineer. Like a good number of colonials, he left for Australia, where became a citizen in the 1970s.

Leo first visited China shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution to work on the construction of offshore oil platforms. In the 1990s, he began work on the building of a dam on the Yellow River. A widower, Leo met Zhao Li while working on the dam project, and they married in 2000.

Beyond rugby and motorcycling, China became another passion in Leo's life, where he continued working as a engineering consultant and English language teacher. In 2003, he was awarded the 'Friendship of the Yellow River' -- the highest possible accolade for a foreigner -- by the provincial government of Henan in recognition of his contribution to life and education in the province.

He also expressed his passion for China in two delightful guidebooks, Culture Wise China, and Living, Working and Doing Business in China. They are both written with the precision of an engineer, and with the deep insights of someone who has lived and breathed China. Leo was delighted when I reviewed both these books on this website.

I promised to visit Leo at his Sydney residence in the seaside village of Manly. I suggested a Chinese restaurant, to which he replied that he preferred Burger King! He was a character to the end.

Regrettably, however, I never saw Leo again. Both being travellers, we were never again in the same place at the same time. But we stayed in contact by email as he dispatched me the books for review, and pushed me to complete the reviews as quickly as possible.

I understood his impatience. All writers are keen to be read. We are also keen to show our publishers that we are being read. I sent him a copy of one of my novels. He remarked that the main character, Eddie, who was based on me, was a "bit of a wimp"! He made me laugh, like many British do, when they mix politeness and directness.

Leo was a great man. I am sure that his warm heart, lively mind, and great sense of humour touched the hearts of very many people as his career and life took him to most corners of the world.

And as today we can marvel at the rapid economic development of China, we must not forget that it was people like Leo Lacey who played a crucial role in getting the miracle started all those years ago.