Family experience

Wu said she convinced her father to capitalize on the family's extensive catering industry experience to help airlines flying out of Beijing deliver a selection of hot meals.

In mid-1979, they traveled 13 hours by train and plane to Beijing for protracted talks with the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Without a precedent, negotiations moved slowly.

"With almost no knowledge of Mandarin, we used facial expressions, gestures and traditional Chinese characters written down on paper to communicate with the officials at the Beijing Hotel," Wu said. "A person from the Beijing side knew a bit of Cantonese and helped out as an interpreter."

At the time, the Chinese government had no experience dealing with investors from overseas. Officials did not know what was legal or illegal, so much so that Wu had to translate the contract, letter of intent and relevant clauses of the corporate law commonly used in Hong Kong into Mandarin for their reference.

As the May 1, 1980, deadline set by Deng approached, Shen Tu, head of the CAAC, could barely sit still. Shen asked Wu's father if he could start the preparatory work before getting the final nod from officials, many of whom had no concrete idea about joint ventures and could not give clear-cut answers.

"Without any contract or letter of authorization in black and white, a handshake with Shen simply meant that the deal was nailed down," Wu said.

Out of firm belief in Deng's foresight and determination, Wu's father raised HK$5 million (about $1 million at the time)－a substantial sum of money－to buy equipment overseas and transport it to Beijing via Hong Kong.

By March 1980, all the equipment had been installed and set for a trial operation, but official confirmation still hung in the air. When Deng eventually learned of this, he asked, "What does Mr. Wu do in Hong Kong?"

"Catering business," he was told.

"Does he know how to make croissants?" asked Deng, who had lived and worked in France in the 1920s and reputedly had developed a liking for the snack.

"He knows very well."

"Then why not approve it?" Deng replied. On Deng's instructions, the deal finally got the green light. All the paperwork was in place by April 1980, heralding the birth of China's first joint venture, with the government holding a 51 percent stake, and Wu earning the nickname "Miss 001".

"No one had ever expected us to make it. Both sides treated each other heart-to-heart and shared the weal and woe of the motherland," Wu said. "It was our shared ancestral and cultural roots that fostered mutual trust, sincerity and patience in the monthslong negotiations. This ultimately helped Maxim's beat three other bidders to secure the partnership."

The story behind Beijing Air Catering Co stands as a testament of Wu's dogged commitment to the development miracle that transformed China from a bucolic backwater into a modern market economy.

Over the past four decades, Wu has been known as a "backpacker", frequently traveling between the mainland and Hong Kong to facilitate overseas investments in burgeoning cities and helping homegrown companies expand overseas.

Such a role bears striking resemblance to that of her native Hong Kong, which is known for having the best of both worlds.

"For years, Hong Kong has played a part in the bridge linking the mainland with the rest of the world," Wu said. "It's the most classic example of luring foreign capital to the world's second-largest economy, thanks to our cultural and linguistic similarities that have enabled us to do half the work with double the results."