Chinese think of the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, often thinks of the scene of her falling on the steps of the Great Hall of the People in 1982. On September 24, 1982, Margaret Thatcher held talks with the Chinese side on the Hong Kong issue. During the talks, she stressed that the three treaties signed between Britain and the Qing government remained valid under international law. She also claimed that she was "willing to propose to Parliament that the whole sovereignty issue be dealt with to China's satisfaction, provided that Britain continues to have administration of Hong Kong in 1997". This is known as "sovereignty for governance": nominally recognizing China's sovereignty over Hong Kong, but in practice retaining the power to govern Hong Kong.
China's response to this was: "The sovereignty issue is non-negotiable. China's takeover of Hong Kong in 1997 was the basis for negotiations. It has been exactly 140 years since the British occupied Hong Kong in 1842. The People's Republic of China has been in existence for 33 years, and by 1997 it was 48 years. We are not the Qing government, not Li Hongzhang, and if we cannot take back Hong Kong by then, we will not be able to explain to the Chinese people and the people of the world." The Iron Lady, who has always been strong, finally hit a nail in China. When Margaret Thatcher came out of the Great Hall of the People, her face was a little more haggard and lost.
She seemed so distraught as she descended the steps that she fell to the ground with one foot in the air. The Chinese did not report the incident out of diplomatic courtesy. This was done to minimize the impact as much as possible and to save as much face as possible for Margaret Thatcher. But the foreign journalists who were there at the time ignored this, so the video of Margaret Thatcher wrestling in the Great Hall of the People spread around the world. In December 1984, Margaret Thatcher visited China and signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration. In this statement, the British government promised to return Hong Kong sovereignty to China on July 1, 1997.
Thatcher's nickname "The Iron Lady" came from her bombing of the Soviet Union in a speech in 1975. The Soviet ambassador immediately called her an iron woman without feelings. After the nickname reached China, it was usually translated as "Iron Lady". Margaret Thatcher's life was indeed strong. She will always compete for the first row from elementary school to university. Her election as Prime Minister in 1979 included cuts in public welfare spending. This led to a decline in the level of social welfare such as health care and education enjoyed by the British. Whenever British unions came out to protest, Thatcher always pushed back.
After World War II, British colonies became independent. Britain's total economic output has also been surpassed by West Germany and Japan. By 1982, even Argentina dared to pull its teeth and send troops to occupy the Falklands disputed by Britain. Thatcher decisively decided to send troops to teach Argentina a lesson. The victory in the Falklands War allowed Britain to relive its long-lost glory as a great power, and also gave Thatcher's personal prestige to an unprecedented level. Thatcher visited China with the aftermath of the Falklands War. Although Thatcher hit a nail in China once, her strong and iron-fisted style did not end there.
Northern Ireland has long plagued Britain. In 1979, as soon as Thatcher took office, he hit the IRA hard. In 1981, dozens of Irish Republican soldiers held in British prisons began a hunger strike. Their hunger strike is not about the independence of Northern Ireland, but about improving their living conditions. At that time, the international community advised Thatcher to stabilize these people first, but Thatcher's answer was: "To give in to IRA prisoners is to issue them a license to slaughter innocents!" Soon after, the first Irish Republican Army on hunger strike starved to death amid protests from humanitarian activists from all over the world.
Immediately afterwards, the second group began a hunger strike. In this way, for seven months, 11 prisoners starved to death, and did not make Thatcher back down. Thatcher's assertiveness even led to the IRA's assassination of her in 1984, but she narrowly avoided the assassination and took more severe measures against the IRA. During the Falklands War, Thatcher even threatened to carry out a nuclear strike on the Falklands in order to get France to hand over the Exocet missile parameters. But even such a strong and iron-fisted person still has helplessness.
If negotiations with China in 1982 made Thatcher feel helpless for the first time, she felt helpless again in the late 80s. On 31 March 1990, a mass demonstration broke out in London's Trafalgar Square, which later turned into bloodshed. This sent Thatcher's popular support almost to rock bottom. Thatcher always had an ideal of reviving the empire that never sets. The Falklands War of 1982 was her last effort to preserve the honor of the British Empire, and negotiations with China put her ideals firmly in the blue.
In Thatcher's idea, Britain should be on an equal footing with superpowers such as the United States and the Soviet Union, rather than being on a hierarchical basis with France and Germany. A series of events in the late 80s and early 90s of the 20th century, such as the reunification of Germany and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, greatly promoted the integration process of Europe, while Britain was increasingly isolated by the countries of the European continent. Thatcher was dissatisfied with this status quo, but she was also helpless with it. On November 22, 1990, the "Iron Lady" read her resignation statement in an almost choked voice.
Thatcher left 10 Downing Street with a near-collapse mood. This is how the era that belonged to her came to an end. Thatcher left British society with endless controversy: some believed that she was a great leader, others believed that her arbitrary dictatorship had caused divisions in British society. The House of Commons erected a bronze statue of Thatcher to thank her for her contribution, but Thatcher was third out of 100 worst British votes held by civil society. Thatcher's social reviews after leaving office were mixed, and her personal health problems began to plague her.
In fact, Thatcher was in good health until she was in her 70s. At this time, she served as a corporate consultant and honorary president. Her events and speeches have attracted a large following. This also proves from the side that her physical and mental state at this time is very good. People in their 70s are still so healthy, and they still show up everywhere and win many applause. Thatcher had fame, profit, and power in this life. It was pretty perfect, but problems have arisen since her first stroke in 2002. The stroke left Thatcher's memory damaged.
Since then, she has often said that she has forgotten the beginning and the end, and sometimes she has forgotten the content just after reading the newspaper. Thatcher neglected to take care of her family in pursuit of her political goals in her youth. Thatcher once said when she was younger, "Home is where you stay when you have nothing to do". Thatcher, who was dedicated to pursuing a career, left the children in the care of a nanny. Although Thatcher neglected to take care of her children in the area of family companionship, she was too arrogant and doting on her children financially. This seems to be a common problem of some career-oriented strongmen who neglect to take care of their families - the lack of emotional companionship makes them want to compensate their families through material things.
But the children raised in this way are as committed to their own careers as their mothers and lack family feelings. Thatcher received only four greeting cards on her 77th birthday. At this time, her son was far away in Spain, her daughter was in Switzerland, and her grandson was in the United States. They rarely return to England to visit her. The youngest son, Mark, who has been spoiled by arrogance since he was a child, even used his mother's power for personal gain. After the death of Thatcher's husband, Baron Dennis, in 2003, she became even more lonely. Thatcher suffered several strokes and she has been a caregiver ever since.
In 2004 and 2006, Mark was imprisoned in a lawsuit. Thatcher developed Alzheimer's disease after the death of her husband and the imprisonment of her son. Everyone comes to hold you when you are good, and hide away when you are bad. When Thatcher became prime minister, her family was full of people who bothered her. At that time, her birthday was full of guests, but when she lost power, who would take care of an Alzheimer's patient? Thatcher never left home since 2008. The most important thing this old lady did every day was to sit in front of the window and stare at the people in Hyde Park. In this way, it is a day of life repeatedly.
At this time, Thatcher lost the life in the spotlight as before. In the last years of her life, Thatcher suffered from a stroke. Thatcher died of a stroke in 2013. The British government hosted a grand funeral for her. But who knows that many invited heavyweights did not come to this funeral in the end: the US president did not come, German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not come, the Spanish chancellor directly refused, and Gorbachev did not come... Thatcher, who was alone and unaccompanied in his later years, was actually attended by so many people at the funeral after his death. In this way, the funeral was too expensive to trigger popular protests. This is really dead and does not stop.