Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping were both on a mission when they came to power within months of each other at the tail end of the 1970s. Thatcher wanted to reinvigorate capitalism in Britain, while Deng launched a programme of reform and liberalisation that he called socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Since then, the economies of Britain and China have been transformed, but in different ways. China was essentially a peasant economy when Deng took control, but it has since become an industrial powerhouse, while Britain has ceased to be a major manufacturing player and instead became a country dominated by services.
