She is also the wife of Sir Henry Keswick, chairman emeritus of Jardine Matheson, the Hong Kongbased trading conglomerate.

This brings a unique perspective to her book, which, although a memoir, is at the same time a firsthand account of China's extraordinary journey since reform and opening-up. The idea for the book, in fact, was first planted by former UK deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine.

"Without sort of dropping names, he said to me five or six years ago that I was so lucky to have seen this incredible rise of China, which he said is probably one of the most important things in our lifetime, and why didn't I write about it," she says.

Keswick's journey on the Chinese mainland began at Shanghai's old Hongqiao airport in 1982 when she accompanied her then-boss David Tang, the late flamboyant Hong Kong entrepreneur who was then 28, and a group of British businesspeople looking to invest in China as it was opening its doors.

"My job was to find British firms who wanted to invest in China and take them to places. We did get a couple of things going. Tate & Lyle (the UK sugar company) set up a tea plantation and someone else set up a small factory," she says.