From Margaret Thatcher's massive tome:
The Path to Power 
on her state visit to China in 1977:
"I was greeted at Peking Airport by the Chinese foreign minister, Huang Hua, before being driven into Peking itself. It was the middle of the dry season - hot and dusty, with so much static that I had been warned not to bring silk dresses. That evening I was guest of honour at a banquet in one of the side halls of the Great Hall of the People. A Chinese orchestra played a succession of Western old favourites, including the inevitable 'Greensleeves'. I had more or less mastered the advanced use of chopsticks, but I still found some Chinese delicacies unappealing. On the occasion, I allowed the sea slugs and fish bellies to pass me by. The Chinese habit, which I was glad to see the British journalists present appreciated, of drinking innumerable toasts of Mao-Tai, a strong grain spirit, posed a more hazardous social problem. Fortunately, however, I gathered that women were permitted to sip rather than down the lethal spirit."
