Margaret Thatcher, who was serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time, traveled to China in September 1982 for a series of high-level consultations discussing the future of Hong Kong. Thatcher is notably remembered for falling down the steps when descending the podium while giving a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.The fall was captured on camera, and it rapidly made its way onto the front pages of newspapers around the world.
Thatcher later dismissed the incident, saying that she had been distracted by her shoes at the time. But the fall was interpreted by many as a sign that her hold on power was slipping, both within the country and beyond it.In the end, the negotiations with China regarding Hong Kong were fruitless, and in 1997, they gave control of the colony back to China.
Because of this, people came to view Thatcher's fall from the steps of the Great Hall of the People as a harbinger of her political demise as well as the end of British power in East Asia.