A photo of rice paddy fields near Leshan, Sichuan province.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Barbey, 78, says he saw former premier Zhou Enlai many times (during the 1973 visit). "The trip by the French president lasted for five or six days, and Zhou was with the delegation every day for reasons of protocol."

Barbey recalls that whenever Pompidou visited Beijing, Shanghai or Datong in Shanxi province, where the French president traveled to see archaeological sites, he saw Zhou every day.

"Zhou is a special figure to the French people. He spent some years in France as a young man, among the generation of Chinese students who came to the country on a study-work program."

Barbey remembers asking Zhou's interpreter, a woman in her mid-50s, how many French interpreters of her caliber were there in China－and she answered there was "about 11". When he visited Shanghai, he was told that there were only three French people living in the city.

One of the most iconic photos Barbey took from the 1973 visit is a portrait of Zhou when he accompanied Pompidou on a boat trip around the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.