In the golden autumn of 1956, the sunshine in Beijing was extraordinarily bright. Beijing welcomed several very special guests from remote Greece.

 Chairman Mao Zedong met them in Beijing. They are Mrs. Amalia Matiatou, the Greek parliamentarian and the famous Greek scientist Nicolas Kitskis and his wife Beata Kitskis. They broke through all the obstacles and arrived in Beijing through Moscow. They made great contributions to the later Greece-China Friendship and to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Greece. After they returned home, they initiated and established the Greece-China Friendship Association in the spirit of Chairman MAO's talks on the cause of friendship between the two peoples. Therefore, the Greece-China Friendship Association was established under Chairman MAO's personal concern. 

 At that time, Nicolas Kitskis served as Chairman of the Greek-Chinese Friendship Association, Berata served as Vice-Chairman and Matiadu served as Secretary-General. They were all famous social activists in Greece at that time, and Beata was one of the member of the Greek Communist Party. 

For more than 60 years, President Matiadu has been dedicated to promoting the cause of friendship between China and Europe, especially between China and Greece. As the current President of ECCRD and executive chairman of Greece-China Friendship Association, she  hosts a grand Chinese New Year party in Greece every year. The former Chinese ambassador to Greece Xiao Jinli and the current Chinese ambassador Zhang Qiyue spoke highly of chairman matiadu's outstanding contribution to promoting Sino-Greek friendship, including her positive role in the cooperation between China's COSCO and Greek port of Piraeus, For this reason, Mr. Li chenggui, ECCRD's senior adviser in China who has written a memoir "Echoes of history,Greece-China friendship Association was established wtih the concern of Chairman MAO".

                          Chairman MAO's meeting with Ms. Matiatou.

On January 12, 2019, Mr.Spros (son of Matiadu) sent an email to Li to explain chairman MAO's meeting with Ms. Matiatou and her delegation.

Chairman MAO met my mother in 1957 or 1958.My mother visited China with Congressman Nicolas kitsikis and his wife, Beata kitsikis. The kitsikis were famous social activists of their time, who founded the Greece China Friendship Association. Some journalists accompanied .They arrived in Beijing through Moscow, for Greece had no connection with China at that time .They were arranged to live in an old house, which the receptionist told them was "Chairman MAO's residence". Later, the place was changed into Diaoyutai (state guesthouse). Chairman Mao personally arranged their reception and meeting with special consideration. The third person in the picture is a translator.

The original letter is attached: Αναφορικά με την συνάντηση της μητέρας μου με τον Μάο, η χρονιά ήταν το 1957 ή 1958, είχε πάει με την Μπεάτα Κιτσίκη που ήταν σύζυγος του Νίκου Κιτσίκη (Πολιτικού Μηχανικού, Καθηγητή του Πολυτεχνείου και βουλευτή - και οι δύο ήταν εξέχουσες προσωπικότητες της εποχής και συνιδρυτές του Συνδέσμου). Τους είχαν συνοδεύσει στο ταξίδι και κάποιοι Έλληνες δημοσιογράφοι. Είχαν φτάσει στο Πεκίνο μέσω Μόσχας, γιατί εκείνη την εποχή δεν υπήρχαν καθόλου σχέσεις Ελλάδας-Κίνας. Είχαν φιλοξενηθεί σε ένα «παλιό σπίτι του Μάο», το οποίο, όπως τους ενημέρωσαν, προοριζόταν αργότερα για ξενώνας. Η διάρκεια παραμονής τους ήταν περίπου μία εβδομάδα και έτυχαν εξαιρετικής φιλοξενίας και περιποίησης για την οποία είχε φροντίσει ο ίδιος ο Μάο.

Στην φωτογραφία σε δεύτερο πλάνο φαίνεται και ο μεταφραστής τους (κινεζικά-ελληνικά).

remarks：About Nicolas kitsikis and Beata kitsikis

Kezkis is a famous Greek scientist and former member of the Senate and the chamber of deputies. He has been the chairman of the Greek-Soviet Friendship Association for a long time. Beata is kitsikis's wife.

On April 9, 1948, during the civil war, a military court in Athens charged beata with espionage and was sentenced to death in the name of supporting the illegal Greek Communist Party, while her husband was still the chairman of the Greek Soviet Association. Her brave stance in the lawsuit left a deep impression on the public opinion, which called her the Greek pasionaria. Her son, Dimitri, was sent to a boarding school in Paris by octave merlier, the head of the French Institute in Athens. His mother was sentenced to death because who was a Communist Party.

She was tortured, but she never agreed to sign a declaration condemning communism. On May 1, 1948, Christos Ladas, the attorney general who signed her death sentence, was assassinated by members of the opla militia. However, her execution was not carried out in time because her husband, Nicolas kitsikis, still enjoyed extraordinary influence in the upper class of Greek society, and she was released from prison at the end of 1951 after the civil war.

On April 21, 1967, when the Greek coup broke out, she flew to Switzerland with her forged Swiss passport and then to Paris. After the fall of the military government in 1974, she returned to Greece. Mr. Nicolas Kitsikis died in 1978, and Mrs. Beata herself died on February 7, 1986. The Chinese central government sent a message of condolence.

In 1955, her husband, Nicolas kitsikis, held talks with Beijing representatives in Stockholm. Later, he visited China on invitation and was received by Chairman Mao Zedong. Later, the China Friendship Association of Greece was established. At that time, China was completely unknown to the Greek people. Beata immediately organized what was then regarded as China's most successful organization in Europe as a whole. Since then, she has traveled to China regularly, where she has a close understanding with Chinese leaders Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.