China scale

The Chinese government subsequently opened four special economic zones in 1980 based on the Shannon model. These became a major driving force for China's economy, allowing private investment to flow into the country and for a huge transfer of skills and technology to take place.

The establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the first town modeled on Shannon, was a turning point for China's economy.

Tom Carroll, former manager of the development cooperation program, who was also involved in the training for the Chinese delegation in 1980, said: "When I visited Shenzhen in the mid-1980s, I was kind of overwhelmed, because this was one enormous building site. We were driving for about 30 to 45 minutes, and it was nothing but development, so that made a huge impression on me."

Once a small fishing village, the city of Shenzhen now has a population of more than 12.5 million and its annual GDP is larger than Ireland's, exceeding 2.2 trillion yuan ($316 billion) in 2017.

Carroll said: "What I always find very difficult to understand is the magnitude of it in China, and how you scaled up the whole thing - that's kind of beyond my thinking.

"You need to have that insight, because very often when you are thinking of such a big scale, you don't understand the importance of something very simple," he said.