The Whitlams were visiting China at the time of the Tangshan earthquake in July 1976, though they were staying in Tianjin, away from the epicentre. "The Age" printed a cartoon by Peter Nicholson showing the Whitlams huddled together in bed with Margaret Whitlam saying, "Did the earth move for you too, dear?" This cartoon prompted a page full of outraged letters from Labor partisans and a telegram from Gough Whitlam, safe in Tokyo, requesting the original of the cartoon.