作 者：龔如仲（中國）
海外頭條總編審 王 在 軍 （中國）
海外頭條副編審 Wendy溫迪（英國）
海 外 頭 條總 編 火 鳳 凰 （海外）
圖片選自百度
龔如仲：生于上海，中國對外經(jīng)濟貿(mào)易大學(xué)英語系畢業(yè)，畢業(yè)后奔赴非洲任鐵道部援建坦贊鐵路工作組總部英語翻譯，中國國際廣播電臺英語部英語播音員、記者，外貿(mào)部中國輕工業(yè)品進出口總公司出口二處業(yè)務(wù)員、副處長，外貿(mào)部輕工業(yè)品進出口總公司駐美國公司總裁（處長）。
有關(guān)作品：
自2012年至2016年，臺灣采薇出版社出版自傳【歲月如重】（該書已被香港中文大學(xué)圖書館、美國紐約市立圖書館和澳大利亞國家圖書館作為自傳體作品正式收藏），【東西南北中國人---細(xì)談如何在大陸做生意】，【悠然時光】和【悠然時光---如仲詩語】。
2018年4月，中國國際廣播出版社出版【悠然齋詩文選】
2018年9月，中國國際廣播出版社出版【花兒在身邊開放】
2019年4月，臺灣采薇出版社出版英文書【My Life—Family, Career & VIPs】
作者現(xiàn)為中華詩詞學(xué)會會員、中國經(jīng)典文學(xué)網(wǎng)特約作家、臺灣采薇出版社資深顧問、奧地利英文網(wǎng)Sinopress特聘專欄作家、北美北斗星文學(xué)社副社長、副總編輯。
官場上的“異類”
文/龔如仲
調(diào)到外貿(mào)部中國輕工業(yè)品進出口總公司后，我被安排在該公司的二處工作，主要從事箱包、手套、小皮件等產(chǎn)品的出口。作為初來乍到的新手，我自然得從最基層的工作干起。
首先我必須面對的事實是：自己不久前還是一個國際廣播電臺的播音員、享受著同事和朋友的尊重和羨慕，而如今為了一套住房便成了從事國際貿(mào)易的小小業(yè)務(wù)員。想到此處，心中難免有點失落。但是回過頭來再一想：只有房子這件大事解決了，家事安排好了，我才能安心把工作做好。只要苦干幾年，我總會有我出頭之日的。這么一想，心情平和了，干事也起勁了。
當(dāng)時的輕工總公司二處有兩位處長，一正一副，但大家平日里閑聊時總會提起另一位名叫李浩然的正處長。那時侯，這位李處長正因病在家休養(yǎng)。從大家的談話中得知，對這位李處長，大家很是佩服他的超強能力，但卻又有點瞧不起他的為人處事。盡管如此，處里的同事們?nèi)匀粫r不時地到李處長家去探望，“希望李處長早日康復(fù)歸來”。
有一回，處里的資深“老外貿(mào)”老黃去探望李處長，她回來后通知我，說是李處長已知道從電臺來了個播音員，希望我抽空去看看他。一來出于禮節(jié)，二來因為好奇，我便借一個星期日休息之便，到了李家，并敲響了李處長家的大門。
開門迎接我的正是李處長本人，而他的妻子老陸和兒子正好有事外出。李處長四十多歲，中等身材，長得白白凈凈，眉清目秀，帶著一付金絲眼鏡，一看就是個大知識分子。相互寒暄并坐下來之后，李處長先敬上一支煙（當(dāng)時我尚未戒煙），問我敢不敢抽他遞給我的煙？因為他是乙型肝炎患者，正在治療之中。好在當(dāng)時帶過濾嘴的煙尚未流行，我就毫不猶豫地接過煙。我一邊用打火機點燃他接觸過的香煙那端，一邊心里尋思：“任何病毒也禁不住火的焚燒吧”？
見我敢于抽他給我的煙，李處長面露喜色，隨后他又到廚房給我端來了一碗綠豆湯。當(dāng)時正值炎夏，冰鎮(zhèn)綠豆湯無疑是解暑的圣物。李處長把碗放在我的面前，對我說道：“這碗冰鎮(zhèn)綠豆湯是我親手為你準(zhǔn)備的，你敢不敢喝”？不等我反應(yīng)，他又接著說道：“放心，碗和勺子都消過毒，東西也干凈”。其實，我知道這位另類處長是想試探我的真誠。既然我明白這個道理，于是我就端起碗來把綠豆湯喝了個底朝天。見我并無嫌棄之意，李處長大為高興。接著，他便開門見山地對我說道：“你這個人值得我交朋友。等我康復(fù)上班后，你就做我的骨干吧”。這真是一位異類的官僚！頭一回見面便對我這個新部下如此坦誠而露骨，大有把我“收入麾下、成其死黨”之意。
幾個月后，李處長的肝病得到控制，正式回來上班。
有一天，李處長要接待一個來自香港的貿(mào)易代表團，他特意讓我作陪。會談之后，對方團長鄭重地遞上四支帕克牌（PARK）圓珠筆作為“手信”（香港或廣東人稱禮物為手信）。按照當(dāng)時的外事紀(jì)律，任何外商送的禮品，收到后一定要上繳給公司行政辦公室，由辦公室作統(tǒng)一登記和處理，任何將禮品占為己有的行為都是違法的，何況這是四支帕克牌的高檔筆。然而，這位異類處長根本不管那一套，他收下筆后，拒不交公。
到了第二天，李處長特意把老黃、小劉和我三個人叫到他的辦公室。他關(guān)上房門后，對我們說道：“昨天得了四桿好筆，我先拿一支，因為我是處長，其余的三支你們?nèi)嗣咳艘恢А薄Ｒ娢覀円荒樏Ｈ?，他又說道：“因為你們?nèi)耸窃蹅兌幍母蓪ⅲ鞯靡恢Ш霉P也算是一種獎勵”。
這事過去許久后，有一天出于好奇，我就問李處長為何不把禮品上繳？他直率地對我說：“你以為辦公室那幫人真的就廉潔奉公？與其讓他們私下分了，還不如我們自己留著用呢。香港人是為了和我們做生意才送禮的，與辦公室那些人何干”？盡管我還是感到李處長的做法有些不妥，但不知何故，我從心眼里還是蠻欣賞這位異類處長的“大膽妄為”。
還有一次，一個美國代表團來訪。彼此間談完業(yè)務(wù)后，李處長在公司附近的“東來順”飯店宴請來賓。晚宴畢客人離去后，李處長見桌上還有一瓶未開啟的進口葡萄酒，便伸手把酒納入了自己公文包中，然后他轉(zhuǎn)身對處里包括我在內(nèi)的作陪人員言道：“這瓶酒我要了，盡管醫(yī)生不讓我喝酒，但我實在喜歡這瓶名酒”。因為這件事，處里有些人私下里說李處長“愛占小便宜”。其實當(dāng)時誰都想得到這瓶好酒，只不過面對如此強勢的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，誰也不敢吭氣而已。但我倒覺得，李處長是位性情中人，起碼他不虛偽。
更有趣的是，一次年終發(fā)掛歷，人人有一份。掛歷設(shè)計精美，每張月份牌上都有一位大美女，既有古裝的西施，也有時尚的明星。處里有兩位“道學(xué)者”一邊欣賞著掛歷上的美女，一邊議論著：“嘿，怎么又是大美女？這是不是太庸俗了？真是缺少革命精神”！這時候李處長正巧路過，一聽此言，他便扭身邁腿進入我們的大辦公室，然后對那兩位仁兄說道：“怎么了，不喜歡大美女？我覺得男人沒有不喜歡美女的。如果你們實在不喜歡，干脆就別要這掛歷了”。一番話說得那二位老兄低頭不語。在那個極“左”思想尚未根除的年代，一位大處長敢于在大庭廣眾之下大談喜歡美女，實屬罕見。然而不知為何，我卻從內(nèi)心深處挺佩服這個真實而又直率的“異類”。
李處長不僅在處事上坦誠、無偽，而且在業(yè)務(wù)上也是一位果斷干練、才華橫溢的高手。這位曾任老外貿(mào)部長雷任民先生大秘書的李處長，以其善寫報告和文章而聞名于外貿(mào)部，被人們公認(rèn)為是業(yè)界的大才子。
李浩然先生后來到輕工總公司任處長，工作中更是成績顯著，曾多次受到外貿(mào)部和總公司的表彰和嘉獎。也許是因為此公恃才傲物、目無領(lǐng)導(dǎo)吧，所以他那與眾不同的言談與舉止常常會引起人們的非議。也因此他多年來一直徘徊在處長的位子上，得不到進一步升遷。最后，他忍無可忍了，就決心離開了輕工總公司，到了外貿(mào)部屬下的另一家專業(yè)大公司---中國絲綢產(chǎn)品進出口公司當(dāng)上了副總經(jīng)理（副局級高官）。
也是由于成績斐然，兩年后李處長就被外貿(mào)部派往倫敦，擔(dān)任中國駐英國大使館的商務(wù)參贊，后來又兼任中國駐歐盟的參贊。
干了幾年后回到國內(nèi)，李處長被提升為外貿(mào)部貿(mào)易管理局局長。貿(mào)易管理局是外貿(mào)部極其重要的部門之一，該局掌管著全國各省、市、自治區(qū)及各大專業(yè)公司進出口配額的生殺大權(quán)。這時候的李處長可以說是達(dá)到了他事業(yè)的頂峰。
然而人世間的事情總不可能是十全十美的。別看李處長在事業(yè)上揮灑自如、風(fēng)光無限，然而他在家庭問題上卻有著旁人無法想象的痛楚。不知出于何種原因，李處長與其夫人陸女士長年不和、爭吵不休，最后夫婦二人干脆分床而睡。對于這個情況，我是偶然間得知的。
記得有一年，我從美國紐約飛往英國倫敦參加一個國際性的紙張、紙漿業(yè)務(wù)研討會。公務(wù)完畢后，我就專程去看望正當(dāng)參贊的李處長（其實他早已是正局級大員，但我從來都習(xí)慣性地叫他為李處長）。因為彼此是老友，李處長就把我?guī)У搅怂淖√幷勑?。?dāng)時他太太老陸正好外出辦事。待雙方坐定后，我就發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個怪現(xiàn)象：偌大的參贊官邸布置得如同酒店：兩個單人床分放在睡房的兩邊，中間的過道則相當(dāng)寬敞。我當(dāng)即好奇地問他，這究竟是為何？李處長這才告訴我他與妻子長期不和的實情。他然后對我說道：“既然夫婦二人同床異夢，還不如分床而睡，以圖清凈”。聽他這么一說，我隨即問他道：“既然二人已無感情，為何不干脆離異”？李處長則一臉苦笑，無奈何地說道：“因為我是個共產(chǎn)黨員，又是高級干部。倘若真的離婚，人家還不說我是陳世美”？聽畢這番話，我真的無言以對。
無論李處長是在國外當(dāng)外交官，還是回國任大局長，我們倆都一直保持著聯(lián)系。由于彼此不在同一個國家工作，有時侯我們幾年都見不上一次面，一年當(dāng)中也只是偶爾通通電話，但這種“君子之交淡如水”的友情卻一直延續(xù)下來。
直到若干年后的某一天，一位曾和我在輕工總公司共事的老友來美訪問，在與他閑談中我順便問起了李處長的近況。想不到他帶給我一個意想不到的噩耗：幾周前，李處長去江蘇視察工作，由于過度勞累，一直未徹底根除的肝病突然惡化，李處長猝死于蘇州一酒店中。
聞此惡耗，我悲痛不已，想不到這位一生都“把工作放在首位”的李大局長，最后就將生命結(jié)束在因公出差上。我當(dāng)即拿起電話，給遠(yuǎn)在北京的陸女士打了個長途，我也只能在電話中向她表達(dá)我對這位老領(lǐng)導(dǎo)、老朋友的深切哀悼了。
（此文選自拙作【歲月如重---兼談華國鋒】之第五章“從商之路”）
Chapter 16: An “Outlier” in Official Circles
Posted by Ralph Gong
I loved my English announcing job when I was working for Radio Beijing. But one thing frustrated me very much, that is my housing problem. During the 5-year period of my career, I only had a 14-sqaure-meter room to house my whole family members — my father, my wife, my two daughters and myself. Obviously, the space of such a small bedroom did not allow my father to have his own privacy. As a result, my father, an almost 80-year-old man, had to spend nights in a small room attached to my father-in-law’s house. Fortunately my father-in-law’s house was not far away from my own home. It took only about a 30-minute round-trip walking for my father every day.
In order to solve this housing problem, I tried very hard to talk to Radio Beijing authorities and request the leaders to provide me with a 3-bedroom or at least a 2-bedroom apartment. But all my efforts were in vain because the housing problem was a common difficult issue throughout the whole country at that time. Facing such a hopeless situation, I had no choice but said good-bye to Radio Beijing. The reason I dared to take the step was that a big state-owned enterprise promised to give me a 3-bedroom apartment. This could solve my housing problem completely. So I expressed my desire to be transferred from Radio Beijing to this company – China National Light Industrial Products Import & Export Corporation (in short, “Chinalight”).
(1)
In December, 1979, I succeeded in convincing Radio Beijing authorities to allow me to leave. I got transferred to Chinalight, a big state-owned company under the jurisdiction of China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade. The good thing was that it was not difficult for me to handle foreign trade business because I majored on international business when I was a university student. Full of confidence, I went to Chinalight and reported myself to the Company’s Human Resources Department. The Department assigned me to work for the Company’s Export Division NO. 2, My work position was a business coordinator who would coordinate with all the branch corporations concerned throughout the nation. I was also asked tosupervise all the provincial or municipality or autonomous regions branch corporations on their exporting of the Chinese leather goods such as bags, suitcases, work-gloves, dress-gloves, purses, wallets and key-cases. At that time, China’s main markets to import the above-mentioned products were USA and Europe.
After I began to work for Export Division NO. 2, I was told that there were two Division leaders. One was the Division Chief and the other was the Deputy Division Chief. But when my colleagues were chatting casually inside and outside our office, they always mentioned the name of another Division Chief whose name was HaoRan LI (I was very surprised to know that our Division was very special because we had two Division Chiefs. Usually, one Division only had one Division Chief plus one or more Deputy Division Chiefs). I was told that Mr. Li was staying at home for recovering from illness. From what the people talked about, I discovered that my colleagues often expressed their admiration for this Mr. Li’s super working capability. Meanwhile, they also expressed some dissatisfaction about this Division Chief’s “peculiar” behavior and “unordinary” remarks. I got the impression that Mr. Li was possibly an “outlier”, unfitting to the conventional official circles.
But an interesting thing was that all my colleagues went to visit this unusual Division Chief frequently, expressing their sincere concerns and good wishes to him, hoping him to have a speedy recovery and to be able to return to work as soon as possible. One day, Madam Huang, our office’s senior international trading expert who was in charge of the leather shoes business, went to see Mr. Li. After the visit, she came back to the office and walked up to me directly, saying that Division Chief Li already knew that I, an English announcer, was transferred from Radio Beijing to the Division. She said Mr. Li wanted me to go to see him as soon as possible. She wrote down Mr. Li’s home address and gave it to me. Surprised, I decided to visit this unusual Division Chief at the next possible chance.
On one Saturday afternoon, I went to Mr. Li’s home and knocked the door. Mr. Li opened the door himself. After listening to my self-introduction, Mr. Li politely invited me to come in. I realized that neither his wife nor his son was at home that day. While shaking hands with him, I had a quick glance at this gentleman: He was a fair-complexioned, handsome man in his early forties. Wearing a pair of metal-rimmed glasses, he looked gentle and elegant. His appearance suggested to me that he must be a grand intellectual.
Mr. Li gestured me to sit down. Both seated, he used the thumb and index fingers of his right hand to pull out a piece of cigarette. While offering the cigarette to me, he asked me if I was a smoker. I nodded my head and said “yes” (I did not quit smoking until a few years later). Mr. Li suddenly asked me if I would be bold enough to smoke the cigarette he had touched with his fingers. Seeing me feeling a bit confused, he explained that he was a patient suffering from hepatitis B virus (HBV), which is infectious.
To be honest, I was really confused or even shocked upon hearing what he said for a moment. But I came back to myself quickly. I knew this Division Chief was somehow testing me to see if I, as a new subordinate under him, would be following his orders. He wanted to know if I would be loyal to him.
Without any hesitation, I took the cigarette from him. But at the same time, I said to myself: “No virus or bacterium on earth can bear the fire-burning”. Filter cigarettes were not popular yet in China in the 1970s and 1980s. The cigarette Mr. Li gave to me was a filter-free one. I lit the cigarette on the end touched by his fingers, thinking: “It is absolutely safe for me to smoke this piece of cigarette!”
Seeing me naturally and happily accepting and smoking the cigarette, Mr. Li smiled faintly. And then he stood up and went to the kitchen. Back to the table, he brought a bowl and a spoon with him. Putting the bowl and the spoon on the table, Mr. Li said to me: “This is a bowl of iced green-bean soup. And the iced green-bean soup is really a delicacy in the summer season. The soup was prepared by myself and specially made for you. Do you dare to eat it?” He wanted to remind me again that he was a hepatitis patient. Before I had any time or chance to speak, he went on to say: “Please be reassured that both the bowl and the spoon were sterilized. The soup is also clean and safe.” Clearly this unusual Division Chief was trying to test my sincerity again! Without saying anything, I took the bowl and finished the soup completely.
Making sure that I did not avoid or dislike what he offered, Mr. Li felt relaxed and satisfied. He openly said to me: “You are a guy who deserves my trust, and I take you as my friend. After I’m fully recovered, I’ll go back to work. You will be my trusted subordinate.” What an “outlier”! It was only the first time for him and me to meet, and he already dared to declare blatantly that he would take me, a new comer, as his sworn follower.
(2)
A few months later, Mr. Li’s HBV was under control and he was allowed to come back to work. One afternoon, Mr. Li was going to meet with a Hong Kong Trade Delegation for business negotiations. He purposefully asked me to be with him for the meeting. After the business meeting was over, the head of the Hong Kong Trade Delegation earnestly presented Mr. Li gifts of four ball-pens with the brand name of Park. In China’s late 1970s and early 1980s, the Park brand ball-pens were very valuable and expensive. Four of such ball-pens were considered very precious gifts. According to the Company’s related rules and regulations, any gifts which were given to us by foreign businessmen (including Hong Kong and Macau business people) must be handed over to the Company’s Administrating Office. To keep gifts privately was not allowed, regarded as going against the Company’s “l(fā)aw”. But our Division Chief Li did not care about the “l(fā)aw” at all. He decided to handle this matter in his own way. In other words, he put all four Park ball-pens into his own pocket.
On the following day, Mr. Li asked Madam Huang (who was in charge of leather shoes business), Madam Liu (who was handling footwear business except for leather shoes) and me (who was doing coordination work on leather gloves, hand bags and small leather goods) to his office. After three of us stepped into his room, Mr. Li closed the door immediately, and then asked us to sit down. Then he said to us: “Yesterday, I got four good ball-pens which were gifts given by a Hong Kong Trade Delegation. As I am the Division Chief, I should take one ball-pen for my own usage. And each of you three will also get one ball-pen.” Finding out that we three people were all feeling confused, he went on to say: “The reason why each of you three deserve to be rewarded with such a good ball-pen is that you are all backbones of our Division. Please regard the ball-pen as a kind of encouragement!”
Almost a month time had passed since this ball-pen event took place. One day, my curiosity pushed me to ask Mr. Li why he did not hand over the ball-pens to the Administration Office as per the Company’s rule?To my surprise, he said to me in a straightforward manner: “Do you really believe that the people working for the Administration Office are honest and incorruptible in performing their office duties? We should use those ball-pens ourselves rather than giving them to the Administrating Office. You must understand that the Hong Kong Trade Delegation gave us the gifts for the business sake because they want to develop the business with us. The ball-pens have nothing to do with those who are working for the Administrating Office”. Even though I did not think what Mr. Li explained was really convincing and “there might be something wrong”, I admired this “outlier” for his being so bold and presumptuous.
Another time, an American Trade Delegation came to visit us for a business talk. After the meeting was over, Mr. Li, the Division Chief, arranged a banquet at a famous roasted duck restaurant to entertain the guests. Quite a few people from both sides were participating the banquet. After the banquet was over and the American guests left for their hotel, we were also about to leave the restaurant. Just at that moment, we realized that there was still one bottle of unopened red wine on the table. Mr. Li immediately stretched out his right arm and took the bottle, putting it into his briefcase while saying to us: “I want to have this bottle of wine. Even though my doctor does not allow me to drink, I do like this famous wine.” This “wine possessing” matter caused some of my colleagues to whisper in private that “Mr. Li is selfish”, “Mr. Li likes to take petty advantage.” But I had a different understanding to the matter. I felt that at the moment of seeing that bottle of good wine, actually none of us wanted to lose the chance of possessing it. But none of us dared to confront Mr. Li, who as our boss was such a mighty Division Chief. I felt Mr. Li was a straightforward man with courage. At least he was not a hypocrite.
There were even more interesting happenings like the calendar issue. Once, the company decided to give us employees hanging calendars for the wall as New Year’s gift at the end of a calendar year (I do not remember which year it was). According to the rule, each of us could get one calendar. In the early 1980s, those calendars were rare gifts loved by us all. Since China had already started the economic reform and adopted an open-door policy, the contents for those calendars were no longer Chairman Mao Zedong’sportraits or revolutionary heroes. Instead, classical and/or modern beauties became the poster figures on each month’s calendar page. A look at the calendar posters, those beautiful girls or ladies would already gladden your eyes. But two “Confucian moralists” in our office reacted to the beauty calendar in a strange way. On one hand, they seemed to like the calendar girls a lot because they were throwing glances at the calendar again and again. On the other hand, they put on a long face and made loud remarks: “Why are pretty movie stars and classical beauties, not revolutionary heroes, on the calendar? It is too vulgar! It lacks the revolutionary spirit!” Coincidentally, Division Chief Li was passing our office door to his room. Upon hearing what the two “moralists” said, he stepped into our office and said to them: “You guys do not like beauties? But I don’t believe any man would dislike beautiful and charming girls. If you really do not like those pictures of movie stars and classical beauties, you can give up taking the calendar as the gift.” Hearing Mr. Li’s words, the two people simply lowered their heads without any reply.
In the early 1980s, the so-called “ultra-leftist ideology” was not yet abolished. It was rare and peculiar for a high-ranking official like Mr. Li to openly declare that he liked beautiful girls and pretty ladies. From the bottom of my heart, I admired this gentleman’s boldness.
(3)
Division Chief Li was not only an honest, straightforward and unfeigned man, but also a capable and experienced “trading master”. Before he was transferred to Chinalight, he used to be the Chief Secretary of Mr. Renmin LEI, the former minister of Foreign Trade Ministry. When Mr. Li worked for the Ministry, he was well-known for his talents of writing good reports and articles. He was even taken by his colleagues as a “gifted scholar” in the foreign trade field. After he became the Division Chief working for Chinalight, he displayed his extraordinary ability of handling international business. His excellent work performances were praised and rewarded several times by both Chinalight and the Foreign Trade Ministry Authorities. But such an outstanding senior official was not very respected by all his colleagues. His character somehow boasted of self-isteem and insolence. His distinctive speech and deportment were often criticized by some of his colleagues and even by same-leveled officials. Even if they did not dare to go openly against him, they gossiped behind his back. Those irresponsible talks sometimes harmed Mr. Li’s reputation, when reaching the ears of the VIPs at Chinalight Authority. I guess that was the reason why Mr. Li had been staying at his Division Chief position for many years without being further promoted. Finally, Mr. Li lost his patience for continuing to work for Chinalight as a Division Chief only. He said good-bye to the company, and got transferred to another large China national company—China National Silk Products Import & Export Corporation (in short, “Chinasilk”) to start his new work career. Chinasilk appointed Mr. Li as a Vice-President, the title of which was higher than Division Chief. He got promoted! Chinasilk and Chinalight were of the same level and both of them were under the direct jurisdiction of the Foreign Trade Ministry.
After Mr. Li joined Chinasilk, he again fully displayed his brilliant working talents and did a great job. Two years later, the Ministry of Foreign Trade sent Mr. Li to the Chinese Embassy in London, England, working as the Commercial Counselor at the Embassy, as well as the Counselor for the European Union (EU). His official title became even higher than a Vice President. After a few years of working in London, Mr. Li returned to China. The Foreign Trade Ministry appointed him as the Director of Foreign Trade Administration Bureau, which was one of the most important organizations inside the Ministry. The Director of this Bureau was a very powerful leading official because he controlled the whole country’s import and export quota. Without obtaining quotas, no companies under China’s provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions could import or export any specially restricted products. Without Mr. Li’s “green-light turning-on”, no one could get any quota from the Ministry. By this time, Mr. Li reached the summit of his career!
In this world, nothing could be perfect in every respect. Mr. Li was having a brilliant career and he ought to be extremely proud of himself. Yet in reality, Mr. Li also had his own headaches. For a long time, he had been suffering from his marriage problem. Without knowing the real cause of this bitterness, the people around Mr. Li only felt that he did not have a good or normal relation with his wife. For many years, the couple had been quarreling and were even hostile to each other. Finally, Mr. Li and his wife decided to separate.
I still remember that one year when I was still working for Chinalight (at that time, I was President of Amicell Inc., an American company as well as an over-seas branch office under Chinalight. Our main business was to buy the paper and paper pulp from the USA and Canada, and to export them to China), I traveled from New York to London for an international paper and paper pulp conference. When the meeting was over, I paid a special visit to Mr. Li at the Chinese Embassy in London. Since he and I were already old friends (even though I was his subordinate), Mr. Li invited me to his official residence for a talk. On that day, his wife, Madam Lu, was not at the Embassy. After I entered into his huge and luxurious bedroom, I found out a very strange phenomenon: two separate single beds were placed respectively on both sides of the room. Out of my curiosity, I asked Mr. Li why. It was only by that time that Mr. Li began to tell me that the relation between him and his wife were not harmonious. They did not love each other at all. After hearing what he told me, I frankly asked why he still kept the marriage status if their marital relationship was so bad, why they didn’t get divorced to allow both to enjoy complete freedom. But to my surprise, Mr. Li gave me a different opinion. Helplessly, he said to me: “I am a veteran communist as well as a high-ranking official. If I get divorced from my wife, I would be definitely scolded and criticized by the public opinion. People surrounding me would regard me as an ‘unfaithful husband’. I can not cut off marriage relationship with my wife no matter how hard my family life is!” Hearing what he said, I had no other choice but kept silence.
Mr. Li and I have always maintained good relations no matter whether he was a high-ranking diplomat abroad, or he was a powerful director at the Foreign Trade Ministry. We were not in the same city or even in the same country for many years. We did not see each other for years after I was sent by Chinalight to the USA to work there. But we did have communications from time to time either by phone or fax or even mails (in 1980s, no email or WeChatfacilities were available). This kind of friendship lasted for many years. It is just like what a Chinese saying goes: “Friendship between real gentlemen is as pure as water”.
A few more years later, an old colleague of mine came to the USA for a business trip. A good friend of mine when I worked for Chinalight, he particularly came to see me after his business visit was done. I entertained him with a dinner while enjoying a casual talk with each other. Since he was also a high-ranking official who used to be working together with Mr. Li in Chinalight, I purposefully asked him if he had any news about Mr. Li, the former Division Chief of Chinalight. The unexpected news he brought to me was totally shocking. He told me an incident. Once Mr. Li, the Director of the Foreign Trade Administration Bureau, visited Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province. His mission was to inspect and supervise how the local companies or departments were using the import and export quota. After finishing that day’s hard work, Mr. Li went back to his hotel. He obviously over-worked to the extent that his health condition could not bear it any more. At that night, he died of complication with HBV (hepatitis B virus) and some other medical symptoms in his hotel room.
I couldn’t help feeling the surge of an extreme sadness upon hearing this terrible news. After the guest left, I called Mr. Li’s home phone number and reached Madam Lu, Mr. Li’s wife. Over the phone conversation, I expressed my deep condolence to Mr. Li, an “outlier” in the eyes of many people around him, a brilliant and courageous man in my eyes! May Mr. Li’s soul be in peace forever!
ENDED
About the Author:
Ruzhong Gong (Ralph Gong), born in Shanghai, China, now living in the USA.
Graduated From the English Department of Universityof International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Before retirement, President of an USA overseas company under China National Light Industrial Products Imp. & Exp. Corp.; President of a joint-venture company in USA, jointly owned by Australia’s Lief Group Company and China National Chemical Products Imp. & Exp. Corp.; President of an American Brach Corp. under China National Foreign Trade Bases Corp.; Chief Representative in Beijing Office under Trade Am, an American Carpets Wholesale Company.
Author of 6 books, including “My Life—Family, Career & VIPs”, “How to Do Business in Mainland of China”, “My Leisure Time”, “My Leisure Time—Poems & Articles” , “Poems and Essays from Leisure Chamber” and “Flowers By My Side”.
Member of the Chinese Poetry Society (CPS), Free Lance Writer for Austrian Sinopress, and Senior Consultant for Taiwan Caiwei Publishing House.
