作      者：龚如仲（中国）

海外头条总编审   王 在 军   （中国）

海外头条副编审 Wendy温迪（英国）

海 外 头 条总 编   火 凤  凰  （海外）

图片选自百度

龚如仲：生于上海，中国对外经济贸易大学英语系毕业，毕业后奔赴非洲任铁道部援建坦赞铁路工作组总部英语翻译，中国国际广播电台英语部英语播音员、记者，外贸部中国轻工业品进出口总公司出口二处业务员、副处长，外贸部轻工业品进出口总公司驻美国公司总裁（处长）。

有关作品：

自2012年至2016年，台湾采薇出版社出版自传【岁月如重】（该书已被香港中文大学图书馆、美国纽约市立图书馆和澳大利亚国家图书馆作为自传体作品正式收藏），【东西南北中国人---细谈如何在大陆做生意】，【悠然时光】和【悠然时光---如仲诗语】。

 2018年4月，中国国际广播出版社出版【悠然斋诗文选】

 2018年9月，中国国际广播出版社出版【花儿在身边开放】

 2019年4月，台湾采薇出版社出版英文书【My Life—Family, Career & VIPs】

作者现为中华诗词学会会员、中国经典文学网特约作家、台湾采薇出版社资深顾问、奥地利英文网Sinopress特聘专栏作家、北美北斗星文学社副社长、副总编辑。

官场上的“异类”

文/龚如仲

    调到外贸部中国轻工业品进出口总公司后，我被安排在该公司的二处工作，主要从事箱包、手套、小皮件等产品的出口。作为初来乍到的新手，我自然得从最基层的工作干起。

    首先我必须面对的事实是：自己不久前还是一个国际广播电台的播音员、享受着同事和朋友的尊重和羡慕，而如今为了一套住房便成了从事国际贸易的小小业务员。想到此处，心中难免有点失落。但是回过头来再一想：只有房子这件大事解决了，家事安排好了，我才能安心把工作做好。只要苦干几年，我总会有我出头之日的。这么一想，心情平和了，干事也起劲了。

    当时的轻工总公司二处有两位处长，一正一副，但大家平日里闲聊时总会提起另一位名叫李浩然的正处长。那时侯，这位李处长正因病在家休养。从大家的谈话中得知，对这位李处长，大家很是佩服他的超强能力，但却又有点瞧不起他的为人处事。尽管如此，处里的同事们仍然时不时地到李处长家去探望，“希望李处长早日康复归来”。

    有一回，处里的资深“老外贸”老黄去探望李处长，她回来后通知我，说是李处长已知道从电台来了个播音员，希望我抽空去看看他。一来出于礼节，二来因为好奇，我便借一个星期日休息之便，到了李家，并敲响了李处长家的大门。

    开门迎接我的正是李处长本人，而他的妻子老陆和儿子正好有事外出。李处长四十多岁，中等身材，长得白白净净，眉清目秀，带着一付金丝眼镜，一看就是个大知识分子。相互寒暄并坐下来之后，李处长先敬上一支烟（当时我尚未戒烟），问我敢不敢抽他递给我的烟？因为他是乙型肝炎患者，正在治疗之中。好在当时带过滤嘴的烟尚未流行，我就毫不犹豫地接过烟。我一边用打火机点燃他接触过的香烟那端，一边心里寻思：“任何病毒也禁不住火的焚烧吧”？

    见我敢于抽他给我的烟，李处长面露喜色，随后他又到厨房给我端来了一碗绿豆汤。当时正值炎夏，冰镇绿豆汤无疑是解暑的圣物。李处长把碗放在我的面前，对我说道：“这碗冰镇绿豆汤是我亲手为你准备的，你敢不敢喝”？不等我反应，他又接着说道：“放心，碗和勺子都消过毒，东西也干净”。其实，我知道这位另类处长是想试探我的真诚。既然我明白这个道理，于是我就端起碗来把绿豆汤喝了个底朝天。见我并无嫌弃之意，李处长大为高兴。接着，他便开门见山地对我说道：“你这个人值得我交朋友。等我康复上班后，你就做我的骨干吧”。这真是一位异类的官僚！头一回见面便对我这个新部下如此坦诚而露骨，大有把我“收入麾下、成其死党”之意。

    几个月后，李处长的肝病得到控制，正式回来上班。

有一天，李处长要接待一个来自香港的贸易代表团，他特意让我作陪。会谈之后，对方团长郑重地递上四支帕克牌（PARK）圆珠笔作为“手信”（香港或广东人称礼物为手信）。按照当时的外事纪律，任何外商送的礼品，收到后一定要上缴给公司行政办公室，由办公室作统一登记和处理，任何将礼品占为己有的行为都是违法的，何况这是四支帕克牌的高档笔。然而，这位异类处长根本不管那一套，他收下笔后，拒不交公。

到了第二天，李处长特意把老黄、小刘和我三个人叫到他的办公室。他关上房门后，对我们说道：“昨天得了四杆好笔，我先拿一支，因为我是处长，其余的三支你们三人每人一支”。见我们一脸茫然，他又说道：“因为你们三人是咱们二处的干将，各得一支好笔也算是一种奖励”。

    这事过去许久后，有一天出于好奇，我就问李处长为何不把礼品上缴？他直率地对我说：“你以为办公室那帮人真的就廉洁奉公？与其让他们私下分了，还不如我们自己留着用呢。香港人是为了和我们做生意才送礼的，与办公室那些人何干”？尽管我还是感到李处长的做法有些不妥，但不知何故，我从心眼里还是蛮欣赏这位异类处长的“大胆妄为”。

    还有一次，一个美国代表团来访。彼此间谈完业务后，李处长在公司附近的“东来顺”饭店宴请来宾。晚宴毕客人离去后，李处长见桌上还有一瓶未开启的进口葡萄酒，便伸手把酒纳入了自己公文包中，然后他转身对处里包括我在内的作陪人员言道：“这瓶酒我要了，尽管医生不让我喝酒，但我实在喜欢这瓶名酒”。因为这件事，处里有些人私下里说李处长“爱占小便宜”。其实当时谁都想得到这瓶好酒，只不过面对如此强势的领导，谁也不敢吭气而已。但我倒觉得，李处长是位性情中人，起码他不虚伪。

    更有趣的是，一次年终发挂历，人人有一份。挂历设计精美，每张月份牌上都有一位大美女，既有古装的西施，也有时尚的明星。处里有两位“道学者”一边欣赏着挂历上的美女，一边议论著：“嘿，怎么又是大美女？这是不是太庸俗了？真是缺少革命精神”！这时候李处长正巧路过，一听此言，他便扭身迈腿进入我们的大办公室，然后对那两位仁兄说道：“怎么了，不喜欢大美女？我觉得男人没有不喜欢美女的。如果你们实在不喜欢，干脆就别要这挂历了”。一番话说得那二位老兄低头不语。在那个极“左”思想尚未根除的年代，一位大处长敢于在大庭广众之下大谈喜欢美女，实属罕见。然而不知为何，我却从内心深处挺佩服这个真实而又直率的“异类”。

    李处长不仅在处事上坦诚、无伪，而且在业务上也是一位果断干练、才华横溢的高手。这位曾任老外贸部长雷任民先生大秘书的李处长，以其善写报告和文章而闻名于外贸部，被人们公认为是业界的大才子。

    李浩然先生后来到轻工总公司任处长，工作中更是成绩显著，曾多次受到外贸部和总公司的表彰和嘉奖。也许是因为此公恃才傲物、目无领导吧，所以他那与众不同的言谈与举止常常会引起人们的非议。也因此他多年来一直徘徊在处长的位子上，得不到进一步升迁。最后，他忍无可忍了，就决心离开了轻工总公司，到了外贸部属下的另一家专业大公司---中国丝绸产品进出口公司当上了副总经理（副局级高官）。

也是由于成绩斐然，两年后李处长就被外贸部派往伦敦，担任中国驻英国大使馆的商务参赞，后来又兼任中国驻欧盟的参赞。

干了几年后回到国内，李处长被提升为外贸部贸易管理局局长。贸易管理局是外贸部极其重要的部门之一，该局掌管着全国各省、市、自治区及各大专业公司进出口配额的生杀大权。这时候的李处长可以说是达到了他事业的顶峰。

然而人世间的事情总不可能是十全十美的。别看李处长在事业上挥洒自如、风光无限，然而他在家庭问题上却有着旁人无法想象的痛楚。不知出于何种原因，李处长与其夫人陆女士长年不和、争吵不休，最后夫妇二人干脆分床而睡。对于这个情况，我是偶然间得知的。

记得有一年，我从美国纽约飞往英国伦敦参加一个国际性的纸张、纸浆业务研讨会。公务完毕后，我就专程去看望正当参赞的李处长（其实他早已是正局级大员，但我从来都习惯性地叫他为李处长）。因为彼此是老友，李处长就把我带到了他的住处谈心。当时他太太老陆正好外出办事。待双方坐定后，我就发现了一个怪现象：偌大的参赞官邸布置得如同酒店：两个单人床分放在睡房的两边，中间的过道则相当宽敞。我当即好奇地问他，这究竟是为何？李处长这才告诉我他与妻子长期不和的实情。他然后对我说道：“既然夫妇二人同床异梦，还不如分床而睡，以图清净”。听他这么一说，我随即问他道：“既然二人已无感情，为何不干脆离异”？李处长则一脸苦笑，无奈何地说道：“因为我是个共产党员，又是高级干部。倘若真的离婚，人家还不说我是陈世美”？听毕这番话，我真的无言以对。

无论李处长是在国外当外交官，还是回国任大局长，我们俩都一直保持着联系。由于彼此不在同一个国家工作，有时侯我们几年都见不上一次面，一年当中也只是偶尔通通电话，但这种“君子之交淡如水”的友情却一直延续下来。

直到若干年后的某一天，一位曾和我在轻工总公司共事的老友来美访问，在与他闲谈中我顺便问起了李处长的近况。想不到他带给我一个意想不到的噩耗：几周前，李处长去江苏视察工作，由于过度劳累，一直未彻底根除的肝病突然恶化，李处长猝死于苏州一酒店中。

闻此恶耗，我悲痛不已，想不到这位一生都“把工作放在首位”的李大局长，最后就将生命结束在因公出差上。我当即拿起电话，给远在北京的陆女士打了个长途，我也只能在电话中向她表达我对这位老领导、老朋友的深切哀悼了。

（此文选自拙作【岁月如重---兼谈华国锋】之第五章“从商之路”）

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 “law”. But our Division Chief Li did not care about the “law” 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.