A. Lunch in Suzhou

Part 1
1.
Li Dachang was in the bistro, looking at the glass doors to see if the host was arriving. The restaurant was luxuriously furnished, with teak tables and chairs, which had velvet cushions. In Singapore, each chair would probably cost $800.

But the coffee was poor, Vietnamese, and not brewed from beans, but made from instant coffee. At that moment, Starbucks was only about the open. Back home, there were coffeebean&tealeaves, pacific coffee, spinelli, coffee club, dome...

A young woman came in carrying a document case. He did not know her, but after a glance she came over to him and stretched out her hand, with a bright smile "Mr Li? I am Zhang Xiaoran. Mr Chen gives his apoligies. He has to attend to some other things, and asked me to handle this"

Her hand was soft; maybe not someone who needed to wash her own dishes.

Nice face too; there are so many pretty girls in China.

After they sat down and ordered, Xiaoran opened the case and took out the contract he needed to have that day.

"Sorry we are not so efficient; getting it to you last minute"

"No problem; any time today is fine"

Their glasses of juice came and each took a sip, while he turned a few pages of the contract.

"It looks OK? We followed the format of the samples from your side"

The format is fine, but there is a missing detail

"The concrete used must meet standard S6; right now only Singapore-Suzhou Mutual Progress Cement Company can produce it"

"But their prices..."

"That shouldnt be a problem; we will talk to them and ask them to provide favorable terms. Also, if a plant you are familiar with goes into joint venture with SSMPCC and produces S6 standard concrete, that would be fine too.

"All right then; we will make some arrangements"

He continued reading; it looks fine; they are fast learners...but here..

"We followed your normal practice; for every rainy day the completion may be delayed one day"

Sure, in Singapore rain means a thunderstorm downpour, so the worksite has to be shut down; but in Suzhou it mostly drizzles which need not affect progress, so he ought to object to this...

He looked up to say this, and found her large and limpid eyes focused on him; it shook him up.

He had seen many pretty girls after coming here, but Xiaoran surpassed them all. No woman had that kind of effect on him since the time he met Halimah.

2.
He got to know Halimah in Berkeley. She was from Kuala Lumpur, both pretty and clever, and also had a good singing voice particularly when doing Malay songs

"Fishing boat fishing boat, when are you coming home..."
"Rubber tree rubber tree, where are you hiding him…"

Her family were very much against their being together. He was Chinese, non believer, and he had a Singapore Government scholarship requiring him to return; she had originally wanted to remain in USA after finishing, but was willing to follow him to Singapore. It was her parents who were upset about this.

Only when close to the wedding day did he find out her family was very rich; they had plantations and real estate, and major shareholdings in the casino; their company also won the tender to run the lottery in four states, as good as owning machines to print money. They were way above the class of his family, several generations of civil servants. However, Halimah was actually used to a simple lifestyle, and was deeply religious. At the same time, she was open minded enough not to demand his conversion

"I know you would not really believe, and would rather you do not fake it; but the children must follow my practice"

His colleagues all brought family to Suzhou, and the Singapore Education Ministry opened primary and secondary schools in the industrial park, following exactly the same curricula as at home so that the children could merge back into their old systems upon return. There were no Malay and Islamic studies however, and his family did not join him.

Life in the industrial park was not overly dull. Gym, golf, all kinds of other interests were catered to; in the evenings there were many social functions, and companies and offices in China seem to spend great amounts of money on socializing. Also, on every occasion you find all these pretty girls...

Relationships o relationships! Just the gifts one gets every day are troublesome enough. You cant refuse them, and have to report every item to the administration people, so that the financial guys can assess its value and if you would like to keep it yourself, you just pay the amount into the official account; otherwise, you can pass the gift upstairs and let them find someone to accept it

Just the night before he was invited to a karaoke lounge; not going was out of the question, and once there you have to have a hostess to keep you company, since if the guest does not select one, the host could not do it either; the girl with him put on a real show of affection, making him feel he was still the handsome young man he once was at Berkeley. While they were happily into their drinks, he noticed that his assistant at the next compartment had disappeared, along with two girls. Oh my this guy is out of control; I guess he wont be staying long, maybe leaving without even finishing his bond.

He managed to get away reasonably early, and phoned home. His mother in law answered the phone, speaking to him in Malay as she insisted on doing with him after so many years, even though her English was fine; his wife was out - went to some function.

3.
Li Dachang was sent to Suzhou to manage the still devleoping industrial park, a rather high post for his age, because his previous boss had problems.

The project was approved by the cabinet after long deliberations, and its objective was to provide a more favorable working and living environment to singapore and foreign companies that wanted to establish operations in China, and to set an example for industrial park developments elsewhere. Suzhou was chosen instead of Shanghai because of its much lower land cost; it was later discovered that the land allocated by the city government was swampy and would be more expensive to develop. Request to switch to a similar sized plot next door was rejected, because that land had just been sold to some consortium.

The decision was to bite the bullet and proceed as originally planned. First roads had to be built and water/electricity connected; then it was found that the land next door was also being developed as an industrial park, and it could use the roads and water/electricity connections just put in; it also happened to be nearer to the city, and required less drainage.

...

Xiaoran, seated in front of him, was pretty, well spoken, and well dressed, though the buttoned up shirt just happened to leave a tiny bit of cleavage exposed, and the necklace she wore had a a green, translucent jade pendant hung below, which naturally lead your eye downwards where your imagination could roam.

He hurriedly raised his sight, and immediately met Xiaoran's eyes again, which disturbed him even more than when his eyes were looking down. The hand holding the contract trembled.

"Miss Zhang, I will fax the contract back to my head office, and they sometimes request minor changes."

"I am sure we can satisfy all your requirements"

"They wiil be able to make a final decision tonight or tomorrow morning"

"Wonderful; I will wait for your call; I am sure it will make me happy"

My oh my she’s good. Dachang thought of a story once told by his father: he was with an English superior, checking up on activities of of a group of leftists in Changi Prison. Someone was passing around documents in the jail, but every surprise inspection of the cells turned up nothing. Someone had been tipping them off. Careful study of the duty rosters isolated the source of the leak to within a small group of officers, and they were put under surveylance. One day a police officer was found to be standing next to the fence, with his trouser zipper open, and into his trousers a girl stretched her hand from the other side of the fence...

His father said, the leftists believed they were making a most wonderful new world, and anything that helped to achieve the goal was correct; the party's orders must be obeyed without hesitation; anyone who hemmed and hawed was not qualified to take part in creating the future.

The old man also said, our group of guys, while struggling with them to the death, also felt it was such a pity they were not on our side; people with that kind of strong will and belief were hard to find, but we had to strike them down; they were too dangerous.

4.
Their meals came. Xiaoran was wise enough to stop talking about the contract, and instead asked many questions about Singapore. She seemed to have read much background material and news on the subject, and her questions were well informed. Finally they turned to the situation of the industrial park

"The small amount of reservation among the public; that should be easy to overcome?"

"Sure; your Premier Zhu had expressed strong support, and said any problem could be solved quickly by working together; our government would not change policies just bcause of minor complaints; our Senior Minister Lee said cooperating with China is a kind of economic hitchhiking, and has great benefits"

After lunch, Xiaoran signed the bill, and asked "Is the any matter you would like me to go to your office to discuss?"

His hand started to tremble again; he would really like to say yes

His mother often said, no man in the world could be trusted; like, after his father passed away, a woman came to see them with a child; just a look at the boy told them what she had to say. The two women did not get into a row; sharp conversation, but still courteous; they did meet again afterwards

"No need; I will get in touch tomorrow"

He saw her to the outside of the lobby. A white Mercedes immediately came over, and a well built man came out of the front passenger side, opened the back door for Xiaoran to get in, gave a slight bow, closed the door, and got seated himself back front. The Merc left. As the car passed in front of Dachang, Xiaoran gave a slight node and a smile - the smile that launched a thousand ships...

As he sat in the car going back to the office, he pondered whether he should point out to the head office the difference between the rains in Singapore and Suzhou.

Part 2
1.
Li Dachang was sitting in front of his computer, looking at the thesis he brought back from Berkeley, hoping to find some unpublished parts that could be re-written as papers for publication. He had been back for almost half a year and only began be able to find some time. A new lecturer with a new course, and having to please all these students, who want effortless learning and needed everything to be provided in notes for them to memorize, it’s no piece of cake.

Back to being a poor student, after 10 years as civil servant, 10 years of marriage, was hard enough. Fortunately he had smooth progress and finished in just over 4 years, and immediately got the job offer from NUS, with a salary just somewhat less than his pay as a senior official in Suzhou. But keeping this ricebowl is no easy task either. Evaluation for tenure has to be done within six years, and those who do not pass must leave. However, if the situation gets really dire, he could always ask Halimah for help, to get her father to give him a job.

His divorce from Halimah was amicable. Neither side had an affair. It was simply that more and more he felt out of place within the Malay family. Even his mother in law, who never approved of him, did not judge him harshly, merely saying "after going to Suzhou, he forgot all the Malay he used to know", the Malay he learned from neighbour children when he was young. After 911 the situation deteriorated further. Halimah was out almost every time he phoned, doing something related to the mosque or community or school, though from time to time he found information about her in the papers or on the web.

When he left Suzhou, Xiaoran took him to dinner and asked him "Dont you feel it is such a pity? Among the Singapore officials I have met, I feel you understand us best; often, you know what I mean without my saying it"

Sure he had a clearer mind than others, but that may not be such a good thing; thinking clearly, you are more likely to disagree with what your superiors want you to do, and less able to fudge some record of success for others to see.

Sure, their first meet was over the construction contract, and on that item, she obviously hoped he would let it go to reduce pressure on her company; because he did not point out the issue to the head office, they did not ask for a change.

He met Xiaoran a few times after that enounter, and discovered that she was the daughter of the company owner, the largest construction company in Shanghai. Mr Chen was only her employee, dealing with routine matters. Whenever a problem arose, she herself came to settle it. Her father happened also to be a professor in Tongji Unversity, who got his opportunity when Shanghai first opened up. Some NUS professors went into business, but no one had success on that scale.

Xiaoran had a good impression of him, but it was nothing close to love; not even sure it was at the level of friendship. A girl like this would have a queue of highly eligible admirers. There was no chance for a divorced, over 30, poor PhD student.

2.
Someone knocked on his door, and a girl came in. Looks like from China; must be one of the MOE scholarship holders, one out of several hundred each year.

"Sir, I would like to find a student called Zhang Xiaotiao; where would she be having class?"

"Which year is she in?"

"She came in 2004, now in year 4"

"Year 4 students can choose their own courses; they are hard to find; what do you want to find her for?"

"I am her reader; would like her to autograph this book for me"

He looked at the book; it had a black cover, with a girl's face below and a flower above, but the flower looks like an axe chopping down on the girl's head, while the girl's mouth was painted very red so it looked like bleeding; weird post modern stuff.

"Are you a student here?"

"No I am here for two weeks on a training programme; since I know she's here, I want to use the chance to contact her"

He entered zhangxt into the department's search software, and immediately a webpage came up, showing the covers of several books, each having the girl's photo plus a somewhat scary scene.

"Right right; all these were written by her. These photos are all she"

An authoress in Year 4, about 22 years old. Today's girls are weird, writing stuff like this, and so much of it, and a star-chasing fan from so far away. Do I send her to enquire at the office? They definitely would not give out student information to a stranger, so why waste her time. I could get the information, but I cant give it out just like that.

"I tell you what. leave the book here with your phone number; I will find her to sign it and you can come back to get it"

3.
Phoned a couple of times with no answer. Maybe at a class and didnt take the phone with her.

Incomprehensible; so much time to do writing while studying our courses; who says we have a heavy workload?

Since she's on a scholarship, she will have to work here for six years. wont have so much time to write books.

That girl's eyes look like Xiaoran's.

Not the same; Xiaoran's eyes, even when she's pleading, had confidence behind it; that girl's eyes are full of melancholy

Just putting on expression for the photo shoot

He looked at the book: two eyes above a mouth so red as if it is bleeding; a flower above chopping down like an axe...

He looked at his thesis again, but could not understand what his own writing said

A web search of Zhang Xiaotiao returned several thousand hits: The Maiden Authoress; Most talented of the post 80s generation; Expressing the depression of the youth; Amalgamation of east and west; interview on sina.com; book autographing sessions in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao...

This is madness. Why did she come here? Four years of computer science degree; six years of work, constant overtime to finish products for delivery; to install new software, to patch up system...

I guess it is common in Asian countries; not enough opportunities in humanities so students come to science and technology

….

Phoned again the next day and some other girl took the call "She is still asleep; I will tell her when she gets up"

Still asleep? Waiting for the prince to come and kiss her before getting up?

Wonder if Xiaoran has married her prince on white horse

4.
Zhang Xiaotiao came after noon; now he could get back to that star-chasing fan.

Doesnt look like our student at all; even in Business and Law Faculties, few students would be dressed like that.

But she looks pallid, not just because of a late night, too much stress

Eyes a bit like Xiaoran, but no expression, not even melancholy; it is as if the axe-flower on the book cover had already fallen one her..fallen. fallen...

When she put down the signed book and turned to leave, he could not help opening his mouth

"Miss Zhang: if later you need help about something, you could come to me"

She went out; no sure whether she heard, but never mind; not sure I can help myself right now

He turned towards the computer, again to see if the thesis has parts that could be published.

Part 3
1
Li Dachang was reading his student's research report; still quite green, but there are some promising bits.

Back from Berkeley for almost a year already, and his progress at work was not too bad. A nearly 40 year old man could not keep up with the younger guys, not just because of lower energy level, but also becauses differences in thinking processes. When he first returned to Berkeley, his old professors poured out a pile of grievances "Most of the work being done by the younger generation is just rubbish" Research, like clothes design, has fashions, and the old man did not like it.

10 years earlier, his professor urged him not to return to Singapore and stay on for PhD instead "Your government grabs so many good students to work for it, what a waste of talent; here only dummies work for the government" "this bond system; here only criminals have bond" He just understood so little about our system. By returning to work with him before his retirement, and doing quite well, Dachang made the old man very happy.

2.
Some one was knocking. It turned out to be Zhang Xiaotiao, this time dressed like a student, but still not quite the same, say her ring is a bit oversize, and the stone on it appears to be amethest, not glass.

"Miss Zhang; it's been a long time; do sit down"

Havnt seen her for half a year; maybe she had been rushing; her face was slightly flushed, not pale like last time, and her eyes were brighter

"Professor Li, last time you said I could come to you for help.."

"Sure; got problem with your studies?"

"No; my grades are not so good, but I am OK with just a plain pass; I want to ask you about what to do afterwards"

"If you need referees for job applications, this is just a formality; you can just write any name"

"Also not what I came for. I saw that you translated some poems of Li Shangyin, I would like to ask you to help translate my writing"

3.
He studied some Tang poetry in high school, because of examination requirements, not getting much of an impression in consequence. In Suzhou he went to bookshops occasionally, glanced at poem collections, and once saw

相见时难别亦难，东风无力百花残。
春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干。

春心莫共花争发，一寸相思一寸灰

which turned his thoughts towards Xiaoran, and the Halimah he used to know, but it was only futile thought.

In Berkeley work was heavy, but there were still times of idleness. Being several years older than other students, social gatherings were not much fun. Further, all those ABCs, whenever they hear he's singaporean, would say "Your country is so authoritarian; there is no democracy" "you get wacked on the bottom for doing something wrong; so backward".

He did not think about re-marrying - the shadows of Halimah and Xiaoran laid heavily on his heart, and when he did meet some girl from mainland china, taiwan, hongkong, malaysia, even singapore, once they heard he planned to go home afterwards, and had a divorced wife and two children, would pay little more attention to him.

Once he thought about Li Shangyin's poems, so found a volume to read; they seem to provide him with some sympathy. Then he also read some commentary, about how deep the meanings were and how near impossible it was to translate them, which rather provoked him into trying to meet the challenge:

It is hard to meet; it is hard to part
The east wind is weak, the flowers die
With the spring silkworm's death, threads end
When candlesticks turn to ashes, teardrops dry

Let not the spring heart bloom with flowers
For every inch of love, every inch of dust

which seemed not bad at all. So he put some of these on his webpage with a few introductory words, then forgot about it

Now that he had been reminded, he glanced at Zhang Xiaotiao's book, and found its elegant use of words a little along the style of Li Shangyin.

4.
"Translate? You are publishing an English version? Is there a market?"

"I am doing a website to introduce the New Chinese Literature to the overseas audience, and will use my own material first, but after 4 years here I have not learnt to write good English. I hope you can help me. I cannot pay translation fees right now but hope I can do it in the future"

"Dont you need to find a job? And you also write books; you still have so much time?"

"The computer jobs I dont want to do, and wont be able to; I can earn enough book royalty to support myself. Doing an educational website should satisfy the six year work requirement."

Her eyes are like Xiaoran's, but in the look there is less confidence, and more melancholy.

Last time she came as an author to autograph a book for her reader, a girl dressed up as a worldly woman; today she returns to being a girl, a girl that needs a teacher's support and cultivation.

Whenever he saw Xiaoran, he saw a smart, capable woman, who learnt early about how to use her beauty and sex appeal to help overcome obstacles, but he could feel that deep inside her, there was still a girl, well protected from the start, still waiting for her prince on white horse, something that arouses men's feelings.

There is no prince on white horse in life; like his mother often said, no man could be trusted, and waiting for the prince on white horse could only produce disappointment, but if a girl does not dream of a prince on white horse, she would not be like a girl.

Busy, sure, but not so busy that he could not spare a few hours a week to do something else and have a bit a variety in life.

"Sure; hope the website is a success"

He thought of the book cover; a flower above chopping down on the girl's face like an axe, and the girl's mouth red as if bleeding. Today I pluck the flower and stem the bleeding, but I do not know what axe will be flung at the girl tomorrow.

Zhang Xiaotiao took out a manuscript from her pack "Could you start with this one?" Opening it he read the title "Revelations, by St John of Singapore"...

He spent the next few days reading it; besides the main observations on Chinese and Jewish mythology, there were also some humorous parts:

Conversation With a Living Buddha
In the interest of press balance, after our interview with the atheist Marx, we talked to one of the well known religious leaders of our time, Mr Li of Fa Lun Gong.
We: let's start with your main thesis, that we can improve our life by breathing exercises.
He: that's obvious; if you stop breathing, you die; if you can breath forever, you live forever; bad breathing gives bad life; good breathing good life.
We: is that why breathing can save us from the end of the world?

He: sure; if the world ends, we all stop breathing; but if breathing continues, then the world has not ended.
We: since the world will end, do you plan to give away all your money?
He: no, but people have been giving money to me.
We: why would a living buddha need money?
He: you can promote many good causes with money.
We: such as?
He: I have started Wan Lo Gong, to help beautiful women of the world find husbands; we guarantee success.
We: now that's impressive; can I join?
He: sorry; members must be below 29 years in age, height between 5'2" and 5'6", and pass a good looks and nice personality test; I dont think you qualify...
We: I also heard about Shou Xing Gong; is that another one of your societies?
He: oh yes; join and you'll live forever.
We: what do members have to do to achieve this, besides breathing forever?
He: eat forever; we have different branches like Tom Yum Gong, Mi Tian Gong and Mo Yum Gong...
We: but Mi Tian Gong? that means in Mandarin... (throws up on the Living Buddha, which brings the interview to an end)

Hairy Potter and the Golden Chamberpot
Once upon a time there was a boy with long hair who learned to do pottery; people called him Hairy Potter. He was most proficient in making and repairing chamberpots.
As you know, chamberpots are used to hold urine, and urine contains salt and is corrosive. If you use base metals like copper or iron, the pots would soon rust and develop holes. This is why Hairy Potter invented the golden chamberpot: Gold does not rust, and his chamberpots lasted a lifetime. In fact, they can be passed from generation to generation, and were family heirlooms.
Soon, it became fashionable to collect antique chamberpots, and to study how their designs evolved over the centuries since Hairy Potter first invented them. You immediately notice a difference in the shape after a bi-sexual version was developed - previously, chamberpots were only used by women, because the men were able to go out at night and pass urine in the street, and did not require internally deployed chamberpots like women needed. However, after the invention of beer, men often developed an urgent need to pass urine at night, too hurried (and too drunk) to go out to do it. The bisexual version of the chamberpot also reduced road deaths, since men concentrating on the effort of passing in the
street were often knocked down by passing carriages and horse riders.
Not long ago, scientists were able to invent new types of material that are equally corrosion resistent but lighter weight and less expensive than gold. This has made chamberpots, whether unisex or single sex,
accessible to the masses. Even people who can afford golden chamberpots now prefer to buy ceramic or acrylic based products.
Recently, there was a new institute named after Hairy Potter established in Singapore, to study consumer behaviour with chamberpots and related products. It shows the vital place chamberpots hold in modern society.

The Legacy of Dracula
Traditions are valuable. Wisdoms of the past generations come down in order to provide guidance to later lives.
Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula as he is later known, was a Transylvanian nobleman. He loved to have blood in his diet, especially the blood of young maidens. Every night of his life, he went around the Central European
countryside, looking for fresh supplies. Frequently, he would jump into other people's houses, in order to bite the necks of the girls whose blood he liked.
Today a Dane called St Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus, carries on this tradition of country roaming and house entering. He too is very fond of the young. However, living in a scientific age, he is more concerned with hygiene. Instead of engaging in close bodily contact and unsupervised blood transfusion,
he only hands out presents and greetings, but the blood-loving tradition of Dracula is preserved in the colour of Santa's suit.
A native of Holland, known as the Flying Dutchman, inherits the romantic spirit of Dracula. He searches around the four seas for his lost love, operating under the notion that salvation will come to him only when he finds love. In addition to his possession of modern shipbuilding and navigation technologies, his
replacement of the concrete entity of "blood" by the more abstract concept of "love", reflects an important advance in human thinking.
However, it was the Chinese who developed Dracula's world view in the most practical directions. They discovered good ways of preparing blood for gourmet cusine. One first adds salt and vinegar to blood and gives it time to set, after which it may be sliced like soft bean curd and added to a variety of dishes. The famous Szechuan Sour and Chilli Soup, for example, contains blood as an essential ingredient.
Perhaps China should export Sour and Chilli Soup to Romania. It could find a very profitable market there. Hu Jintao would be pleased about the success of economic liberalization.