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Time and place with premier
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Editor's note: Ravi Shankar Narasimhan, executive editor of China Daily's overseas editions, was one of 70-plus foreign experts invited to the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday for a symposium and a Chinese New Year dinner with Premier Li Keqiang and senior State leaders. If you ever wondered how official events in China are run like clockwork, I can offer some insight: It takes a lot of time and plenty of attention to detail. The three buses carrying the 70-odd foreign experts from SAFEA - the easy-sounding acronym for the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs - were scheduled to leave the building at 2:45 pm for the 5 pm symposium with Premier Li Keqiang and other senior State leaders. I thought it was a bit too early but our handlers said it was better safe than... As we crawled through the heavy mid-afternoon Beijing traffic, the abundant caution made sense but even then we arrived a few minutes earlier than scheduled. We would be admitted to the Great Hall of the People only at 4 pm, so we sat in the bus in a side lane. At the appointed time, the gates and doors were thrown open with a flamboyance seen only in places with a sense of grandeur. Security was tight but the checks were efficient and quick. Airport security guards could take a cue from here. There was ample time to locate our designated seats in two grand halls: one for the symposium and the other for the dinner. As we checked out who was sitting where, we noticed that "Isabel Crook" would be seated next to the premier, and a murmur went around: Who's she? A little checking around the ban on phones and tablets meant we had to rely on memory and my recollection of stories published in China Daily for the answer: A 98-year-old Canadian anthropologist who did pioneering work in China, taught at Beijing Foreign Studies University and who has spent about 75 years of her life in China. That's culture, said Volodymyr S. Kovalenko, professor at National Technical University of Ukraine, who has been visiting China for 40 years, admiringly. Wondering if the rest of the world was losing its traditional moorings, he politely inquired about India - my country. I tried to assure him that despite centuries of invasions we have tried to sort of -keep our sense of culture intact. But I had to admit that the sense of reverence that the Chinese and their leaders have for foreigners who have helped their country is unmatched. I offered Kovalenko the example of almost every Chinese leader visiting India making it a point to meet the family of Dwaraknath Kotnis (known in Chinese as Ke Dihua) a doctor whose heroic deeds of saving Chinese soldiers during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) being the stuff of legend in China and known to every student. Li met members of the family in Mumbai last year on his first visit to India as premier. Now that we had cracked the Crook code, I was sharing the story with the energetic Alistair Michie, group business and government adviser of Newland International Communication Group and a consultant to SAFEA, when a buzz went around the room: Please take your seats, the premier is coming. It was a good 15 minutes before the 5 pm start, but we all obediently went back to our seats, and waited, murmuring to neighbors. On the dot at 5 pm, the premier walked in briskly. But there was nothing brusque as he greeted the 20-odd people closest to his seat, held their hand for just that second longer and looked them in the eye ... it made us feel important. It's well known that the premier is fluent in English and that's the language in which he greeted every foreigner. His opening remarks were in Chinese, however. The appreciation of the Chinese government and its people for the foreigners' contributions to the country's development. "We would like you to see China as a second home," he said. It was something some of the guests informally discussed earlier. Not many world leaders, especially those of major economies, even acknowledge the role of foreigners, let alone be so effusive in praise, but Chinese leaders routinely do. And, deserved or not, we felt good. The premier said he came to listen ... and the first to speak was John Thornton, the chairman of the Brookings Institution and legendary figure in the financial world. He made three proposals on how to tackle urbanization. Then Michie spoke on how high-end services would boost the economy. It was finally the turn of Peter Poechmueller, chief technical officer at Shandong Sino-chip Semiconductors, who argued passionately about how the semi-conductor industry in China should be developed. The premier listened closely, made notes and said he wished he could listen to the views of all the foreign experts present but couldn't because of time. It was nearly 6 pm and the guests were gearing up for dinner: There was some talk earlier on what the government's austerity drive would mean for the menu. This is where the clockwork went a little awry. The premier said in his opening remarks that this was the first kind of forum he had attended as premier. He spoke briefly about the Chinese economy's performance last year. The highlights: Economic growth of 7.7 percent, "no easy task" given the huge base of the world's second-largest economy; and 13 million new jobs created the most for several years. He then took most of us by surprise by responding, point by point, to all the suggestions made by the three foreign experts. Thornton and Michie got more than a nod of appreciation and the premier lauded the "dual personality" of Poechmueller, pointing out that the Austrian called himself Shandong Man, and thanked him for putting the considerations of the Chinese semiconductor industry ahead of his cold. He thanked everyone. Suddenly, there was another buzz ... we had to move across the magnificent lobby to the dining hall. After all, the clock was running. I was honored to be sitting at the "main table" and was directly opposite the premier in the 18-seat arrangement. I had a good vantage point. Li was expansive, expressive and ebullient. Animated with Thornton, solicitous with Crook. The dinner courses came with unrelenting time pressure; if you didn't finish in the time set for that course, it would disappear. Chinese tradition soon started. The premier began by toasting his guests but it was also getting late. Everyone wanted (it appeared) to tell him their life story and he listened attentively. His aides were getting jittery; it was taking too long. But the premier didn't seem to mind. Soon he was approaching me, halfway down his table. I got strong hints that I should just clink glasses but when it came to my turn, I couldn't resist. Without getting into details, let's say I took up a good 30 seconds. The premier then went around toasting all the guests. I could see he hadn't eaten much, and the whole program ended at exactly 7 pm. Just like clockwork. |
1月21日,國(guó)務(wù)院總理李克強(qiáng)在北京人民大會(huì)堂同在華部分外國(guó)專家親切座談。包括中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)海外版執(zhí)行主編拉維(Ravi Shankar Narasimhan)在內(nèi)的70多位外國(guó)專家受邀參加。23日,拉維發(fā)表回憶文章,盛贊李克強(qiáng)總理對(duì)外國(guó)專家的重視。以下為文章摘要: 如果你想了解中國(guó)的官方活動(dòng)是如何有序開(kāi)展的,就來(lái)看看我這次參加座談會(huì)的一些經(jīng)歷吧。 下午2點(diǎn)45分,70多位外國(guó)專家從外國(guó)專家局搭乘三輛大巴車出發(fā),前去參加定于下午5點(diǎn)舉行的由國(guó)務(wù)院總理李克強(qiáng)主持的座談會(huì)。國(guó)務(wù)院副總理馬凱,國(guó)務(wù)委員楊晶、楊潔篪出席座談會(huì)。 北京下午的交通很是擁堵,需要格外注意,但我們還是比預(yù)訂時(shí)間提前抵達(dá)。在指定的時(shí)間,各門(mén)瞬間開(kāi)啟,富麗堂皇的景象映入眼簾。 安全保衛(wèi)嚴(yán)格,但檢查迅速有效。機(jī)場(chǎng)安保人員可以從中得到一點(diǎn)啟示。 我們有充足的時(shí)間在兩座壯麗的報(bào)告廳和宴會(huì)廳找到各自坐席。就坐后,我們發(fā)現(xiàn)“伊莎貝爾?克魯克”將坐在總理旁邊。一陣低語(yǔ)頓時(shí)傳來(lái)“她是誰(shuí)?” 由于不準(zhǔn)使用電話和筆記本電腦,我們只好依靠回憶。我回顧發(fā)表在《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》上的文章尋找答案:94歲的加拿大人類學(xué)家,曾執(zhí)教北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué),在中國(guó)度過(guò)了她75年的時(shí)光。 “這是文化”,烏克蘭國(guó)立技術(shù)大學(xué)教授科瓦連科說(shuō)。好像懷疑其他國(guó)家失去了自己的傳統(tǒng),他禮貌地打聽(tīng)其我的祖國(guó)——印度的文化。 我試圖讓他相信,盡管遭遇了幾個(gè)世紀(jì)的入侵,但我們已經(jīng)努力確保文化意識(shí)的完整性。但我不得不承認(rèn),中國(guó)人和他們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人對(duì)幫助過(guò)自己國(guó)家的外國(guó)人的敬畏感是無(wú)與倫比的。 我給科瓦連科舉例說(shuō),幾乎每個(gè)訪問(wèn)印度的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都要去會(huì)見(jiàn)柯棣華家人??麻θA醫(yī)生在1937年到1945年抗日戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間拯救了許許多多中國(guó)士兵的生命,在中國(guó)已經(jīng)成為一個(gè)傳奇,每個(gè)學(xué)生都知道他。李克強(qiáng)總理去年首次以總理身份出訪印度時(shí),就在孟買會(huì)見(jiàn)了柯棣華的家人。 我正跟新洲國(guó)際集團(tuán)(NICG)集團(tuán)企業(yè)和政府顧問(wèn)、國(guó)家外專局(SAFEA)顧問(wèn)阿里斯泰爾?米基講這個(gè)故事,這時(shí)屋內(nèi)有人說(shuō):請(qǐng)入座,總理來(lái)了。 當(dāng)時(shí)是下午4點(diǎn)45分,離正式開(kāi)始還有15分鐘,但是我們?nèi)氐阶簧希却⒑袜徸S意交談。 下午5點(diǎn)整,李克強(qiáng)總理邁著輕快的步子走了進(jìn)來(lái)。當(dāng)他歡迎離自己座位最近的二十幾個(gè)人時(shí),絲毫沒(méi)有簡(jiǎn)慢的態(tài)度,他握著來(lái)賓的手,停頓了一下,凝視著對(duì)方的眼睛,這讓我們有被重視的感覺(jué)。 眾所周知李克強(qiáng)總理能說(shuō)一口流利的英語(yǔ),這也是他歡迎每位外賓用的語(yǔ)言。不過(guò)他的開(kāi)場(chǎng)白是用漢語(yǔ)說(shuō)的。他的開(kāi)場(chǎng)白表達(dá)了中國(guó)政府和人民對(duì)外籍人士對(duì)中國(guó)發(fā)展所做貢獻(xiàn)的感激。他說(shuō):“我們希望你們能把中國(guó)當(dāng)作第二個(gè)故鄉(xiāng)?!?/p> 對(duì)此一些外賓早前曾私下討論過(guò)。沒(méi)有幾個(gè)世界領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人,特別是經(jīng)濟(jì)大國(guó)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人會(huì)承認(rèn)外國(guó)人的貢獻(xiàn),更不用說(shuō)如此熱情洋溢的贊美,但中國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人卻總是如此。不管這是不是我們應(yīng)得的,卻讓我們感覺(jué)良好。 李克強(qiáng)總理說(shuō)他是來(lái)聽(tīng)講的。第一個(gè)發(fā)言的人是約翰?桑頓(John Thornton),金融界的傳奇人物,布魯金斯學(xué)會(huì)的主席。他對(duì)于如何解決城鎮(zhèn)化進(jìn)程中的問(wèn)題提出了三個(gè)建議。 隨后米奇就高端服務(wù)行業(yè)如何促進(jìn)經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展發(fā)了言。 終于輪到山東華芯半導(dǎo)體公司首席技術(shù)官濮必得(Peter Poechmueller),他熱情地闡述了中國(guó)半導(dǎo)體產(chǎn)業(yè)應(yīng)該如何發(fā)展。 總理聽(tīng)得很認(rèn)真,做了筆記,說(shuō)他想聽(tīng)到所有在座專家的意見(jiàn),不過(guò)時(shí)間不允許。 快到6點(diǎn)了,客人們準(zhǔn)備用晚餐。之前有人聊過(guò),政府的節(jié)儉之風(fēng)對(duì)菜單會(huì)意味著什么。 總理開(kāi)場(chǎng)就說(shuō),這是他第一次作為總理參加類似論壇。他簡(jiǎn)單講述了中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)過(guò)去一年的表現(xiàn)。重點(diǎn)包括:7.7%的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)率,世界第二大經(jīng)濟(jì)體的“重任”,以及多年來(lái)最高的1300萬(wàn)個(gè)新增就業(yè)崗位。令人意想不到的是,他隨后逐個(gè)回答了3位外國(guó)專家所提出的建議。 總理盛贊桑頓和米基,還夸獎(jiǎng)普赫穆勒的“雙重身份”,指出這位奧地利國(guó)民自稱“山東人”,并感謝他不顧感冒,優(yōu)先考慮中國(guó)的半導(dǎo)體產(chǎn)業(yè)。 隨后,他向所有人致謝。 我有幸被安排在能坐18個(gè)人的“主桌”,正對(duì)李克強(qiáng)總理,占據(jù)了有利位置。 李克強(qiáng)總理很健談,富于表現(xiàn)力且熱情洋溢。與桑頓和克魯克聊得很愉快。 晚宴的安排非常緊湊,李總理開(kāi)始敬酒,但這也已經(jīng)很晚了。每個(gè)人似乎都想要告訴他自己的經(jīng)歷,李總理認(rèn)真傾聽(tīng)。 不久,他繞過(guò)半張桌子,來(lái)到我這里。我忍不住多攀談了一會(huì)兒。 不說(shuō)細(xì)節(jié),我好好利用了那30秒。然后,李總理接著向客人們敬酒。 我看得出,他還沒(méi)有吃多少,整個(gè)過(guò)程在下午7點(diǎn)整結(jié)束。 (來(lái)源:中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)愛(ài)新聞iNews 編輯:丹妮) |
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