internet that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and industry opened a branch in Europe, specifically in Berlin. The chapter will represent all Chinese companies in Germany. The president of this new Chamber of Commerce is none other than the general manager of the Chinese ICBC, the world largest bank. As I am still scribbling through an article about the Ukraine conflict on the Crimea peninsular, Hong suddenly stumbles into the room with an angry expression on her face.
"The most dangerous people are the ones closest to you. The people who know you well can hide you those who are far away can't hurt you!". She grumbles.
"What is going on here?" I ask myself, terribly shocked by her comments. She continues:
"I have just learned of the non-payment of all the translation work I did for the firm, which could mean working for free. I trusted a friend who introduced me to this job" She cries with tears in her eyes. "I certainly need a new job; the few thousands RMB from Suzhou university is not enough. I can't work full-time because then I will lose entitlement for my pension".
I explain to her that she has the right to work and live wherever she wants, Afterall her parents are not yet too old to need personal care. Staring into my eyes with sadness, she says:
"As long as my mother is still alive, I can't do that. My mother determines everything in the family. As a child, I must obey. I am afraid, Franz, that is the unwritten Chinese family traditional law. If I leave without my parents' consent, my mother will disinherit me.
If I don't give her at least one grandchild, she will still threaten me with the same thing. So, there is no way I can do that. I think about it all the time".
I ask myself whether she is trying to fool me. Or perhaps she wants to taste her mother's ability to follow the Chinese unwritten traditional laws! If she were a German woman, the story would have been different. Hong grew up in a caring and happy family. She attended primary education in the middle-class school, the Chinese Chou-Zhong, went through the Gao-Zhong high school and passed the toughest final exams called Gao Kao. She automatically qualified to join the university to study law. Hong's thirst for reading forced her to undertake a course in interpretation studies in Geneva, Switzerland, specializing in English, Chinese and German languages. As a student, she also made money working at Starbucks.
Her parents had booked a place for her to train as a teacher at the vocational college in Suzhou. However, she never pursued the course because she did not meet the required qualifications for teaching.
After completing and passing the Chinese Bar Licence exams, Hong worked as an intern at a law firm in Shanghai. After that, she decided to work as a free-lance at a law firm in Suzhou. I am proud of her resilience and determination, but sometimes she lacks concentration on one particular thing. She keeps on jumping from one thing to another, just exactly like her mother, Wu Melian.
Although Hong sometimes gets on my nerves, I know she is a woman who always wants to be herself. On many occasions, she is unaware of how much pressure she puts on people. She is too controlling. She knows how to manipulate people and get away with it, in a way it prevents her from living a happy life. But on the other hand, if she were to bury all these qualities, and try to be what she is not, she would no longer be the woman I love.
I have gone to Everbright Bank to extend my fixed-term deposit for a few months. The financial advisor has informed me that despite that day's maturity, money is not yet available until tomorrow. I am confused. I do not understand because the bank is offering reasonable interest rates. The advantage of longer maturities is to benefit from lucrative interest rates. The disadvantages would also be there if you needed money urgently. From experience, these investments do not allow early access. When I compare the terms of other banks, my offer is not the best. I still have the chance to withdraw money tomorrow and invest it more profitably elsewhere.
In future I will have to think about it first, to avoid disappointment.
At Shanghai Hilton hotel, I have an appointment with a Hong Kong-based businessman; We met on LinkedIn. I have welcomed him, introduce myself and tell him about my automotive background and knowledge of the products he markets. After a lengthy discussion and questions between us, I have realized that Mr Chong is not so knowledgeable about the technicalities of the business.
However, we have gone ahead and negotiated. He is hopeful that with my help, the automotive branch of his company, will thrive and expand.
After agreeing on my commission, he invites us to dinner, but I get a setback when Hong says that she is not hungry; she wants to go home. I am surprised and confused at the same time, because usually, she is hungrier than me, and I know when she is. I hold back on to the offer and agree with Mr Chong to meet in Hong Kong. I call a cab to take us for a ride to Laowai Jie 101, a street known for international cuisine, in the Hongmei Lu street district.
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