First Step
“President, don’t you wonder why the wealthiest men in China has invited you to dinner? Surely they plan to blackmail or even coerce you into action!” The exasperated secretary flailed his hands and arms expressing his agitation for his safety. It was a good thing, to have trustworthy and loyal men serving him. In fact, he was worried as well about the dinner invite, but then again, it had been made public. If he had died from a mysterious accident or disease after it, blame would fall on them.
The truth was, despite any misgivings, he trusted those men. The fact that those men were all in all mostly from Guangdong province didn’t make anything worse. In fact, in his youth he had known those same men. He had after all, gained the respect of Guangdong’s wealthy young intellectual class in his assassination attempt on 2nd Prince Chun. In fact, that had been a mistake really. After Sun Yat Sen had unified China, he had been able to meet the 2nd Prince Chun, a friendly and well informed man, his loyalty to China of course only improved his standing. He had after all refused to participate in Japanese puppet governments.
The fact that he was one of the people there reassured him. There were many things those businessmen would do for profit. Betraying China out to a foreign power, and assassinating the leader of China however were not among them. Yes, they were unhappy, but he was confident that they could be persuaded to see his view of things. Of course, a little voice kept on saying his luck was going to run out soon. He had been lucky true, he had played quite a large role side by side with Sun Yat-Sen and was still alive. And in power, that was surprising. Chiang Kai-Shek was gone after all, now in exile in India. Sun Yat-Sen had died. He was here, and would do his best.
After all, he was Wang Jingwei, President of China and none could doubt his loyalty.
Pressing Engagement
He arrived at the restaurant with his bodyguards and was greeted by a polite silence followed by a gaggle of people coming to talk to him and give pleasantries. He managed to excuse himself shortly though and proceeded to the private dining room. Outside the room itself, a large number of bodyguards and the like guarded the room and respectfully nodded their head in his direction. He pulled open the door and entered the room.
In his youth he would have been awestruck by the wealth and influence the men in the room possessed. But now, after nearly two decades in positions of influence and power he was hardly surprised. He was even less surprised at the wealth and luxury the dining room itself displayed. A huge crystal chandelier dominated the ceiling while thick rugs covered the ground though here and there he could see the marble floor. This was the life of China’s elite, wealthy beyond the imagination of simple farmers and peasants.
He knew most of those men by name with just a glance. Only the wealthiest and influential of people in China were present with a few exceptions. A few notable figures were absent dealing with business and some of the guests actually lived in foreign countries. All of them were smiling, whether those smiles were genuine or not had not yet been seen. It would be safer to assume the latter then the former. And the presence of Chinese native to other countries surprised him. Better to play it safe for now and feign ignorance.
Pleasantries were exchanged and compliments passed around. That was the bread and water of politics, feigning friendship in appearances. He took his seat shortly and as if it was a signal, the food began entering on the back of many, many waiters. Bringing everything from pigs, ducks to shark fin soup it was an impressive display of opulence and wealth.
It would be a long dinner and he suspected that he would gain quite a few pounds after this meal, quite a few pounds indeed…
A Modest Proposal
The meal had come to a conclusive end and the guests adjourned to an adjacent room for refreshment such as desert and wine. So far the talk had concentrated on the surprising turn of events in Europe and the strange economics of Europe. The talk concerning how the Jewish people in Germany while numbering less then 1% of the population controlled more then 40% of the wealth was food for thought indeed. Never in China’s history had such a small minority controlled such great deal of wealth, not even the Mongols or Manchus had control of so much wealth.
After adjourning to the room for refreshments, there was a certain tension in the air which he perceived was hesitation in broaching the subject which was the true reason he had been invited here. It was a short tension which he quickly broke. “Why did you invite me to this dinner? I’m sure you didn’t do it out of sheer gratitude to a public official.” The guests laughed at first nervously proceeding to a heartfelt laughter. The tension quickly faded.
Tse-ven Soong, brother in law to Sun Yat Sen as well as Chiang Kai Shek was the first to speak as the laughter faded. “President, surely a man as intelligent as yourself can see why we desired to have a private meeting with you. We are a bit concerned about China’s current economic situation as well as the new ah, regulations involving trade which are quite damaging to Chinese economy. We have assembled a small packet of information of our respective opinions and possible solutions to the problem. We do hope you will of course take our counsel in a serious tone.”
He handed the “small” packet over to him which after a quick inspection proved that it could hardly be considered small in any circumstance. Quickly surveying the men in the room and their facial expressions, some with doubt others with hope, he assessed the situation and gave a short and to the point response. “I thank you and really, I planned to consult with you over this problem. I should also ask if you have any advice on strengthening the Central Government as we have much to discuss…”
A Small Step Forward
The dinner meeting had been an outrageous success. The guests there in their enthusiasm had almost run each other over, figuratively of course, in their attempts to get their own opinion in. Sound, well followed policy of the past of course was what they proposed. When he made his own proposal to the group, there was a small sense of shock before the men slapped their heads and wondered at their own stupidity.
After all, what lasts longer? The mountains or the ocean? From the fires of revolution and civil war, he knew the answer. Knowing what to do, is harder then doing it.
