by Earl Nelson
She was very curious about the new Empress and had many questions about her, which I couldn’t answer. That gave me food for thought. What were the Empress's real plans for China and where did I fit in?
Right now, I looked like a court favorite, but like any other royal court, one could fall from grace quickly.
Our deplaning in Hong Kong was different than any I had experienced before. You would have thought I was royalty from the reception I was given.
There were a red carpet and all the Hong Kong high officials waiting for me. This included the Governor. I rode in his limousine on the way to the Peninsula Hotel.
I asked him why all the hoopla.
“Your Grace, may I call you Richard?”
“Rick would be better.”
“Thank you, Rick. The British population isn’t that impressed. It is the Chinese here who love and respect you. I have to put on this show, or I would lose their support.”
“Why do they love me?”
“It is well known that you are Empress Ping’s and China’s benefactor. You have created a stir in the sporting world, and even though golf isn’t well known in China it has got their attention. Young men now carry a golf club instead of a cane. You will see thousands of T-Shirts with your picture on them.”
“Your movies are being shown in China for the first time. Newsreels of you bull riding are shown in every theater. You are the man of the moment here and on the mainland.”
“I hope this doesn’t cause me a problem with the Empress.”
“It won’t at least right now. If your popularity continues to rise and she thinks you are a threat to her throne all bets are off.”
Talk about cold water being thrown in your face! Me a threat to the Chinese throne. Being thrown into a water trough suddenly sounded better.
I changed the subject.
“I am thinking of buying a suite at the Peninsula Hotel, what do you think of that?”
“Don’t. Security would become a problem for you and the hotel. Buy a compound at Clearwater Bay. It is a beautiful area, not fully developed yet, but close to the Clearwater Country Club which would be delighted to have you as a member. It is only a half-hour drive to the city.”
“I will have someone start to look for a place.”
“I have taken the liberty of having a shortlist of compounds for you to look at.”
“Exactly what are you talking about when you say compound.”
“In Hong Kong, a compound is a walled-in area with a gatehouse, and with a large mansion as the main living quarters and outbuildings for the staff and extras such as a stable.”
“Oh, very much like Jackson House in California.”
“Yes, I have seen pictures of Jackson House in the newspaper.”
“In the newspaper?”
“Right now, the public wants to know everything that they can about you. The only thing that hasn’t impressed them is your singing.”
“A discerning public then.”
“No, a total lack of appreciation and understanding of western music. I find your songs delightful.”
Who knew? Time to change the subject.
“What do you think of Dr. Deming?”
“The man is brilliant. He gave a short talk and demonstration of his ideas. I think he will be a great help to us.”
I was due to meet him in three days. This would give me time to recover from the time change.
At the hotel, I was hustled through the lobby which was lined with Hong Kong police to hold the crowd back. One thing the Governor was right about was seeing people wearing a T-shirt with my pictures on it, labeled the Duke of Hong Kong.
That was only plain weird.
Tu and Harold were riding in the car behind us, so my clothes and interpreter were at hand. At Tu’s suggestion, I wasn’t to let people know that I had a rudimentary understanding of Mandarin. It would be better if the first words out were fluent. It would give me a great face.
Plus, if I made errors, I could lose face. I still wasn’t comfortable with the concept of face but had to play the game.
The next morning a car from the Embassy took Harold, Tu, and me around the island to look at the compounds they thought would be appropriate.
The one I chose, and the others agreed with me, was the hands-down choice. It was on top of the tallest hill overlooking Clearwater Bay. It looked down on the country club.
It consisted of fifty acres with a seven-acre compound in its center. The main compound had a ten-foot wall with the main gate at the front and a back gate letting out to a backroad down the mountain.
The main house was a forty-room mansion with ten-bedroom suites, plus another ten bedrooms. All had bath included.
It had a familiar feel to it. It reminded me of Jackson House. I asked about the history of the house.
It was built in the 1920s by an American railroad heir by the name of Jason Talmadge.
I didn’t let on, but I decided to buy the place then and there. Who knew what secrets it could hide?
The last owner a rich Chinese, had the facilities updated and the whole place painted, and then promptly lost his fortune on the gambling tables of Macau.
After the tour, I asked how much the asking price was. It was four hundred thousand dollars. I thought that a bargain, but the aide apologized. He knew the bank had that much in it, but they would be glad to break even.
I told him I would like to make an offer.
Instead of going direct to the hotel, we stopped at the bank which owned the mansion. I offered their asking price which made the deal easy.
That is how Jackson House Hong Kong came into my possession. I called Mum and Dad later and asked Mum if she would like to oversee the furnishing of my new house.
She suggested that I needed a local person for that job and that I was to explore that place very carefully.
Chapter 12
While I was anxious to explore the new house, I had other duties that came first.
In town, I met with Dr. Deming.
“Doctor Deming how was your visit to the various plants. Can you help them?”
“Not by myself. They lack profound knowledge and resources.’
“What knowledge and how can it be provided?”
“They do not have any understanding of statistical principles so they cannot tell the difference between a process that needs to be repaired or adjusted and one that can only do better by being improved.”
“Can you impart that knowledge?”
“To only a few, there are too many for me to instruct.”
“Are there any additional instructors available?”
“I don’t know any that know statistics and can teach it in Mandarin. They would have to be bilingual so that I could talk with them.”
“I will see if there are any students in China at one of their universities that meet these criteria.”
“That would work if they have enough. I would like to have fifteen or twenty of them.”
“I will see what I can do. Now you mentioned resources. What do they need?’
“They need to modernize their machines; I even saw one factory that was belt driven with no safety guards on the belts. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.”
“I bet. I could set up a series of long-term low-interest loans at the Bank of Hong Kong. I would guarantee them so the bank should be willing. Do you think fifty million dollars would do it?”
“I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that you have this wealth at your disposal. Fifty million in guarantees could result in half a billion in loans. That would be more than enough.”
“Rick if I were you, I would negotiate with the bank about a share of the total interest rate. As you stated it, you would stand behind any losses, you should share in the overall profit from all the loans.”
“I like that thought, I will tell my people to work on that. If you excuse me, I will make a phone call to Beijing to see what I can do about student instructors.”
; “Go right ahead, I need to call a friend, Joe Juran, about an idea I have just had.”
We both made our calls and set things in motion. It turns out there are some reputable Chinese schools that might be able to help us.
Zhejiang University, Peking University, Shanxi University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Tongji University, and Tsinghua University all had possible candidates.
Empress Ping's education advisor would canvas them and have likely candidates from Beijing for Dr. Deming to interview. The advisor was interested in what we were doing and would consider Hong Kong as a test case for doing the same in China.
When I met back with the good Doctor, he had some news of his own.
“There is a group in America, The America Society for Quality Control. They have been trying to develop a course to certify Quality Engineers. Due to infighting among some of their officers who are consultants as to which one of them will get to run the program nothing has happened.”
Deming continued, “Joe has access to their body of knowledge and textbooks. We could use it as the foundation of my course and institute a program of certified trainers. As the concept grows, we could add trainers at need.”
I built on that thought.
“If it works, I bet that some of the Universities would include it in their curriculum.”
He replied. “Whichever country does that will lead the world economically.”
Now I will call my new headquarters in Beijing and have them start the negotiations with the Bank of Hong Kong. Can I impose on you to write this up to present to the Governor?”
“I will be glad to. Tell me, why didn’t you call any American Universities. They have many Chinese students attending.”
“Politics, the Kennedys would not appreciate me upgrading a competitor's capabilities.”
“Doesn’t it bother you to help another country?”
“If it were us or them, yes it would, As I see it, I’m helping people. What about you?”
“Much simpler, American companies haven’t woken up those things are changing. I have to earn a living, so I follow the money.”
“Aren’t we all.”
From there I went on to my next appointment, it is why I asked Dr. Deming to write the report. I had to check out the Clearwater Bay golf course.
I live a hard life.
The golf course was nice, nothing compared to the tournament courses I had just played but a nice course to relax on.
I had my tee time reserved under another name, Ed Bowsher. This was to avoid a lot of commotion.
That lasted until I walked into the Pro shop. At 6 foot five inches and having your face on lord knows how many T-shirts, I never had a chance.
What got me was the other three players in my foursome immediately put their place up for bid.
This didn’t sit well with me so I told the pro I would come back some other time. There were screams of outrage. Not from the original players in the foursome, they had their money and left.
Now I was in an ethical quandary.
I decided I would play but told the others there would be no pictures of us together. I had not been asked if I would do this and they had lost face by trying to buy time with me.
The fact that I told them this in Mandarin took them aback. Two of them bowed and picked up their bags and left. I returned their bows with respect.
The other defiantly teed up a golf ball without even tossing a tee to see who would go first. He hit a straight long ball. I hit one further, much further. I made it to the apron of the first hole.
From there on I was on a holy tear. The course record had been 64. I carded a 62. My course provided caddie had given me good advice on every hole.
The other player and I never exchanged a word. In the end, when he signed his card and handed it to me to sign, I tore mine up and walked away. I know I was acting like a jerk but his arrogance in thinking he could buy his way with me left me angry.
My caddie chased me down and asked why I hadn’t turned in my card with a new course record. I told him why, and then said, besides, I can come back and do it again tomorrow. Now, who is arrogant?
From a good start on the day to a bad finish, at least a stressful finish was more than I wanted. I was driving my Bentley so was able to go where I wanted. I ended up having dinner at a little fishing shack-type restaurant down on the docks.
I know I was recognized but no one approached me. What a refreshing change. This being public always was tiring.
The next day I had a meeting with the Hong Kong Governor. He had talked to Dr. Deming about the report and liked what was proposed. He went even further and told me that if a business were successful the government would pay off their loan after five years.
This would cut into my potential profits but would benefit the businesses, so I had no complaint.
The North Vietnamese had sent an Emissary to Hong Kong to talk to me. There was no advance notice, he walked up to the front door of the government house and asked for me.
This happened while I was with the governor, so I was told that the emissary was asking for me. The Governor and I exchanged puzzled looks. Things were just not done this way!
The Governor excuses himself from his own office so we could talk in private.
“Your Grace, thank you for seeing me. I know this is not normal, but we didn’t want anyone to know of this meeting. I have come directly from our leaders in Hanoi, nothing is in writing or been talked about on radio or telephone.”
“We do not want the Soviets to know of this conversation. They want us to go to war with the South, in an attempt to bring the United States into the fray. This would leave China in a bad position as they would have to support the North, leading to problems with the US.”
“We were prepared to do this, but events have overtaken us. China has changed their type of government and you have brought South Vietnam together and are turning their army into a real army.”
“We could not win such a conflict even with direct Soviet support, which they would not give. Since we will not attack the South, the Soviets have cut off our aid. As such we cannot repay you for the modernization of our port. Is there any way you can help us?”
“There is, but there will be a price.”
Chapter 13
The Emissary asked. “What will that price be?”
“I need to talk to several people to make sure it is a reasonable price. I am planning on going to South Vietnam next week, if it is alright, I will stop in Hanoi and talk to your leaders.”
“It must be soon as the Soviets are pressuring us.”
“It will be and tell your leaders we will come to a deal to keep the port operations going, I just don’t know what that deal is yet. I will charter a plane for the trip, and not even tell the pilots we are stopping in Hanoi until we are almost there. Please make certain your air force doesn’t shoot us down.”
“There is little danger of that, our air force is a disaster. However, our missile defenses are strong.”
The Emissary left and the Governor asked if I could share what that was all about. I told him.
“What is the price you will be asking?”
“I have absolutely no idea, I will be asking the Empress, the Queen, and the US President for their thoughts.”
“The sooner you ask the better because they will have to run it by their advisors. You really should be asking the Prime Minister rather than the Queen.”
“Yes, I should, shouldn’t I.”
I left it at that.
I was loaned an office in a secure area of the building to make my phone calls. I made them in the order I had given the Governor. I told the Empress's chief of staff my question and who else I would be asking. Next were two other calls of a similar nature.
The next day I had my answers, amazingly they were all the same, normalized relations between North and South Vietnam, have them open to trade with each other. It was thought if they did that the Vietnams would eventually re
unite and lessen the chances of war in Indochina.
I also made a phone call to the pro shop at the Clearwater Bay golf club. I spoke to the pro, I asked if he knew the two men who had won the bid to play with me but bowed out when they realized I hadn’t agreed to it. He did, they played on the days that the public was allowed in. I asked him to see if they could join me in a round as my guests tomorrow.
He told me he would check with them. I did it for two reasons. One, they had been gentlemen in a bad situation. Two, it was another poke in the eye to that jerk who insisted on playing. Someday I will grow up, but not just yet.
That evening I called Nina back in the states. She was starting school at Stanford in a week and was extremely excited about it. We must have talked for an hour. We concentrated on the risks of long-distance relationships. We had both seen firsthand some of the dangers. It wasn’t going to happen again.
Our biggest concern was that we would grow apart as we traveled in different circles. We had no ready answer, just an awareness of the potential problems.
Next, I called my parents. They were both at home, so I got to speak to both on their speakerphone. I updated them on my international events and what Dr. Deming, and I were attempting in Hong Kong.
They thought it was a bold program. Dad asked me what products we were concentrating on. I told him that we hadn’t talked about that.
He suggested that we review what they did make in Hong Kong compared to what was manufactured in the US. To pay special attention to US products which didn’t have the best reputation.
It wasn’t late here in Hong Kong, so I spent several hours with Tu discussing the day's events reported in the Chinese newspapers. She told me she was pleased with my progress. I could now hold a conversation with a Chinese fifth grader. Shot down in flames!
The next day I brought that up in a telephone conversation with Dr. Deming. He told me the Hong Kongese were discussing that very issue. They felt that consumer items like radios and televisions were a good target. The US market for the new color TVs was huge and the quality of the current TVs wasn’t that great.
They already had a small presence in that market, so they were considering putting huge efforts there. I told him that was way beyond the scope of my knowledge and would trust him and the Hong Kong manufacturers to make wise decisions.