Chapter 21 State Banquet Disturbance

Because you, Li Wan, are Chinese, because you, Li Wan, were born in Tianjin, Taiwan and went to the United States, and because you, Li Wan, are the first Chinese female mayor in the United States, so you are destined to be a leaf in the political whirlpool on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Turbulent sails. In December 1984, when the Chinese Premier visited the United States for the first time, the White House sent an invitation to her, inviting her and her husband to attend the state banquet hosted by President Reagan for the Chinese Premier.The letter of invitation and the phone call from the White House reached Li Wanruo's office and home three months before the Chinese Premier's visit to the United States.The White House only asked Li Wanruo two questions: one was whether she had time to come to the White House on a certain day of the month, and the other was her security card number.The former is probably to confirm the situation of the participants of the state banquet, and the latter is for the security check when entering the White House.Every American has a security card number, because citizens don't have ID cards, and the security card records all the contents of your personal primary file.

This is a big deal.Since Nixon and Kissinger knocked on the door of China, the Carter administration signed the establishment of diplomatic relations with Beijing, and now it is the first official visit of a Chinese prime minister to the United States under President Reagan. The White House and the entire United States attach great importance to this state affairs.Not a few days after receiving the call from the White House, Li Wanruo officially received the invitation card for the state banquet, on which the names and addresses of Li Wanruo and her husband Chen Baohe were written in calligraphy, all handwritten.The cover of the invitation card features the president's insignia in gold foil, shining brightly.The content of the invitation said that the state banquet was to welcome the Chinese Premier to visit the United States.Li Wanruo immediately informed the White House that she had received the notification and accepted the invitation, and then sent a return card. When the city council and government colleagues learned about the incident, they all came to congratulate Li Wanruo, because this is a very honorable event for the city of Montenegro. .What is it if the president invites the mayor of a city to the White House for a state dinner?When Li Wanruo asked a local senior congressman who had been in politics for more than 20 years about the etiquette of going to the state banquet, he realized that there are very few politicians who can attend the state banquet.For ordinary Americans, it is not particularly difficult to meet the president, especially during the campaign, as long as you donate 5,000 or 10,000 dollars to the headquarters of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, you can get a photo of the meeting with the president.And for politicians, it is not impossible to go to the White House to participate in some social activities. For example, there is a rose garden in the White House, where there are many parties and cocktail parties, especially those where everyone is standing.However, there are very few state banquets. Generally speaking, the president holds a state banquet only when he meets important heads of state, and the number of people attending each time is extremely limited.

The Chinese Premier's first visit to the United States came during the coldest January in the United States.Li Wanruo didn't worry much about what clothes to wear. She couldn't imagine how noble it was on that occasion. She heard people say that the people attending the state banquet are more concerned about two things at this moment: one is who is seated closer to the president and the guest of honor, The second is to see who is well-dressed.If Li Wan was born as a civil servant, her husband is only an ordinary scientific and technological person, and the family does not have much property, so it is really difficult for her to decide what clothes to wear to the state banquet. For the sake of the mayor's wife, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and serve as a follower.The official activities of American officials are completely opposite to those in China. Li Wanruo has to pay for all the expenses of accepting the invitation of the president to go to the capital herself, and no one subsidizes her.But even with this kind of treatment, even Bill Gates will be vying to go, it is a status symbol.If Li Wan, a poor official, encounters such a beautiful thing, he will have to slap his swollen face to pretend to be fat.So she went to the shopping mall to pick left and right several times, but she still couldn't pick the clothes on the list, either they were too expensive, or they were too expensive.Reluctantly, she finally put on a mink coat that someone gave her before.What the husband needs to wear is a tuxedo, which looks high-spirited and quite aristocratic.

Flying from Los Angeles to Washington, no one came to pick them up, and in fact no one would come to pick them up, let alone arrange accommodation for them, so they had to find their own way.Li Wanruo and her husband hurriedly found a cheaper hotel to stay.The next day they took a friend's car to the White House (friend Yun taxi).At the door, someone told them which door to enter, and the White House guards were friendly and kind, leading them into a door with a smile on their faces, and then the waiter standing here asked: Are you Mayor Chen? Li Wanruo glanced at the servant with some surprise at that time, she immediately understood that he was already there to receive her, and all the information about her and her husband Chen Baohe had already been grasped by the intelligence personnel of the White House.Yes, I am Chen.Li Guiruo has always used Chen Li Wanruo on formal occasions in the United States, so they are called Mayor of Hutong, so she also answered the White House servant in the same way.

welcome.The servant didn't ask them anything, didn't even look at the invitation letter, showed extremely high courtesy, and then led Li Wanruo and his wife into the cloakroom at the bottom of the White House.As soon as they entered the door, there was a young and tall military officer in a Marine Corps uniform who helped them take off their coats and hats and hang them up.At this time, two military officers came out, and each led Li Wanruo and Chen Baohe to the spacious reception hall.When they had just stepped up the stairs covered with red carpets and before they entered the room, they only heard the name from the microphone: We have the a mval of the Honorable May or Chen and her band Paul Chen The mayor and her husband Paul).

Li Wanruo felt that this approach was very good, because there was no need to introduce one by one, and the people inside would know who had arrived as soon as they heard it, so she saw the people who arrived one step earlier were applauding to welcome her and her husband.And the people who came after her also got to know her in this way.Here, Li Wanruo met many prominent figures in the White House, such as Henry Kissinger, the Minister of State, the Minister of Finance, the Speaker of the Congress, etc., and of course there were a few very special figures, such as the director of the Washington Zoo, and it is said that the Chinese Premier Bringing two pandas was to be given to the American people, and the zoo director was given the honor of attending a state dinner.Here, Li Wanruo also met compatriots of the same family, they are the great entrepreneur Wang An and his wife, the great architectural designer Mr. Pei Ming, the famous female Chinese leader Chen Xiangmei and the famous Chinese TV host Zong Yuhua.It can be seen that the White House spent a lot of thought when selecting Chinese as a foil, and each of these five people is representative.Li Wanruo was undoubtedly invited as an outstanding representative of the Chinese in politics in the United States.She and Ms. Chen Xiangmei and Zong Yuhua knew each other very well before, and they were both proud of being outstanding Chinese women when they could meet again at this time.

Almost all the invited guests arrived ten to twenty minutes earlier than the formal start of the banquet, and this period of time was a good opportunity for celebrities from all walks of life to meet and chat with each other.Although Li Wanruolie has been to the White House before, and has also been appointed and received by Presidents Ford and Carter, she feels dizzy seeing so many dignitaries and celebrities at once, because she is the only woman from the grassroots class after all. , although she is now the mayor of a city, but she knows that compared with these big people next to her, she can only be regarded as a little finger.In addition to having the opportunity to personally meet these well-known people seen on TV and newspapers, Li Guiruo also learned a little etiquette during this time: In the past, the right hand cup was held up with the index finger and middle finger on the lower rod, and the thumb rested on the cup. It plays a stabilizing role in the middle of the edge of the cup, and on the occasion of the highest level of the White House, the three fingers of the cup have changed: they hold the lower rod of the cup together, thereby driving the entire cup to be lifted or moved...

Please note that the President and his wife will soon enter the venue with the Chinese Premier and his party.At this time, the microphone began to announce again.Hearing this prompt, all the people automatically gave way to a passage on the spot, regardless of who was in front or behind.At this time, I saw President Reagan and his wife and the Chinese Premier walking into the hall, and beside them was an interpreter.President Reagan accompanied the Chinese Premier and shook hands with all the people one by one.When the Chinese Premier walked up to Li Wanruo, he still stretched out his hand mechanically to shake it, just because he saw relatively few oriental faces, so he took a second look. In fact, the other party may not know who Li Wanruo is, because he is completely from the same clan. intuition.Immediately, the Chinese Premier met with another guest under Reagan's introduction.

After shaking hands with all the people, the microphone announced: Now please come to the Dinin Sroom (formal dining room).So, everyone followed the president and the Chinese premier to another small banquet hall that was not too big.Li Wanruo paid attention, there were less than ten tables.Take your seat according to the name already written on the label.Li Wanruo and her husband were separated at this time, according to the rules, at this time the couple usually have to sit separately.Li Wanruo was arranged at the table closest to the main table to show that she had a special status of Chinese background, while her husband Chen Baohe was at the table relatively farther back.After Li Wanruo sat down, she found that the label with her name on the table was also handwritten, and it was exactly the same as the letter on the envelope addressed to her.Apparently written by someone in the White House, presumably to show the special and dignified nature of a state dinner invited by the President.After sitting down, President Reagan and the Chinese Premier exchanged congratulatory speeches, followed by a burst of frenzied filming by the reporters.The formal meal began, and the reporters were invited out.At each table, the White House thoughtfully arranged for a local minister or someone familiar with the White House to act as the temporary head of the table. His task was to enliven the atmosphere at the table.

Li Wanruo felt that the state banquet was a bit ostentatious, because the plates and plates used on the bare table were stacked so high that it was impossible to count them.Later, when she returned to Los Angeles, she was asked what delicacies she ate at the White House state dinner.Li Wanruo thought for a long time but did not come up with a dish name, nor did she taste a single snack.She focused on the people and the atmosphere around her, and didn't put food in her heart and mind at all.But Li Wanruo appreciated the good atmosphere of the state banquet, the melodious music accompanied by violin and harp, the harmonious and appropriate arrangement, and the polite demeanor of the guests and hosts, it was like giving Li Wanruo a lesson in etiquette for American aristocrats.But her husband, Mr. Chen Baohe, thought it was unnatural to be restrained.

It took about 40 minutes for the meal, and then everyone was invited to another larger room next to it. Li Wanruo saw that they were the second batch of invited people. This was a cocktail party, and the purpose was to invite more people. Anyone can take part in this event.What followed was a concert, the guests and the host Wen Wen quietly enjoyed it.After about an hour, the banquet came to an end. God, these hours have been killing me!As soon as she got into the taxi, her husband Chen Baohe took off his tuxedo and took a long breath.Next time I have such an opportunity, I will definitely turn it down.Chen Baohe secretly made up his mind, but he didn't dare to tell his wife. There is a saying that the politics of the West is piled up with money, and there is some truth to this.If you have economic strength and want to engage in politics, it can only be that politics has not done anything to you, and you have already been tied up by money.If it's not that Li Wan doesn't understand this point, but since the day she was in power, she has been thinking about how to prove that Chinese, especially Chinese women, should have someone to go to the American mainstream and political arena for the benefit of the majority of Chinese Americans. I gave it to my husband, but I focused on the ups and downs in the political arena and the vicissitudes ahead. However, another storm that she did not expect came again.That day, she hadn't had time to recover from the tension and excitement of the state banquet. After returning to the hotel, she took a shower and lay down on the bed. Suddenly, the phone rang loudly. It turned out that it was a reporter from "World Journal". Mayor Lily, I'm sorry, we searched almost every hotel in Washington DC to find you... We know you just attended the state banquet, can you talk about your impressions of meeting the Chinese Premier?It can be heard that while the other party is a little embarrassed, he can't wait to get the latest news. Li Wanruo said: I am very sorry that we just shook hands and didn't even say a word... The next day, Li Wanruo and his wife had just returned to Los Angeles by plane, and local Chinese and English newspapers such as "World Journal" published the news of her participation in the state banquet in important positions.And just over two weeks after this news was published, Chinese-language newspapers in California and the Los Angeles area started a big debate, the central content of which was that Li Wanruo should not shake hands with the leader of the Communist Party. But when the overwhelming scolding came to Li Wanruo, some people also wrote in newspapers saying that Li Wanruo attended the state banquet on behalf of American officials, so what was wrong?Those who abuse her are political psychos. Facing the state banquet turmoil, Li Wanruo couldn't laugh or cry.At the rally, she said to her compatriots of Chinese descent that the president invited me to attend the state banquet, and I went to the White House to meet the Chinese Premier as the mayor of the city of Montenegro. Due to the special circumstances, it was inevitable for Li Wanruo to face political pressure from many parties.She felt depressed and painful, helpless and angry.