My partner and I went to Zhuhai to meet with Tim. Sally arranged the meeting in
a good seafood restaurant called Fisherman’s Wharf. The restaurant was full, but did not seem too crowded and noisy (by Chinese standard, of course). After brief greetings and introduction, we sat at table and immediately engaged in a lively conversation. Sally’s husband is an easy-going fellow. I think he is self-employed in the printing industry. So, naturally he found common topic with my partner on catalog printing and color box printing that my factory might be in need
of his service. Since I was busy talking with Tim, I just joined them occasionally in their conversation. I was under impression that they might strike some deal in the future which in my eyes is a could-not-be-better side product of this
meeting. Sally was helping serving food to Tim and his son, James and she kept nodding and smiling while listening to my conversation with Tim. Sally’s son, a
two-grader of a primary school was playful and joyful all the time, sometimes turning the rotational table for his favorite food, sometimes walking here and there restlessly and sometimes even standing behind Tim to deliberately shun photography when we took photos. James, on the other hand, looked awfully quiet maybe
because he was not quite himself that day and maybe because that is who he is. I
had very few exchanges with him. So, I could not tell much about him other than
just superficially observing him as a good –looking, quiet, a little introversive fine young man. He contrasts greatly with the other American kids I have met
who are restless, playful and outspoken with loaded four letter words. It shows
that he has had very good upbringing with minimum if any adverse influence. I do not know how much that attributes to Tim’s fathering. -)))
Although Tim did not feel quite well that night either because of the combination of junk western food he had had in China and heavy polluted air here, he was in a good mood talking. Our talking covered great varieties of issues ranging from Chinese economy to our government, from environment protection to legal system
. Tim strikes me as a smart, knowledgeable and talkative cowboy gentleman. It seems he knows everything and he surely does. Even though his cup of coffee is not
even remotely related to my cup of tea (lighting business), he offered me a million- dollar- worth advice. Too sad, at this point of my life, I can not afford
paying commission for million dollars and I hope I will be able to before too long for him to wait. Meeting with him confirmed my preconception of him I got from reading his articles on the form and that is he cherished so friendly feeling
towards China and Chinese people and his strong interest in our culture, system
and economy is overwhelming and enthusiastic.During the conversation, I told a few jokes and they did laugh. In this case, I think my wife unjustifiably calls my jokes too dry!
Since we were supposed to have another business appointment in Zhuhai next day,
we checked into the same hotel as Tim’s. After the dinner, we took a cab back to the hotel. On the way, Tim and James were talking about how China should better protect environment because they witnessed the air pollution in China and even
saw some medical waste on the beautiful beach of Zhuhai. Tim is very environmental-protection conscious.
Back to the hotel, Tim went to my room (our rooms were on the same floor) discussing our cowboy lamp designs with my partner, King and myself. While reviewing the drawing, he offered his constructive suggestions on how to improve our designs, how to add new function/selling point as well as how to promote our niche market strategy. Tim has his own firm and is a very good salesman. So, we took his
advice very seriously. Just then, James ran into my room saying that he could not open the door of his room. Tim asked him to call the reception downstairs, but
they did not understand English very well. So, James left our room trying to go
downstairs to talk to hotel staff in person. A few minutes later, James came back to my room again and looked very worried. He said he saw somebody at his door
and at sight of him, the guy dashed to the elevator… We all felt that was serious and went out together to call the hotel security. Very quickly, many hotel staff came to the door including a Chinese manager and a foreign manager ( a French?). The tried to open the door with their key, but failed. The electronic lock
beamed red flash light indicating that the lock was malfunctioning. Our first reaction was that the room might have been burgled. We were deeply concerned because Tim had his computer and good digital camera inside. 15 minutes passed, but
they were still unable to open the door even with a palm computer to reprogram the lock. Then came another technician and tried to open the door. He finally succeeded. I did not notice how he did that because I was talking with Tim trying to ease him up. Maybe by more traditional tool like hammer and screwdriver?
Hurried inside, Tim and James checked their belongings in the room. Fortunately,
nothing was missing. But what had happed sounded weird. This is a five star hotel and the security should not be so loose. Later they checked security tapes and said the man James saw was a hotel staff trying to open the door for him because James had called the reception. But why did he dash to the elevator at sight
of James? Why did the elevator remain open seemingly waiting for him ?(James saw
that) and why did the lock flash red light afterwards? All these remained doubtful. Since the hotel staff needed to fix the lock, Tim had to move to another room downstairs. But anyway, Tim and James did not lose anything. Except that Tim
lost interest in having foot massage (we had planned to have a foot massage together).
Tim was so interested in my lamp business and decided to have a look at my factory next day. So, I cancelled my business meeting and took Tim, Sally and her husband to Guzhen Town, Zhongshan City which is known as the “ Lighting Capital of
China”. James messed around too late in front of his computer that night. So,
he decided not to go with us. According to Tim, James would feel sorry for that.
( to be continued)
