A 100% OOC Blast From the Past
Entry posted by Ashoka the Great
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We've all seen this picture, I think. It's downright iconic.
Well, seeing it posted in a thread today reminded me of a fun story.
It was 1993 or 1994, I believe. I was working for an economic research institute, and we were expecting a group of economic experts from the PRC, all of whom had the title of 'Vice-Chairman'. (I found that hilarious, for some reason.)
The day before they arrived, a protocol officer from the Canadian government dropped by to make sure we understood who our guests were, topics that were off-limits and so on.
He walked into my office, looked at the wall and saw that it was dominated by a very large print of the above photo.
ProtocolGuy: I would ask you to please take down that picture as it may offend your guests.
Me: Sure, I'll take it down. By the way, what's Mandarin for, "Kiss my $@!, murderer"?
My boss intervened at that point, and we compromised on closed curtains. (My office had two glass walls.)
The next day the meeting came and went. It was notable for two things:
- these Chinese economic 'experts' clearly did not understand how a free market worked
- they were shocked that a research institute that was critical of government policies could be allowed to exist
Several times I watched my boss try --and very nearly succeed -- to conceal the fact that he was laughing at them.
The meeting ended, the board room doors opened and everyone stepped out.
In the meantime, my secretary, who complained whenever I closed my curtains ("It makes it too dark around my desk," she'd say) had opened them to brighten our corner of the office.
Oh, did I mention my office was right outside the board room?
Good times.
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