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How the Hero Got Married

The 73-year-old Tong Xiangling remembers vividly how he met and finally married Zhang Nanyun back in the 1950s. Tong rose to national fame during the Cultural Revolution when he appeared as the lead hero in “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy”， a so called model Peking Opera play.

Tong was a Shanghai-based young Peking Opera star in the 1950s and Zhang Nanyun was a lead artist in Anshan Peking Opera since she was 16. As the marriage was prearranged by their families， Tong decided to see his fiancée he had never seen before. So he went to Dalian.When the two met finally they were left alone in a room. They chatted in a desultory way. Unexpectedly， the electricity was out all of a sudden and the shy young girl was scared and worried that the young man would probably take advantage of the situation. She screamed “Mom”! When the power came back， Tong was surprised to find that Zhang’s mom had somehow sneaked into the room and had been sitting quietly between the two all the time during the outage.

They got married in 1956. For a long while， they lived separately. Tong came to Dalian now and then to see his wife. Tong， now 73， still wonders why his wife did not adore him in his younger years. He recalls that he performed in Japan in 1976 and when he appeared the Japanese women were so excited and wild that they threw flowers onto stage and screamed. Zhang retorts that it was because he played a practical joke on her in the early days of their marriage. In these days she was so shy that she did not know how to address him. On many occasions when she had to call him， she just said “hi， there”. The husband solved the problem for her by advising that his English name was “I love you”. So that was how she called him for a long whileuntil one day a friendwho spokeEnglish became awareof the situation. The friend laughed for a long while before explaining to her what that name meant in English.

This Boy Turns Out to be Jack Ma

The first wave of foreign tourists came to Hangzhou in 1978 shortly after the reform and opening-up started. Foreign guests staying at Shangri-La Hotel on the West Lake soon noticed a boy at 14 frequently wait at the gate of the hotel. The boy rode a bike to the hotel in the early morning. He did not come to see curious blond hair and blue eyes. He spoke some English and offered to be a tour guide to these foreigners free of charge. Many a foreigner came to Hangzhou time and again and became familiar with the presence of the little boy at the gate of the hotel. A foreigner saw the boy twice in two years. He was surprised to find the boy again on his third tour. He commented， “You are still here? You will go far.” The boy has grown up and is now going very far. He is Jack Ma， president of Hangzhou-based Alibaba， a leading giant in e-commerce in the world.

How Qin Gui Eliminated a Political Rival

Qin Gui became the prime minister during the years of Emperor Zhou Gou in the Southern Song Dynasty. Legend has it that the man removed his political rival by finesse. Qin Gui， an established calligrapher， one day chatted with the emperor who was accomplished in calligraphy. They were drinking and the conversation focused on calligraphy and then went on desultorily. At one moment the emperor complained that he had not seen big fish for a while. Without thinking what the emperor meant by this question， Qin Gui replied that he had big fish in his pond at home and he would send the emperor 100 the next day. Then Qin saw the emperor’s unhappy face and realized he had said something wrong. He hastily left the banquet.

Qin realized that he was in deep trouble. How could he， as a ranking court official， had not realized that the emperor’s need for the fish had been ignored and how come he needed to be reminded by the emperor to do something to please emperor?

Then Qin Gui had an idea. He asked his housekeeper to buy 100 1-foot long carps. Qin asked his housekeeper to remove all the big fish from the pond in the garden and keep only small ones. He then sent the big ones from his pond anonymously to Li Gang， the prime minister who wanted to fight the north invaders and an obstacle to Qin’s ambition. Li Gang accepted the gift fish without being able to find out who sent the fish.

The next day， Qin presented to the emperor the 100 carps he had bought on market. The emperor said what he mentioned the previous day was not carp， but another kind of fish. Then Qin explained that he did have what the emperor wanted in the pond at home， but what he had were also very small. Qin went on to explain that he heard the prime minister had bigger ones.

The emperor became unhappy again. He and Qin Gui went to the residence of the primer minister and asked about the big fish. The unsuspecting prime minister gladly showed the emperor the big ones he had. Seeing the fish were bigger than those in the palace， the emperor was extremely unhappy. He muttered “Nice! Nice!” and left. Li Gang was soon relieved of his job and Qin Gui became the prime minister.

Emperor’s Jade Seal Sold for 4.70 Million Euros in France

At an art auction held in Toulouse， France on June 14， 2008， a jade seal of the Chinese Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was sold for record-breaking Euro 4.70 million. It was one of the 130 seals used by the emperor. It was said that the seal was purchased by a Chinese collector through telephone. The previous highest bid was another royal seal sold for 4.25 million Euros in Hong Kong in 2007.

Ma Yinchu Blasts Kong Xiangxi

Ma Yinchu (1882-1982) was a famous economist of the 20th-century China. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression， Ma was president of the Business School of Chongqing University and the dean of the Economics Department of the Central University. On many public occasions， Ma accused Kong Xiangxi， the finance minister of the national government of corruption and profiting from the national crisis. In a speech to a class of army generals at the university， Ma blasted Kong Xiangxi and Song Ziwen of their corruption， calling for the removal of the two from high-ranking government offices and confiscating their properties to use for war efforts.

Ma Yifu Offers Advice to Chiang Kai-shek

When Ma Yifu (1883-1967， a scholar of classical learning) came to the war time capital Chongqing to set up an academy， Chiang Kai-shek granted an interview to the scholar. During the interview， Ma offered Chiang his opinion on how to rule wisely， emphasizing sincerity to work with people， tolerance for people with different opinions， dedication to national rejuvenation and concern with the livelihood of the people. Jiang was quite unhappy with Ma’s opinion.#8194;□