“Everything Is Under My Control Perhaps because he is fated to live a simple life， Hans got usedto living in China soon after he arrived.
I always got the impression that Hans seemed to someoneliving on the margins. He was interested neither in chatting， norsmoking， drinking， shopping or partying. There were no sexual rumorsabout him. He paid no special attention to girls， and regardedall girls as either his younger or elder sisters. He had a “wife” whohad no marriage contract with him. They had lived together for halfa lifetime. His “wife” seemed to be a copy of Hans with her honestand sincere character.
A “fool” like Hans， out of touch with fashion and in search of“suffering” has no “word” among his German colleagues; on theother hand， he is a foreigner in the eyes of the Chinese around him，and is still unable to fit in with them.
Hans has many eccentric habits. He chooses to live in theoffice instead of a villa; he sleeps in a hammock instead of on aspring mattress; he sleeps on the balcony in the open every nightand is woken up by the first sunshine; he never eats at regular mealtimes， and spends two jiao for a pancake whenever he is hungry;he always goes to work in his flip-flops， and spends ten yuan forfour shirts that he wears for the whole summer.
He once asked me to take him to a tailor to mend his pants.
250 We found two tailors， but neither of them were interested in fixinghis pants. The pants were just too worn-out and even a poorChinese would throw them away immediately. But Hans was veryreluctant to get rid of them. I， who have wasteful habits， was quiteamazed by his frugal and conscientious attitude.
Other foreign experts in China usually drive around a Benzjeep allocated by their company with pride and exuberance， butHans refuses to drive and gets around on his used bicycle everyday. We could understand him， or figure out exactly what waswrong with him. But Hans’ attitude was “If I reflect on myself andfind myself to be right， then even if it be an army of one hundredthousand， I will go forward （from Mencius）”， and he can’t hide thesatisfaction on his face.
Hans most loves to visit the open market at the foot of HeroMountain. There is a bazaar there every Sunday， and almost all ofHans’ items of daily necessity came from that market. You can findHans there at seven o’clock every Sunday morning， and each timehe comes to the market he roams around from booth to booth， occasionallystaying to play with the dogs on sale. Moreover， Hansis quite good at bargaining when he sees something he likes. Hanshas collected a pile of Chinese wooden images which are all quitevivid， simple and rudimentary. When his expert colleagues were attractedby these wooden images and planned to add something similarto their collections， they found that Hans had already bought allthe images available in the market. Hans cleared off a corner of histable for the exhibition of these wooden images; he let the woodenimages stand still， as though they were copies of the terra cottawarriors and horses. Everyone who visits has high praise for them.
One afternoon， we had all been at work for a long time， butHans had not yet appeared. Our boss had asked about him severaltimes， but we didn’t say anything; nevertheless we were quite worriedabout his lateness. The sun was shining outside of the window;the distant mountains seemed quite clear and close， so attractivethat any one of them could have captured Hans’ attention. Thenthere was the sound of flip-flops outside， and Hans appeared beforeus， sweating on his head. Our boss， so upset that his face seemedmade of stone， snapped at Hans， “Why did you arrive so late forwork?” Hans held back his smile， brought the boss to the window， pointed to the Qianfo Mountain and said， “Why should we work onsuch a beautiful day?” Our boss was nearly choked by his words.
It was obvious that our boss did not like Hans. He once staredat our group photo， pointed at Hans， gnashing his teeth， and said，“He is a bad boy， so how come he’s always smiling?” For sure，Hans appeared as a smiling face in all the group photos， while ourboss seldom smiled.
In China， Hans seemed to be a computer program that ran onauto. His most common phrase was， “Everything is under control”，and it showed his confidence in everything. Hans and I sliced potatoesdifferently. I sliced them from top to bottom， while Hanssliced from bottom to top. He said jokingly that our different slicingmethods showed the difference between the East and West： theEasterners were not as confident as the Westerners. The Westernerswere so confident that they were not afraid of hurting themselves— when slicing from bottom to top a person might accidently hurthimself， while an Easterners would only hurt the chopping board. Iadmired his smart and swift thought， and at the same time tried tothink of a way to refute him， however I failed to think of anything.
252 Searching for Treasures in ChinaHans’ only hobby in China is collecting junk， and one of hisinterests is to search for treasure at building sites.