We exchange contract drafts. Professor Xu and I agree that we want to foundand manage a joint venture in ChangChun， intending to become suppliedwith intermediate products from Germany plus the required knowledge for furthermanufacturing steps and applications. But the provincial government disagrees. Theywant us not to provide intermediates into which our intellectual property has been dispersed to be used but not pirated； instead they prefer that we would grant the joint venture a license to produce the intermediates themselves.
I refuse. The government of the Jilin Province (吉林) invites me to negotiate.
For the third time I take a plane to ChangChun， this time in mid-winter， it is minus 25° C outside. I don’t let myself be fooled again in the morning， I know after all where I am. After a day of fruitless negotiations the vice-governor invites us to dinner. We meet at a large round table， looking to me as if it had been sized to five metres across. There are about 20 people， Professor Xu is absent， I am alone with at least 19 government officials.
All of them are friendly， they smile at me， the first toast is applied in halting English. The most varied dishes are served. Every five minutes one of the other diners approaches me with a kind invitation to empty with him the shot glass： “Gan Bei！” BaiJiu is poured into my glass， that is a clear Chinese liquor， high-percentage， highly dangerous. As an addition， Chinese red and white wines are served like a dog’s dinner. (BaiJiu tastes better， but is more hazardous.)
Everyone wants to drink with me， and every time I have to empty the glass. How nice is everyone！
I am very friendly and my glass is always empty， my mouth is often full. Sometimes my glass is not empty from drinking， but the large plant in that pot behind me – if I remember properly， it was a bamboo – is still drunk for days after. According to informed sources it had to be taken to the plant hospital in emergency at night. At the end of the evening everyone is boozy except me. I drank the least of all.
No contract closed. The intellectual property will remain in Germany. Professor Xu understands and respects my decision， the provincial governor has had something else in mind.