11 September 2001. I am driving a rental car in Wisconsin from the crane reserve Necedah National Wildlife Refuge to the nearest larger town that features a FedEx station. Some equipment supplied for the whooping crane release program I need to send back to Germany for repair. This has nothing to do with my chemical and commercial work， I am a hobby crane explorer and engaged in the program for saving the North American whooping cranes.
The “National Public Radio” station which I always attend to in the car when in US， because of its more profound news and analyses and because of the classical music， tells that a plane has crashed into one tower of the World Trade Center， there is fire， there is chaos. In the next village I drive to the roadside， find a phone booth and call my financial advisers.
While I am at the phone， that second plane crashes into the other tower. Every reader knows what followed. But back then I did not know how to continue： financing the company was tough to impossible， our capital reserves (stocks and other financial assets) kept melting away as the famous snow in the sun.
Even while I was in the wetlands of Wisconsin， far from all events， waiting for the opportunity to fly back to Germany， a letter from the Federal Chancellery descends on my unguarded desk in my German office. Well， it was certainly sent automatically， without taking the current situation into consideration： Chancellor Schr.der invites me to accompany him in November on his next trip to China. Me？ Now？
Yes， I had written to the Chancellor at some point. I had described the situation in ChangChun (without mentioning the unfortunate bamboo)， but I did not expect any response to that. I had merely desired to tell someone in that governmental space station where everyone fantasizes about all those fantastic opportunities in trading with China how the common person fares who wants to launch an insignificant joint venture and is tried to be made drunk (in vain) by the provincial governor. And now I was expected to travel with all the top politicians and Tycoons to China？
I put the invitation aside. Do I have the money， the relaxedness and the time to go on such a trip， right in the turmoil of world history and business financing？
Of course， in the end I go. Curiosity and adventurer’s soul triumph over sober reasoning. Maybe I can even learn something？
In November 2001， I am sitting in the second governmental plane. In the first one there is Schr.der with various journalists and politicians， the second is occupied by Müller， the Minister of Economy， and a 50-member business delegation comprising 49 Tycoons of rank and fame， and one no-man – me.
Then I am standing with the leaders of German industry on the red carpet in the Great Hall of the People while Schr.der is welcomed by the Prime Minister， Zhu RongJi， with all honours of protocol as you know it from TV. It looks nice， but of course it is just diplomatic entertainment.
The following dinner at the giant restaurant of the Great Hall of the People is another remarkable event. I present to Prime Minister Zhu RongJi and Chancellor Schr.der a CD containing self-recorded photos and audio files of cranes from all over the world. The calls of cranes that migrate across all national boundaries shall be my icon of international understanding.
The next day， I meet again Professor Xu who delivers some other proposals suggested by the provincial government. But these as well do not convince me， we obtain no result. The joint venture plan has failed.