Borneo Pulp
Page 13
Gao was evidently pleased with the reaction of Ennis to his firm’s achievements in the paper industry; it was a compliment coming from a European specialist. His curiosity had been aroused by the project that Ennis had described to him; if Western investors were interested in building a mill in Borneo, then it was worth learning more. Gao insisted that Ennis join him for dinner that evening, taking advantage of his short stay in Taiwan to pursue their discussions in greater depth.
The next day greatly relieved to have a promising potential partner in view, Ennis decided to relax. He did not believe it would be useful to call the other persons on his list; opening too many parallel contacts could confuse the issue. Ennis had the feeling that he had found what he had been looking for. The last thing he wanted to do was vex Gao, it was necessary to proceed with discretion as he had an instinctive feeling that Gao was the right partner, who appeared to play straight and obviously expected those he did business with to do the same.
Ennis decided that he would take the opportunity to explore Taipei, visit some of its museums and monuments. He had begun to realise there was more to see under that noisy, polluted exterior, than first met the eye.
Taipei housed one of the most extensive and valuable collection of Chinese art treasures in the world. They were brought to Taiwan by Chiang Kai Shek in 1949, when he fled the mainland, after his defeat by Mao and his communists.
First Ennis decided to buy a guidebook. He could find that in the hotel shopping arcade at the book shop, amongst the travel agents, tailors, jewellers and antique dealers that were typical of luxury hotels. Customers in the Hilton arcade were few; the majority of them came mostly for newspapers and postcards, or, like Ennis a guidebook.
The shop owners passed the time of day waiting for the elusive customer; at the ready, standing in their doorways, waiting for the slightest sign of movement. As Ennis passed a tailor wished him good morning, inviting him into his shop with a gesture of his hand, he smiled back politely saying that he was not in the market for a made to measure suit that day.
The window of the Antique Gallery caught his eye, after all he was going to the museum and what he saw would be a foretaste, he stopped concentrating his attention and admiration on a green Celadon dish, when a voice broke his thoughts.
‘Song Dynasty.’
He looked up; an attractive Chinese girl was smiling at him.
‘Song!’ he returned.
‘Yes Song,’ she said laughing.
‘Do you know something about Chinese antiques?’ she said.
‘Well, yes a little bit.’
‘Then you should visit the National Museum.’
‘That’s just what I was planning to do.’
‘Are you American?’
‘No, I’m English, I live in Paris.’
‘Oh, Paris, I never been there, it must be a beautiful city.’
‘Yes it is.’
‘How long are you here for?’
‘Oh, just a couple of days.’
‘That’s a pity you will not see very much.’
She described the museum and its treasures. She introduced herself Zhang Li Zhen, adding her friends called her Lily.
Lily told him that her family owned the Antique Gallery. Her father, a well-known collector and specialist in oriental antiques, owned galleries in several major cities of the Far East as well as in San Francisco and New York.
She then told him that she had studied History at Taipei University and was now learning her father’s business, though admitting it was very quiet in the Gallery. She was talkative and very amused by his knowledge of Mandarin Chinese and interest in Chinese art.
‘Why don’t you let me show you the museum?’ she said suddenly.
‘The museum?’ said Ennis surprised.
‘Yes, you said you wanted to visit it, didn’t you!’
‘Well ... you have your Gallery to run.’
‘That’s no problem, it’s very quiet today.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really,’ she turned picking up her handbag and keys. ‘Let’s go then,’ she said grabbing his arm.
Ennis had not thought that she was serious and it took some minutes of laughing and joking before he realised that she was not pulling his leg. Only when she produced a key and locked the door of the Gallery, ushering him out, did he realise that she was not joking.
They took a taxi outside of the hotel. Lily gave directions, laughing and joking in fun alternately with the driver and Ennis.
Once in the Museum, Ennis observed that Lily was a strangely attractive girl, taller than the average Taiwanese, with a strong face, more of the heroic style he remembered from Chinese revolutionary posters than pretty; her black hair thick and shinning.
He was soon admitting to himself that antiques had become relegated to a level of secondary interest as they toured the museum, as he discovered more about Lily and her family.
Curiously Lily’s father knew the Gao family, and many other people in the business world of Taipei. With the creation of wealth from commerce and industry, many of the old and also the more recently wealthy families, were concerned about the loss of culture and traditions.
Their society with rapid industrialisation and the new wealth it had created had developed a faceless and imported image, a reflection of the less attractive aspects of western and in particular American culture.
Gao had already spoken to Ennis of the problem, he was proud that his company’s printing division had produced some of the finest art books published by the National Museum, and the excellent reproductions of water paintings on the traditional art paper of China. Lily’s father had acted as consultant and had written the preface to a number of the books.
The dined together in a small typical restaurant in the hustle and bustle of the market place, off Chung Chang South Road, where Lily had explained, the best of Chinese cuisine could be found at very reasonable prices, she was not a snob and did not believe fancy restaurants were the only places where good food was to be found.
‘Tell me about yourself John!’ she said.
‘What is there to say?’
‘You know what I mean, your family....’
He knew what she meant, women eventually got to that question.
‘I’m divorced.’
‘Oh!’
‘Yes, you know in my business I’m always on a plane at the other end of the world.’
‘Do you have children?’
They walked amongst the crowds arriving at Chinese temple, which she insisted on showing him. Worshippers bustled around the statues of divinities, some of whom appeared very fierce, whom they bowed to in prayer holding smoking joss sticks in the points of their fingers. The smell of incense and the smoke from burning prayer sheets and offerings hung heavily in the warm air.
‘Yes I do, there’s two, but it’s a long story.’
‘Do you want to tell me?’
She made an offering of a few coins and received from one of the temple guardians a horoscope for Ennis. They laughed a lot as she deciphered the characters of horoscope, which predicted good health and fortune in new ventures and friendships.
‘If you like, I suppose it’s the kind of story of people drifting apart, changing….’
He knew deep inside that he had been a lousy husband over the years, and he was saddened but not too surprised by the result.
It was soon after their separation that Hakkala had asked him to join Brodzski. It was an arrangement that suited him perfectly; much of his time would be spent in Jakarta or Singapore, far from his painful experience in France.
As they returned to the hotel Ennis felt the day had ended in an anticlimax; it was not the kind of story to make a woman enthusiastic. Lily took his hand and leaning towards him whispered, ‘I’m sorry it’s not my business, I should not have asked you about that.’
She dropped him off at his hotel after she had made him promise to meet her the following evening, calling her as soon as he returned
from his visit to Kao Hsiung with Gao.
Two days later he left Taipei after making last call to Gao and promising that he would meet Sutrawan in Jakarta. He then dropped by at the Gallery to say au revoir to Lily, who seemed a little sad and appeared to doubt his promise to come back soon.
She had insisted on driving him to the airport. They had only passed two evenings together, but it seemed that they had, in those short moments, crossed the frontier between a casual encounter and the feeling of uncertainty, the sign a deeper understanding between two persons.
Lily then made him promise to look out for antique Chinese pottery and stoneware recovered from an ancient Chinese trading vessel wrecked off the coast of Java, at Tuban, many centuries previously. The antique illegally recovered from the wreck had been appearing on markets in Jakarta and was it her Lily’s excuse for a promise to return to Taipai.
RICE PORTER MAKES GOOD