DIARY
DAVID TANG We Chinese have not always been welcomed in America. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese, and it wasn't until over 60 years later, in 1943, that an Act of Congress over- turned that prohibition, and then only with a sorrowful quota of 105 Chinese immi- grants per annum. The irony is that it was we Chinese who first enabled all the mod- ern brands to succeed in America. Before anti-Chinese sentiments arose towards the end of the 19th century, nearly 200,000 Chinese were shipped off from southern China to San Francisco to lay the tracks of the great Union Pacific railways. This, of course, created the first extensive distribu- tion system in the world, which made it possible for brands to travel and reach mil- lions. It seems extraordinary that none of all the famous brands in the world is Chi- nese. There is the American Coca-Cola, the French Yves Saint Laurent, the Italian Ferrari, the Japanese Sony — yet nothing famous from China. But this will soon change with Shanghai Tang! Perhaps the Chinese government should also buy Rolls- Royce, a paradigm of how not to develop a brand. I'd apply for the job of chairman.
Because of the opening of Shanghai Tang, I have given umpteen interviews. By far the most charming interviewer (nowa- days a rare breed, given the schadenfreude of the press) was Morley Safer of 60 Min- utes. I must confess that when CBS first approached me, I thought they had uncov- ered some compromising episode in my past on which they wanted to grill me the kind of exposé for which 60 Minutes is well known. So it was with great relief that I was told, not a minute too early, that occa- sionally the programme does take a break from its investigative mood. Mr Safer want- ed to talk to me about my life, whose medi- ocrity I was astonished to find did not put him off. Be that as it may, it was a treat to meet this real gent in Hong Kong for a week. An Anglophile like me, Mr Safer and I talked a lot about Britain even though we were concentrating on America and China. He also turned out to be a great friend of David Owen, whom I might have come to know had he become the last governor of Hong Kong but whose marvellous antholo- gy Seven Ages has for years been a favourite of mine. On leaving Hong Kong, Morley wrote to Lord Owen, who then sent me a brace of signed copies. Such serendipity is always a joy.
How sad it is that we Chinese, who first published a poetry anthology at the time of Confucius 2,500 years ago and went on to produce some of the world's most wonderful poems — in the Tang dynasty should now be so poetically jejune. On a desert island I would always have a poetry anthology as my single luxury, and certainly it would have to contain the most romantic and chokingly moral Chinese poem I know, by Chang Chi:
Knowing, fair Sir, my matrimonial thrall, Two pearls thou sentest me, costly withal. And I, seeing that love thy heart possessed, I wrapped them coldly in my silken vest.
For mine is a household of high degree, My husband captain in the King's army; And me with wit like thine should say, The troth of wives is forever and ay.'
With thy two pearls, I send thee back two tears: Tears — that we did not meet in earlier years.
Ithink I went over the top with all the celebrations for the opening of the Shang- hai Tang, which lasted throughout the weekend. On our opening night, the New York police prevented half our guests from entering the store because they believed we were already too crowded. This shut out a few people, and the grander ones must have felt loss of face. One of them actually rang up to say that she did not wish the press to know that she had been stuck in the queue. There was a marked improvement on the second night, when all was calmly glitzy at the premiere of The Chinese Box, a rather sad film set during the 1997 hand- over of Hong Kong. Typically, it involves an Englishman (Jeremy Irons) falling in love with a Chinese woman (Gong Li). It's high time that films and books involved Chinese men falling in love with English- women. Maybe I'll have to come to the res- cue one day with my propensity to fall for Englishwomen — now ultimately with my Essexian Lucy, whom I will be marrying somewhere along the Silk Route, I think, to bring out our East and West.
To crown the celebrations, Sotheby's in New York generously gave a dinner for me and 400 of my friends. When I suggested that its president dispense with placement, she thought I had turned into a Martian. But I still don't see the real point of place- ment. People pore over it with migraines for days beforehand and inevitably some acceptances drop out and the domino prin- ciple brings about chaos. In any event, most of the guests complain about their positions and are seldom grateful to the host. If the whole of the Middle East, Africa and Asia has done without placement for millennia, I don't see why America and Europe need it, especially when they are well past embour- goisement. Just think of the bliss of not hav- ing to think about who should sit next to whom and letting the guests themselves choose — and not having a worry in the world if naughty guests cancel at the last minute. If the counter-argument is that this would cultivate a cavalier attitude towards cancelling at the last minute, then I say all the better for us to take early note and not bother to invite those offenders in future. I noticed how furious John Aspinall was with Jemima Goldsmith when she surreptitious- ly swapped several placements at Jimmy Goldsmith's memorial dinner recently. I found it surprising as I would have thought that of all people Aspers would be totally tribal and choose to pay no attention to such a middle-class convention as place- ment.
Iwas very chuffed that many of my English friends came to New York to help celebrate the opening of Shanghai Tang. The Duchess of York was exceptionally supportive. Many hypocrites dislike her, but I know what a generous heart and spirit she has — precisely too generous: a lot of people and the press take advantage of it and keep shattering her confidence. If there is any meaning to Britain being a Christian society, then the Duchess's trau- ma deserves continual generosity.
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