《中国日报》外专亲历总理座谈会：我们深受感动.

　　《中国日报》外专亲历总理座谈会：我们深受感动

　　Time and place with premier

　　Editor&aposs note: Ravi Shankar Narasimhan, executive editor of China Daily&aposs overseas editions, was one of 70-plus foreign experts invited to the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday for a symposium and a Chinese New Year dinner with Premier Li Keqiang and senior State leaders.

　　If you ever wondered how official events in China are run like clockwork, I can offer some insight: It takes a lot of time and plenty of attention to detail.

　　The three buses carrying the 70-odd foreign experts from SAFEA - the easy-sounding acronym for the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs - were scheduled to leave the building at 2:45 pm for the 5 pm symposium with Premier Li Keqiang and other senior State leaders. I thought it was a bit too early but our handlers said it was better safe than...

　　As we crawled through the heavy mid-afternoon Beijing traffic, the abundant caution made sense but even then we arrived a few minutes earlier than scheduled. We would be admitted to the Great Hall of the People only at 4 pm, so we sat in the bus in a side lane.

　　At the appointed time, the gates and doors were thrown open with a flamboyance seen only in places with a sense of grandeur.

　　Security was tight but the checks were ficient and quick. Airport security guards could take a cue from here.

　　There was ample time to locate our designated seats in two grand halls: one for the symposium and the other for the dinner.

　　As we checked out who was sitting where, we noticed that "Isabel Crook" would be seated next to the premier, and a murmur went around: Who&aposs she?

　　A little checking around the ban on phones and tablets meant we had to rely on memory and my recollection of stories published in China Daily for the answer: A 98-year-old Canadian anthropologist who did pioneering work in China, taught at Beijing Foreign Studies University and who has spent about 75 years of her life in China.

　　That&aposs culture, said Volodymyr S. Kovalenko, professor at National Technical University of Ukraine, who has been visiting China for 40 years, admiringly. Wondering if the rest of the world was losing its traditional moorings, he politely inquired about India - my country.

　　I tried to assure him that despite centuries of invasions we have tried to sort of -keep our sense of culture intact. But I had to admit that the sense of reverence that the Chinese and their leaders have for foreigners who have helped their country is unmatched.

　　I offered Kovalenko the example of almost every Chinese leader visiting India making it a point to meet the family of Dwaraknath Kotnis (known in Chinese as Ke Dihua) a doctor whose heroic deeds of saving Chinese soldiers during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) being the stuff of legend in China and known to every student. Li met members of the family in Mumbai last year on his first visit to India as premier.

　　Now that we had cracked the Crook code, I was sharing the story with the energetic Alistair Michie, group business and government adviser of Newland International Communication Group and a consultant to SAFEA, when a buzz went around the room: Please take your seats, the premier is coming.

　　It was a good 15 minutes bore the 5 pm start, but we all obediently went back to our seats, and waited, murmuring to neighbors.

　　On the dot at 5 pm, the premier walked in briskly. But there was nothing brusque as he greeted the 20-odd people closest to his seat, held their hand for just that second longer and looked them in the eye ... it made us feel important.

　　It&aposs well known that the premier is fluent in English and that&aposs the language in which he greeted every foreigner. His opening remarks were in Chinese, however. The appreciation of the Chinese government and its people for the foreigners&apos contributions to the country&aposs development. "We would like you to see China as a second home," he said.

　　It was something some of the guests informally discussed earlier. Not many world leaders, especially those of major economies, even acknowledge the role of foreigners, let alone be so fusive in praise, but Chinese leaders routinely do. And, deserved or not, we felt good.

　　The premier said he came to listen ... and the first to speak was John Thornton, the chairman of the Brookings Institution and legendary figure in the financial world. He made three proposals on how to tackle urbanization.

　　Then Michie spoke on how high-end services would boost the economy.

　　It was finally the turn of Peter Poechmueller, chi technical officer at Shandong Sino-chip Semiconductors, who argued passionately about how the semi-conductor industry in China should be developed.

　　The premier listened closely, made notes and said he wished he could listen to the views of all the foreign experts present but couldn&apost because of time.

　　It was nearly 6 pm and the guests were gearing up for dinner: There was some talk earlier on what the government&aposs austerity drive would mean for the menu.

　　This is where the clockwork went a little awry.

　　The premier said in his opening remarks that this was the first kind of forum he had attended as premier. He spoke brily about the Chinese economy&aposs performance last year. The highlights: Economic growth of 7.7 percent, "no easy task" given the huge base of the world&aposs second-largest economy; and 13 million new jobs created the most for several years. He then took most of us by surprise by responding, point by point, to all the suggestions made by the three foreign experts.

　　Thornton and Michie got more than a nod of appreciation and the premier lauded the "dual personality" of Poechmueller, pointing out that the Austrian called himself Shandong Man, and thanked him for putting the considerations of the Chinese semiconductor industry ahead of his cold.

　　He thanked everyone.

　　Suddenly, there was another buzz ... we had to move across the magnificent lobby to the dining hall. After all, the clock was running.

　　I was honored to be sitting at the "main table" and was directly opposite the premier in the 18-seat arrangement. I had a good vantage point.

　　Li was expansive, expressive and ebullient. Animated with Thornton, solicitous with Crook.

　　The dinner courses came with unrelenting time pressure; if you didn&apost finish in the time set for that course, it would disappear.

　　Chinese tradition soon started. The premier began by toasting his guests but it was also getting late. Everyone wanted (it appeared) to tell him their life story and he listened attentively.

　　His aides were getting jittery; it was taking too long. But the premier didn&apost seem to mind.

　　Soon he was approaching me, halfway down his table. I got strong hints that I should just clink glasses but when it came to my turn, I couldn&apost resist.

　　Without getting into details, let&aposs say I took up a good 30 seconds. The premier then went around toasting all the guests.

　　I could see he hadn&apost eaten much, and the whole program ended at exactly 7 pm.

　　Just like clockwork.

　　1月21日，国务院总理李克强在北京人民大会堂同在华部分外国专家亲切座谈。包括中国日报海外版执行主编拉维(Ravi Shankar Narasimhan)在内的70多位外国专家受邀参加。23日，拉维发表回忆文章，盛赞李克强总理对外国专家的重视。以下为文章摘要：

　　如果你想了解中国的官方活动是如何有序开展的，就来看看我这次参加座谈会的一些经历吧。

　　下午2点45分，70多位外国专家从外国专家局搭乘三辆大巴车出发，前去参加定于下午5点举行的由国务院总理李克强主持的座谈会。国务院副总理马凯，国务委员杨晶、杨洁篪出席座谈会。

　　北京下午的交通很是拥堵，需要格外注意，但我们还是比预订时间提前抵达。在指定的时间，各门瞬间开启，富丽堂皇的景象映入眼帘。

　　安全保卫严格，但检查迅速有效。机场安保人员可以从中得到一点启示。

　　我们有充足的时间在两座壮丽的报告厅和宴会厅找到各自坐席。就坐后，我们发现“伊莎贝尔•克鲁克”将坐在总理旁边。一阵低语顿时传来“她是谁?”

　　由于不准使用电话和笔记本电脑，我们只好依靠回忆。我回顾发表在《中国日报》上的文章寻找答案：94岁的加拿大人类学家，曾执教北京外国语大学，在中国度过了她75年的时光。

　　“这是文化”，乌克兰国立技术大学教授科瓦连科说。好像怀疑其他国家失去了自己的传统，他礼貌地打听其我的祖国——印度的文化。

　　我试图让他相信，尽管遭遇了几个世纪的入侵，但我们已经努力确保文化意识的完整性。但我不得不承认，中国人和他们的领导人对帮助过自己国家的外国人的敬畏感是无与伦比的。

　　我给科瓦连科举例说，几乎每个访问印度的领导人都要去会见柯棣华家人。柯棣华医生在1937年到1945年抗日战争期间拯救了许许多多中国士兵的生命，在中国已经成为一个传奇，每个学生都知道他。李克强总理去年首次以总理身份出访印度时，就在孟买会见了柯棣华的家人。

　　我正跟新洲国际集团(NICG)集团企业和政府顾问、国家外专局(SAFEA)顾问阿里斯泰尔•米基讲这个故事，这时屋内有人说：请入座，总理来了。

　　当时是下午4点45分，离正式开始还有15分钟，但是我们全回到座位上，等待着并和邻座随意交谈。

　　下午5点整，李克强总理迈着轻快的步子走了进来。当他欢迎离自己座位最近的二十几个人时，丝毫没有简慢的态度，他握着来宾的手，停顿了一下，凝视着对方的眼睛，这让我们有被重视的感觉。

　　众所周知李克强总理能说一口流利的英语，这也是他欢迎每位外宾用的语言。不过他的开场白是用汉语说的。他的开场白表达了中国政府和人民对外籍人士对中国发展所做贡献的感激。他说：“我们希望你们能把中国当作第二个故乡。”

　　对此一些外宾早前曾私下讨论过。没有几个世界领导人，特别是经济大国的领导人会承认外国人的贡献，更不用说如此热情洋溢的赞美，但中国领导人却总是如此。不管这是不是我们应得的，却让我们感觉良好。

　　李克强总理说他是来听讲的。第一个发言的人是约翰•桑顿(John Thornton)，金融界的传奇人物，布鲁金斯学会的主席。他对于如何解决城镇化进程中的问题提出了三个建议。

　　随后米奇就高端服务行业如何促进经济发展发了言。

　　终于轮到山东华芯半导体公司首席技术官濮必得(Peter Poechmueller)，他热情地阐述了中国半导体产业应该如何发展。

　　总理听得很认真，做了笔记，说他想听到所有在座专家的意见，不过时间不允许。

　　快到6点了，客人们准备用晚餐。之前有人聊过，政府的节俭之风对菜单会意味着什么。

　　总理开场就说，这是他第一次作为总理参加类似论坛。他简单讲述了中国经济过去一年的表现。重点包括：7.7%的经济增长率，世界第二大经济体的“重任”，以及多年来最高的1300万个新增就业岗位。令人意想不到的是，他随后逐个回答了3位外国专家所提出的建议。

　　总理盛赞桑顿和米基，还夸奖普赫穆勒的“双重身份”，指出这位奥地利国民自称“山东人”，并感谢他不顾感冒，优先考虑中国的半导体产业。

　　随后，他向所有人致谢。

　　我有幸被安排在能坐18个人的“主桌”，正对李克强总理，占据了有利位置。

　　李克强总理很健谈，富于表现力且热情洋溢。与桑顿和克鲁克聊得很愉快。

　　晚宴的安排非常紧凑，李总理开始敬酒，但这也已经很晚了。每个人似乎都想要告诉他自己的经历，李总理认真倾听。

　　不久，他绕过半张桌子，来到我这里。我忍不住多攀谈了一会儿。

　　不说细节，我好好利用了那30秒。然后，李总理接着向客人们敬酒。

　　我看得出，他还没有吃多少，整个过程在下午7点整结束。