Nationalist-Communist Negotiation Secretariat

Author: Qi Rugao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-09-01
Features: Passing through the Suez Canal, the "President" slowly entered the Mediterranean. The deck was crowded with men and women from various parts, with prominent noses and sunken eyes, chattering incessantly. Soon, the evening glow bathed the sea, the waves as smooth as a mirror. Gazing into the distance, the sea and sky merged into one, dyed in orange and crimson. It was already late in the first lunar month of the year, corresponding to the third nine-day period in the Chinese lunar calendar, but the tourists had no intention of returning to their cabins. They seemed to have felt no chill. In fact, that winter had come particularly late and departed particularly early. Many years later, European meteorologists would regard it as a sign of global warming, while the ancient Chinese diviners, with their more sophisticated and ingenious interpretations, saw it as a portent of peace: "In the year Bingzi, the harmony of winter reappeared, a sign of the cessation of war." Bingzi, they noted, corresponded to the Gregorian calendar year 1936.