The book was in a daydream that Thursday afternoon, sitting in front of my computer, asked to write down the story of my many frequent trips to Mainland China, my livedexperiences, events and escapades with the Chinese people. Those were cherishedmemories, enthralled, full of adventure; souvenirs rich of unrivalled experiences, ofconspicuous flagrant knowledge through discovery of the old and the new.

SECTION ONE

Our Endeavours Were Treasured with Enriched Experiences

My Choice of the Title

China, or Fulfillment of Desire

"I"

Growing up through Vivid Images

The Pearl: My Path, My Tao, an Allegiance to the Pearl

The Pearl Road

Invoking My Memories

Hailing the Far East

Changing Itineraries

The Encounter

Pearl, the Queen of Gems

The Wind of Change Was Coming from China

A Big Responsibility for a Lucrative Marketing

Efficiency and Performance

Good Intentions Badly Interpreted

Some Polemics about the Pearl

Foreseeing the Future

Big Demands Enhanced to the Cultivation of Big Pearls

The History of Fancy （Baroque） Long and Big Pearls

Potential Buyers

The Symbol of a Queen

Freshwater Pearls Are Also Queens

The Birth of a Queen

Depletion of Thousand Oysters to Price One Pearl

The Natural Pearl （Perles Fines）

The Cultured Pearls

The Freshwater Cultured Pearls

The Akoya Cultured Pearls

History of Pearls

Hailing China

Affirming Its Rank Siding the Big Nations

Harnessing Nature to Recall

Ancient Ruins, Modern Cities: China in the 1970s

SECTION TWO

The Entrance Door Was Hong Kong

Omnipotent

"What Goes Around Comes Around"

A Rich Man in Hong Kong

On Our Way to Guangzhou

My Husband

Back to the Train

"What Goes Around Comes Around"

The Reminiscence of My Chinese Old Friend

Guangzhou

My Predilection on Women Issue

There Was a Snake on My Table

"Le roi est mort, vive le roi neuf"（The King Passed Away, Long Live the New King）

Nanjing, Jiangsu

Back to Nanjing

Eminent Capital

The Yangtze and Its Counterparts and Parallels

My Birthday Cake Was Made of Trees and Wood

Our Chinese Guardian

Buddhist Temple

Buddhism and Its Role in China Temple without Spirit or the Ageless Spirit

Song of Poet Li Po 1O6

The Shortest Way to the Crescent Is a Straight Line IO My Acquaintances with Jade

Jades Are Green and Multicolour and Unbounded Like Nature

My Second Baptism

My Second Initiation

Shanghai

"Xintiandi"

Historic Shanghai

Pearl Forum

At the Golden Beach

Beijing, the Elegant Strait-laced Capital

Looking Ahead by Looking Back

The Hutongs

Coming to Meet Authentic Natives ofHutong

Forbidden City

Dowager Summer Palace

The Great Wall

Epilogue