The Story of Zhou Enlai

In 1971, Dr. Kissinger made a secret visit to China in order to restore diplomatic relations between China and the United States. Before a formal negotiation had begun, Kissinger suddenly made a request to Premier Zhou Enlai: "Your Excellency, the excavation results of your country's Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb have shocked the world, and that female corpse is indeed a rare treasure in the world! I have been commissioned by a well-known person in our scientific community to exchange a substance not found on earth for some charcoal around the female corpse, I wonder if your country is willing to do so?"

Hearing this, Premier Zhou Enlai casually asked, "Your Excellency, Secretary of State, I wonder what your government will exchange?" Kissinger said, "Lunar soil, that is, the soil brought back from the moon by our spacecraft, which should be considered something not found on earth!"

Premier Zhou laughed: "I wondered what it was, but it turns out to be something at the feet of our ancestors.

"Kissinger was startled and asked suspiciously, "What? You had someone on the moon long ago, when? Why don't you announce it?"

Premier Zhou Enlai smiled, pointed his finger at a tooth sculpture of Chang'e running to the moon on the coffee table, and told Kissinger earnestly, "Why didn't we announce it? As early as 5,000 years ago, we have a Chang'e flew to the moon, built on the moon Guanghan Palace to live, do not believe, we have to send people to see her! What, these things that our women and children know, you, a Chinese generalist, still don't know?" Premier Zhou Enlai's witty and humorous reply made the erudite Dr. Kissinger laugh. Excerpted from Global People, Zhang Yingxia/writing