“My jump into the deep end”: trust is a top priority

When it comes to historical considerations and political analyses, the book market is certainly reacting to China’s growing economic importance. Likewise for tourist interest: Who wouldn’t want to climb the Great Wall? The entrepreneur Bernhard Weßling also did this when his wife Marika visited him because it had been her dream for a long time. But unlike others, his stay didn’t last days and weeks, but 13 years, during which he couldn’t just be an onlooker, but had to get used to what was initially a strange environment.

He wanted that from the start. In this book you meet a person who combines special talents: a thirst for research, confidence, humanity. As a doctor of chemistry, he developed and patented a novel process in plastics technology. It was about an organic polymer that is electrically conductive, important for the production of circuit boards. But he was also interested in the practical aspects: production, marketing. It was clear to him early on that China would be an important market. But things didn’t go as hoped. “Our customers didn’t want to use the processes the way we had developed them and then complained about quality problems.” But Weßling is not the kind of person who complains. Difficulties even tempt him. Getting involved in the unfamiliar, which many people shy away from, is the kind of challenge he really wants. But not as a lone fighter, but by joining forces with others.

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A boy from the Ruhr area, the fifth of six children in a “poor, non-traveling family,” who was extremely curious from an early age and never wanted to rise above others, even when he was successful. Togetherness begins with language. So he started learning Chinese. He describes how relationships were established with initially strangers in such a way that it makes you feel good to read it yourself. Coincidences kept coming to his aid. He recently published “What a coincidence!”, a physical-philosophical book “about unpredictability, complexity and the nature of time.” He probably also has a feeling for when chance creates opportunities. During a football game he happened to watch near his home in Shenzhen, he once replaced the exhausted goalkeeper, held the balls – and soon found a team with which he stayed. “They called him Lăo Wèi because “Weßling” was difficult to pronounce. He then gave this name to his Chinese company.

The city of Shenzhen, where he worked, stretches almost 100 kilometers from east to west. In the south it borders the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and is considered one of the fastest growing metropolises in the world. By 2005, when he came there, there were only electric cars there.

You can be amazed when reading about the “Chinese dimensions”, which have a lot to do with the booming economy. But mostly the close-up dominates. We are there in everyday situations – in a Chinese hospital and at the dentist on a Sunday morning. We get an insight into families, experience a Chinese New Year celebration and, together with the author, observe red-eared bulbuls, kingfishers, butterflies, frogs, bats and fireflies.

China as a natural paradise: Bernhard Weßling traveled through the country with Marika, but not to tick off sights, as tourists do who want to see a lot in a short time. According to the motto “Less is more”, he takes things more calmly. He also wants to be surprised in lesser-known places – by winegrowing in China or by wild Przewalski horses. It was a particular pleasure for him to observe black-necked cranes at the high mountain lake QuinHai. Finally, he has also made a name for himself in international crane research, as can be seen in his volume “The Call of the Cranes”.

Up close, a different picture of China emerges than is usually portrayed in Western media. “Strange observations in books and articles about China” – the penultimate chapter is downright amusing. It’s also interesting how we “Westerners” are viewed by the Chinese. Today and in the long term, Weßling believes there can be no other option than to cooperate with China. He has experienced how this can be achieved in detail: through care, reliability, openness. He capitalized the word “TRUST”.

Bernhard Weßling: My jump into cold water. Live and work in China with your eyes and ears open. Verlag am Park/Edition Ost, 401 pages, br., 24 €;
Conversation between the reviewer and the book author in the nd-Literatursalon on February 28th, 6 p.m., Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, Berlin.

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