I first met Ru Sin in 1981 when she was a junior cadre in the Second Bureau of the Communist Party. It is an agency specializing in uniting and serving overseas Chinese who are knowledgeable about the world, and who also hold an unyielding affinity with the motherland. She was looking after my daily needs in my visits to Beijing and other parts of China, where I was consulted with and lectured on world affairs. She was 23 years old and very intelligent.
China was just beginning to reform and open up to the outside world. The Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four had left deep hurts and wide ranging doubts in the minds and souls of everyone in the country