Ａｎｔｏｎｉｏ Ｆｅｒｎａｎｄｅｚ Ａｒｃｅ， ａ Ｓｉｎｃｅｒｅ Ｐｅｒｕｖｉａｎ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄ

In the cold winter of 1960， a group of Latin American journalists who took a keen interest in new China came to that country. Among them there was a young Peruvian journalist named Antonio Fernandez Arce. He was very excited， for it was his first visit to this far-away and mysterious country. In the early morning when he climbed up the top floor of Beijing Hotel despite the biting cold wind， an ancient and unadorned scene came into his sight， which intoxicated him. Looking ahead， he saw the red sun cast light upon the glittering Tian An Men Rostrum， and at a distance ranges of the Yanshan Mountains provided a green protective screen for the city. Looking to the south， he saw the Zhengyang Gate Tower and the dome of the Temple of Heaven that seemed to rise from the ancient city wall. There were already many people in the streets and bicycles moving on the icy roads. How charming Beijing was! It had never occurred to him that since then he would become attached to Beijing and form an indissoluble bond with this country that was emerging from the eastern part of the earth.

When talking about that visit， Arce told me about Chairman Mao’s meeting with him that had left an unforgettable deep impression on him. Chairman Mao， as the founder of new China， enjoyed high prestige among the progressive people in the world. It was his long-cherished wish to have a chance to listen to Chairman Mao’s talk in person. Exceeding his expectations， Chairman Mao not only showed great interest in the situation in Latin America， but also knew a lot about the Latin American history. Soon after the meeting began， Chairman Mao said that Latin America was really too far away from China. Due to various reasons， the two sides had very little contacts with each other. Today so many Latin American friends had come to China， and you were the best teachers who could help us know about Latin America. Then Chairman Mao said， he only had a superficial knowledge about their countries， and recently he had read some materials about Latin America. “I seek help at the last moment”， Chairman Mao said humorously. Then he turned round and said to Arce， you came from Peru. In the ancient times in your country there was a great Inca Empire that was well known for its developed agriculture， superb architectural technique and rich knowledge about astronomy. It was said that the Inca Empire was a society with a strict ethic. Arce told Chairman Mao that the ethic the Incas had believed in for generations was: never steal， never tell lies and never be lazy. While repeating the three “nevers”， Chairman Mao nodded， saying， “What a good ethic it is!” After hearing Chairman Mao’s remarks， all the Latin American friends present at the meeting admired Chairman Mao’s rich knowledge about the history of Peru.

There was an interesting episode in that meeting. When the car in which Arce sat stopped at the gate of the meeting hall in Zhongnanhai， a refined and courteous official took a step forward and shook hands with Arce and others. After the meeting with Chairman Mao ended， Arce asked the interpreter to present him alone to Premier Zhou Enlai. To his surprise， the interpreter told him that the official who had shaken hands with him at the door of the car in front of the meeting hall was none other than Premier Zhou. As at that time he was preoccupied with the thought of what he should say when Chairman Mao met with them， he did not pay much attention to the official who shook hands with him when he got off the car. He thought the official was one from the Department of Protocol who was doing his routine work to greet guests. Realizing that he had committed a serious error of negligence and been very impolite， Arce asked Premier Zhou to excuse him. Hearing that， Premier Zhou laughed heartily， saying， “ Never mind. Don’t we meet and get to know each other now? To have a feeling of regret that we have not got to know each other sooner just proves that we are real friends!” Hearing Premier Zhou’s reply with such a profound meaning， Arce was filled with admiration of Premier Zhou’s gentility and magnanimity.

On January 8， 1976， our beloved Premier Zhou passed away. When the sad news came to Peru， a Peruvian girl was deeply grieved. On that day she went to the Chinese Embassy in Peru to offer her condolences. In front of the portrait of the deceased Premier， with the utmost deference she stood in silent tribute and wrote down her grief over the death of him on the book of condolence. Then she walked up to Jiao Ruoyu， Chinese ambassador to Peru， and hard to control her grief， she held his hands tightly. She had an extraordinary experience. As her life was directly related with Premier Zhou’s care， she had a kind of special feeling towards him. In 1999 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China， she wrote an article entitled China Is in My Blood and Heart to express her boundless gratitude to China and the premier.

In February 1970， shortly after her birth， Flor de Maria Fernandez， who was unfortunately suffering from septicemia， was given emergency treatment in the Beijing Children’s Hospital. At that time her father Arce was an expert of Spanish language working for Radio Beijing (now it is called China Radio International). Though he was very much worried about his daughter who was on the verge of death， he worked as hard as usual. When Premier Zhou learnt about it at a dinner with foreign experts， right away he enjoined the department concerned to give the girl best treatment and “to spare no efforts to save the Peruvian girl’s life”. At that time， because of her illness Maria needed to have blood transfusion over and over again. But in the blood bank of the hospital there wasn’t much left——the blood plasma that was of the same blood type of hers. The medical department in charge immediately contacted an army unit stationed in Beijing. Many officers and soldiers came to the hospital to donate blood. At the critical moment when the serious illness threatened Maria’s life， the PLA soldiers’ blood was transfused into her blood veins time after time before she took a turn for the better and was out of danger. Arce had never expected that Premier Zhou who worked hard for the state affairs day and night was still concerned about her daughter’s illness and many times asked staff members in his office to inquire about the progress of the treatment. It was not until he learnt that she was fully recovered and left the hospital that Premier Zhou felt relieved， and asked a staff member to take his message of congratulations to Arce.

Arce was very emotional when recalling all this. He said， it was universally acclaimed that Premier Zhou always had the well being of the people at heart， but it had never occurred to him that Premier Zhou should have shown so much care and love for a foreign child and treated her just like his own child. Maria owed her life to the good Chinese premier. His family would never forget it， he added.

At the end of 1970， after finishing his work in the radio station， Arce with his wife and two daughters returned home. Unexpectedly， they met trouble when entering Hong Kong， as his eight-month-old daughter Maria only had a Chinese birth certificate and was taken as a Chinese girl who was not allowed to enter this British colony. After much negotiation and testified by Miguel Barandiaran， Peruvian consul to Hong Kong， the little girl was finally allowed to enter Hong Kong.

The reason why Arce returned Peru via Hong Kong was that he wanted to pass an important message to the Peruvian consul in Hong Kong. Once in a talk with Arce， the only Peruvian in China at that time， Premier Zhou told him that China wanted to develop relations with Peru and hoped to have a channel to establish contacts with the Peruvian government. Arce knew that the Peruvian Consulate in Hong Kong could play a role; so all night he had a long talk with the consul about how to promote the matter. Soon after that， the Chinese Government took an action and through the consulate passed the 8-point memorandum on the development of Sino-Peruvian relations to the Peruvian government.

At the end of April 1971， a Chinese delegation led by Zhou Huamin， the then vice minister of foreign trade， paid a visit to Peru. As this was the first official Chinese delegation to visit the country， it goes without saying that Arce who was enthusiastic about developing Peru-China relations was very much excited. He knew that to the Chinese delegation Peru was a distant and strange country， and therefore when accompanying the delegation on the visit， Arce voluntarily served as a “guide” and told Vice Minister Zhou and his party stories in the Peruvian history. He told them that the name of Peru came from Quechua language spoken by the local aboriginals， meaning “large ear of maize” or “warehouse of maize”， for the place abounded in maize. When they came to Cuzco， ancient capital of the Inca Empire， called proudly by the Peruvian people as the “city closest to the sun”， and Machupichu known as the “sacred city in the cloud” built at the top of a high mountain， he told them about the prosperity and power of the Inca Empire during the period from the 12th century to the 16th century. It was an enormously large country with an area of 4 million square kilometers extending from Pasto of Ecuador in the north to the Rio Maule River in Chile in the south， and from the middle of Bolivia in the east to the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the west. Cuzco was called by the emperor of the Inca Empire as “the centre of the universe”. Arce’s introduction aroused the delegation’s great interest and later the Inca Empire became one of the hot topics (beside the bilateral trade relations) talked at the conference table. In June of the same year， a Peruvian trade delegation visited China. The two countries decided to set up trade representative’s offices in each other’s countries. Arce serving as adviser to the trade representative’s office came to China again and busied himself with making preparation for setting up the office and promoting trade ties between the two countries. In Arce’s words， the trade representative’s office actually served as an “interim embassy”， doing all kinds of work. In the first year after its establishment， the office achieved remarkable results in promoting bilateral trade ties. For the first time Peru exported a large quantity of products to China including 150，000 tons of fishmeal， 20，000 tons of fish oil， 40，000 tons of copper， 10，000 tons of lead and 10，000 tons of zinc.

On November 2， 1971， the two countries announced the establishment of diplomatic relations. The trade representative’s offices that set up in each other’s countries only few months before were immediately changed their names into embassies.

After returning to Peru in 1973， Arce served as director of the News Editorial Department of La Prensa. During that period he still focused his attention on following the development of the Chinese situation. It can be said that almost not a single important event at each stage of China’s progress did he not report. He was so indignant when he read the malicious attacks against China that the Western media dished out with ulterior motives from time to time that he， as a witness of China’s tremendous progress， would write articles immediately to retort them. The articles， commentaries and reports he wrote about China were published not only in the local newspapers but also in the newspapers in other Latin American countries and Spain.His vivid and persuasive articles that catered to readers’ needs won favourable comments from many sides. He became a famous columnist on China issues in the Latin American press circles.

In April 1977 Arce and Manuel Jesus Orbegozo， president of the Peruvian-China Cultural Institute， visited China again. The main aim of his visit this time was to gather information about the problem of the “Gang of Four”. As he worked in China during the period between 1962 and 1973， he followed the “cultural revolution” and the problem of “Gang of Four” with particular interest. At that time the rampant anti-China opinion launched by the West caused ideological confusion among the Peruvian and Latin American people. Arce thought that as an old friend of China， he had responsibility to speak fairly about China. Therefore， he came to China to acquire a thorough understanding of the situation so as to write firsthand reports to clear up the confusion.

On that visit I accompanied Arce and Orbegozo again and acted as interpreter at the Vice Premier Li Xiannian’s meeting with them. Though their schedule was very tight， every night Arce collated his notes and wrote reports one after another. Vice Premier Li left a deep impression on him. Arce said， Vice Premier Li’s amiableness， approachability and good humour cleared up their doubts and suspicions. He told Vice Premier Li that he was very unhappy when he saw the excesses of criticism against Chen Yi in the early days of the “cultural revolution”. Later， when the literary and art circles were under the control of Jiang Qing， only 8 model operas were allowed to be put on show. At that time he worked in the Spanish language section of Radio Beijing and found that even good Latin American musical pieces were not allowed to be broadcast. He really couldn’t understand this kind of severance of splendid Chinese and foreign cultural traditions. He said， now he understood everything， and he mentioned that just as Vice Premier Li once said this was what’s called “going against the trend of the times”. No sooner had he finished his words than the vice premier laughed heartily， saying “You have now become an international fighter of mass criticism and repudiation.”

After returning to Peru， Arce compiled his reports that had been published into a book entitled China After Mao Zedong which was well received by readers of various social circles especially by intellectuals， the middle-aged and the young people， especially the Spanish-speaking people.

From the 1960s to the 1970s， Arce worked for Radio Beijing， and from 1983 to 1994 worked as an expert of the Spanish language in the Xinhua News Agency. Since 1998 he has worked in China again. Altogether he has worked in China over 20 years. For this， he was chosen as a “foreign expert with outstanding contributions” by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. Now he has happily settled down in Beijing. Recently he was invited to serve as senior adviser to the Spanish News Channel of the CCTV， continuing to contribute his wisdom and talent to the exchanges in the press and cultural areas between China and other countries. Not long ago I was invited to his new residence where we recalled the days that he had spent in China. He said with feelings that it was a long course of more than 40 years that he has gone through with the growth of this young People’s Republic.