How I served as a “Wedding General” in China

To begin, I should explain the meaning of a wedding General in Russia. In old times in Russia only noble people were admitted to military schools. So, to be a General meant to be a noble. Frequently rich merchants or manufacturers wanted to show that they have in their family noble relatives. Presence of a General at the wedding was unmistakable proof of blue blood.A real General would not accept such an invitation.

Thus, there were several old nice looking people who accepted the role of the wedding General for pay.  I was told by an American engineer who worked in China some time ago that the role of the wedding General is widely used in China. Frequently on the company negotiations one can see European faces who do not really participate in negotiations. Their presence is to show that the company has connections abroad, that it is an international company. Such people are in high demand and are well paid.

I went to China with a tourist group consisting mostly of retired people of an American university. Our guide brought us to a university in a poor Southern region of China. We participated in a very cordial meeting with the Chinese university officials. We signed some papers of collaboration. For that we received nice Chinese gifts and a delicious free lunch. It was evident that retired people have nothing to do with any US University and cannot help any collaboration. Then why do Chinese professors participate in that strange show? Because they treated us as wedding generals. We made a lot of photographs which will be placed on the Chinese university web site to show that university has collaboration with Western countries. It will supposedly increase the student enrollment.

The same show happened with a Chinese professor of music. We were paid with a wonderful presentation of his students and a free dinner. After that we went to a small city or village, where photographs were taken at a restaurant for a free lunch, very poor by the way. We also made pictures in a musical instrument shop. We got nothing, but maybe our guide did. I just don’t know.