The Conflicting Situations Daniel Ng and Elisa Ng Have Found Themselves in China

China Aid Association
The Conflicting Situations Daniel Ng and Elisa Ng Have Found Themselves in China

November 5, 2007
I. Personal background

1.     Family background: My
name is Daniel Ng and I’m an ethnic Chinese with Australian citizenship. My ancestral
home is in Jieyang, Guangdong Province. Elisa is my wife and
both of us were born in Hong Kong in 1958. In 1996,
our family immigrated to Australia
and we have a lovely son and daughter. Our son is currently studying in college
in Melbourne and our daughter has gone back to work
in Hong Kong.
2.  Five trips to China
(my love for China)
i. Environmental protection and love
for the countryside in China
Though our home was in Melbourne,
our roots are in China.
In 1978, as China was
opening up and conducting reforms, my wife and I crossed the Xiangjiang River
and stepped on that vast expanse of mainland China for the first time. When we went
to the countryside in China,
we were shocked to find that the life of the majority of Chinese peasants was
very hard and they lacked consciousness in environmental protection. In order
to increase production and harvest, they began to use large amounts of
fertilizers and pesticides. As a result, the resources in the countryside suffered
damage and the living environment was polluted. At this time, we were upset for
a long time and we began to think how we could help our Chinese compatriots by
tapping our resources, however frail they were.
In 1981, we came to China again to show our concern for
the people in the countryside and study the need for the development of the
church. In the meantime, we were looking for a proper way to help the Chinese
peasants leave the poverty behind them and raise the quality of their life.
ii. A big company in obtaining foreign currency and an
enterprise based on good faith.
In 1983, we founded Hong Kong Teng Long International Company
Limited and we attended China Import and Export Fair twice a year. In the
meantime, we brought in a large number of international businessmen and the foreign
currency of US dollars to China
and became “a large foreign currency achiever.” In the national foreign trade
system, we were rated as “enterprise in good faith” and we were glad we could make
our tiny contribution to the economic development of China. In the meantime, the light
industrial products, handicrafts, and Native Produce & Animal By-Products
that we exported became the side occupation for peasants all over China
to increase their income.
iii. Protect nature and bring benefits to all the people
Australia is blessed with beautiful scenery and the
nature there offers a comfortable life. It is a paradise that many people want
to immigrate to. However, our love for our motherland always presented itself
in our dreams. In 1999, my wife and I decided to give up the comfortable life
in Australia and with our strong desire of “protecting nature and bringing benefits
to all the people,” we came to China once again with our technology in
microorganism. As our appreciation, we invested all our capital in China, including the 30 million that we earned
from trading with China and
we even sold our real estate properties in Australia
and Hong Kong. Without any support or
connections in China,
we established an enterprise to “promote agriculture through science and
technology.” This should prove our love for China
and our response to the state’s call to show concerns to the three problems in China’s
rural areas: agricultural production, rural development, and assistance to
farmers
iv. Responded to the state’s call and self-less contribution
In 2001, my wife and I invested and built a factory and founded Guangzhou
Enoch Biological Science and Technology Co., Ltd. and in a short time we came
out with a product line in seven areas of body health, cosmetics, planting,
animal husbandry, aquatic products, and environmental products. Responding to
Premier Wen Jiabao’s call to “build a new socialist countryside,” we helped the
Ministry of Agriculture promote ecological organic agriculture. The two
important targets in “sustainable development in agricultural economy” were
achieved through our biological technology. Through large investments, we
braved the hardship in promoting the agriculture and made our indefatigable
efforts on the project. In the meantime, we showed our concern for the peasants
and helped poor students get their college education. We donated large amounts
of probiotic
bacteria beverages in a planned and organized way to sick peasants and
underprivileged social groups. This is purely a self-less donation coming from
deep in our hearts.
v. Media reports: Our hearts are in our motherland of China
For this, People’s Daily, Quality Supervision Newspaper of China,
China Economy, Guangdong Television, Guangzhou TV, and other media agencies
have reported our achievements. This shows our love for our motherland.
3.      Background in business culture: In our business operation, we uphold
the company theme of “Love at Your Side.” In the meantime, we also promote the three-fold
Gospel of physical health, emotional health, and the soul in our business
culture and missions. Our patriotism comes from the cultural background in
which we grow up. Poverty alleviation, scholarship, and giving beverage gifts are
all a natural flow of our life. This is also a reflection of “building a
harmonious society” and the “sense of responsibility for the overall society of
the business entities” proposed by President Hu Jintao.
II.Our view on the August 21 Incident

1.     Causes
and consequences of the August 21 Incident: As the state proposes that a business
should not only make money, but should also have a sense of responsibility for
the society, we have held over 20 Christian-style company-sponsored events of
seeking investment and gatherings attended by Christians specializing in the
fields of industry and commerce. Many of our religious friends attended the
events and gatherings. As we overstated our Christian business culture in our
efforts to seek investment, employees from the Administration Bureau of
Industry and Commerce and the local police station once came to visit, but no
relevant agencies have ever said anything against us. Therefore, when many
high-ranking government officials came to show their concern for our company
and our employees starting from August 21 of this year, we were overwhelmed as
well as bewildered by this unexpected favor.
2.     Religious
misunderstanding: As my wife and I grew up overseas and received a Western-style
education, we don’t know too much about the difference between the Western
culture and the Chinese culture. We know even less that to decorate our strong Christian
business culture and our expression was too direct and our presence was too high-profile.
As we did not know how to make our business culture more Chinese, we made some
of our compatriots in China
and relevant agencies unable to understand us fully, which resulted in
misunderstandings, disagreements, and even conflicts. We really should do a lot
of self-examination and self-introspection on our words and conducts.
3.  Our personal opinions: After August 21 of
this year, investigators from some government agencies went to our factories on
many occasions and repeatedly asked the people in the technology department of
the factory about the relevant recipes, technological processes in
manufacturing, control points, and other trade secrets. What is more serious is
that they used the media and concocted false news in an attempt to defame the
business. After many entities came to us on various grounds and conducted
investigations for over two months, they still have not come up with a
conclusion. Given this series of incidents, we couldn’t but suspect that there
is a mastermind behind this trying to grab our sunrise enterprise and our core
technology worth over 100 million yuan by taking advantage of this religious
misunderstanding.
III.Our Appeal

1.      We appeal for an understanding from the
government. We hope that the government whom we regard as our parents
understand errors in our conduct and our way of expression as we were brought
up overseas. To our compatriots in China, the business culture
presented by a patriotic overseas businessman who has a loving heart for his
motherland is entirely an effort to guide our compatriots to be a good man
before he can perform good deeds. However, the way of presenting this culture
may not be very accurate and it was presented in high profile. The discs we
burned and our print materials were all given away in public to our
distributors. This shows we are frank, straightforward, and do everything in
the open and that we never had any malice to provoke anybody. By the principle
of our faith, we support the Chinese government, follow the policies of the state,
and respect the laws of the state. Our ultimate goal is help our motherland
develop its economy and show our concern for the society. We hope the
government leaders understand this and give us support.
2.      We hope the government can complete the
investigation as soon as possible. It has been over two months since August 21.
After two months of investigation, we think the government agencies should have
a good understanding of everything we have. Besides, both sides of us are
exhausted by this case. Some of the employees in our company have one by one
quit their jobs as they could no longer endure the stress. As our assets are frozen,
the factories cannot operate normally and our business is on the brink of
bankruptcy. We hope the government can give us a clear answer. In the meantime,
we hope this investigation can promote our exchange of ideas and good feelings
we have toward each other. We also hope this investigation can help us resume
our normal production.
3.      As the old Chinese saying goes, “harmony
is at the top of all achievements,” different cultures are here for people to
share with each other, not to harm each other. We thank our leaders for their
care for us and for promoting the reform of our business. We are totally
convinced of your correctness. It is already 30 years since we first came to China and we have had an excellent relationship
with Guangzhou
for 30 years. We have grown up together with Guangzhou and we don’t want to see anything
that we feel sorry for in this city!
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Ng and Elisa Ng