China is a land which obsesses luxury brands – a love-hate relationship always on the edge. On the one hand a seemingly never-ending number of ever more sophisticated clients enamoured with the Maisons’ luxury products; on the other the world’s workshop of fakes and dupes. Now, an IP counsel may work on China counterfeiting matters for years without ever stepping foot in China … until the opportunity arises unexpectedly as it did for me.

2012: My first trip to China felt like I was Alice in Wonderland- a succession of unbelievable magical moments and connections which left an indelible mark.

As I gleefully slipped on the red socks and sleeping mask offered by the airline on “business class” (my first time!), I promised myself I would taste the most strange and exotic dishes during my trip.

When in Rome…

…the first night in Hong Kong, I ate jellyfish!

The following morning, I had a meeting scheduled with the extraordinary, queen of Cartier’s high jewellery design (a lady with an incredible class and authority). We were to visit the Gem & Jewellery fair together. After overseeing the area where we might (and did) find the fakes and dupes, she walked me through the different areas of the fair, commenting- almost to herself.

She looked regretfully at the beautiful jade pearls displayed in the glass cases “such a shame … we can’t work with jade anymore- it’s such a magnetic stone…and so Cartier ! oh look! That vintage brooch! I designed it 30 years ago – it almost feels as if it were a child I hadn’t seen for years… Come this way I want to show you something- it’s the area of the Chinese jewellery creators. They are getting better … no they are getting good. In a short while I will be employing them in my design teams….» She said this in 2012!

We took the time to tour the displays. One of them featured a small pendant which attracted me almost magnetically: a white opal on which some metal and enamel work represented two small fish. The jeweller told me: this piece is inspired by a famous Chinese poet who talks about fish in a lake – a reference to ancient philosopher Zuangzi’s thoughts on “fish happiness” and a man’s inability to understand it… he gave me a catalogue in which the pendant was featured.

I liked the story… That evening, as I looked at the picture of the fish pendant, I munched on chicken feet.

The next day we flew to Shanghai. Our lawyers from China met us in the lobby – I’d never met them in person, but we had a meeting scheduled with the Shanghai police authorities to urge them to take stronger action to protect our Maisons’ products. We waited for a taxi – all of us a little nervous.

As we waited, I flipped out the picture of the fish pendant thinking it might serve as a distraction – “I didn’t quite catch the name of the poet who might have inspired this pendant: would you know?”… Our lawyer blanched – and hailed a taxi. His associate took the photo and whispered, “I’ll tell you later”.

The meetings went smoothly, and afterwards, we sat together for lunch, more relaxed.

The question of the pendant and the poet came up. The poet, it turned out, was Gu Cheng, a famous dissident poet who, following the Tiananmen massacre, had fled the country to New Zealand, with a Professor of the University of Beijing. The Professor himself was a New Zealander who had fallen in love with Chinese literature and who was none other than the father of our lawyer! Gu Chen ended his life tragically, killing himself after murdering his wife, but the poem about fish happiness had stayed in the minds of all Chinese people.

As I worked my way through my dish of hairy crab (a speciality from Shanghai), I could not help but wonder at this extraordinary chain of events – it was only the beginning of a longer journey of discovery into the realm of Chinese literature – the rabbit hole went so much deeper.

I later met the Professor himself – perhaps the most charming, erudite and funny man I have ever met. I also read his translation of a Chinese classic: The Story of the Stone (or the Dream of the red chamber) by Cao Xuequin … a unique account of the life of Baoyu, an 18th century teenager of a noble house … in only 6 volumes. Surprisingly modern, built like a Netflix series – cliffhangers at the end of every chapter. And an array of 300 characters to choose from and adopt. My favourite quickly became Wang XiFeng, the wife of the very incompetent and lazy master of the house. She is a seductress, she is funny, witty, clever but also unmerciful and often cruel …. But we also discover she is sad, and barren having suffered many miscarriages. This book was written in the 18th Century!

A few months later, our Chinese lawyers were due to attend the Salon de la Haute Horlogerie as it was still called. Geneva could not in any way offer the rooftops of Shangahai and so I opted to invite them to our home in a little town across the border.

A French town where 18th Century philosopher Voltaire had lived. It so happens Voltaire had a great deal to say about China at the time -some of it critical and unpolitically correct but most in awe and admiration of the age-old culture: « Still, four thousand years ago, when we couldn’t even read, the Chinese knew all the absolutely useful things we boast about today »

At the end of a friendly philosophical dinner, I attempted to initiate our Chinese friends to French specialities, ending the meal with a plateau of cheese – they bravely tried one or two … but blue cheese was simply beyond any courage they could muster. It remained untouched!

The magic of this trip turned a professional trip into something much richer. I discovered more than a country; I caught a glimpse of a whole new culture. I expanded my culinary horizons (and put on a few kilos) … but mostly, I made dear long-life friends who are all tied into the mystery of what a famous Chinese philosopher and later poet called “Fish Happiness”.

POEM BY GU CHENG (1981)

Summer outside the pane

the crying lasted long through the night
when the sun rose
the raindrops glittered
before steaming away
I didn’t wipe the glass
I knew that the sky was blue
and the trees were out there, comparing their hair
clacking their castanets
pretending to be huge predatory insects

it all is so distant

once we were weak as morning cicadas
with wet wings
the leaves were thick, we were young
knowing nothing, not wanting to know
knowing only that dreams could drift
and lead us to the day
clouds could walk in the wind
lakewater could gather light
into a glinting mirror
we looked at the green green leaves
I still don’t want to know
haven’t wiped the glass
ink-green waves of summer rise and fall
oars knock
fish split the shining current
a red-swimsuit laughter keeps fading

it all is so distant
that summer still lingers
the crying has stopped