Wednesday, 14 June

At 2.30 in the morning I went with Shaozhou, Daichu and the American Ambassador Harriman (with his secretary Thompson) and the Mexican Ambassador to take the special flight arranged by the Soviet Government. Our plane flew from the military airport in Moscow. At 8.00 in the morning we arrived at the capital Aktyubinsk in the Republic of Kazakhstan. We had lunch at the airport reception house and were served by the Soviet Government. The service was quite good and the food was good too. The hamburger steak and ice-cream were tasty. The flight took five and a half hours, and the weather was fine. It was quite comfortable. As I did not sleep last night, the seat in the plane was fine (It was a big American plane which was used to transport wounded soldiers. Therefore besides seats there were two beds, the Mexican Ambassador used one of them.) So I had a good sleep for several hours.  We started flying again at 9.00. At the beginning I could still sleep, but for the last hour, which was between 1.00 and 2.15 in the afternoon (Tashkent time 5.15), the plane vibrated violently. I felt dizzy, and closed my eyes and did not dare move. I thought that I was liable to dizziness, but afterwards Shaozhou, Daichu and Mexican Ambassador all told me that if the situation had persisted for half an hour more, they would certainly have vomited. This reflects that it is really not comfortable to fly in the afternoon. The Vice-Premier and concurrently the Minister of Interior, Kabulov, and Commissioner Koptelov and Consul-General Gou were all waiting at the airport. I and the Mexican Ambassador followed commissioner Koptelov to take a car to a villa 20km away from Tashkent. The Mexican Ambassador said that the buildings and the scenery in the countryside on the way are particularly similar to those in Mexico. I also said that they were similar to those in our country. The small houses, made of bricks, were intertwined with greenery, and the weather was fine but hot, which is similar to Central China. People’s clothing was bright with mixed colours, especially for the females. They were quite tidy which our women in villages could not catch up with, the room in the villa which was prepared for us was airy. The furniture was simple but the garden was extremely satisfactory. After taking a bath, the Commissioner had prepared snacks and the reception was quite nice. A translator was employed for me. Guo Jiesan said the translator was his English teacher, working temporarily for several days. At 8.00 Premier Abdurakhmanov of the Uzbek Republic invited us to a banquet at the diplomatic office. When I met Vice-President Wallace, I immediately invited him to visit China on behalf of my government. He said thank you and asked me to relay his greetings to the Chairman and Minister Song. Because there were too many people there, we could not talk for long. This time Vincent, Owen lattimore[1] and Hasard came with him. I talked to them for a while. I also made an appointment to meet Vice-President Wallace at 6.00 in the afternoon tomorrow. Vincent and others thought it would be better to go to China first instead of the Soviet Union. I thought so. The Vice-Premier and concurrently Minister of Interior, Kabulov, Vice-Premier Kabanov, Minister of Agriculture Rahbinov, the Head of the Agricultural Institute Maltsev, Commissioner Koptelov and the Deputy Minister of American Section of the Soviet Foreign Office Chuvakin, and the Minister of Communication representative Dolbin were also there. Wallace was quite nice and amicable, and had researched extensively on agriculture. His father had been the Secretary of Agriculture, and he also served in the same post. In the United States people marvelled that they shared the same post. He is the most progressive element in the American Democrats, so he is good to the Soviet Union and China in particular. Americans were also good to him. According to the Mexican Ambassador, apart from President Roosevelt, he is the most powerful one in the Democrats, but he did not have any officiousness or snobbishness. He can deliver speeches in Russian and he also knows Chinese. This is rare. In the banquet we were very happy, and the Uzbek Premier presented Wallace with a gold embroidered long gown during the banquet which was embroidered with real gold thread on the brocade. It was said that it took one year to make. He asked Wallace to give another one to President Roosevelt. According to the Uzbek custom, giving a gown serves the purpose of respecting an honourable guest. This old custom is really good. After the end of the banquet we were taken to the garden for a walk. The garden decorations were fine. Because there was no need to black out for air-raids, the lighting was quite splendid. It happened that this time the fruits were in early bloom, so they invited us to have snacks and fruits on the balcony. The Apples were fine and although the peaches were small, they were tasty. Apricots and strawberries were good too. During tea time, Ambassador Harriman, the Mexican Ambassador and I were presented with long gowns respectively by the Premier. When we were given the gowns the Premier helped us put them on. After putting on the hats we embraced as etiquette. Ambassador Harriman said he would like to see Wallace right through to Alma-Ata, and asked me if I would like to accompany them. I certainly said yes. When I was back at my residence it was already 12.30am. The Mexican Ambassador got drunk, but still insisted on going outside with the Wallace’s pilot to find women. The pilot did not dare go with him so he left earlier. Therefore when he took the same car with me back to the residences, he lamented on the way that it was meaningless to take a ten-hour flight and sleep on the most uncomfortable bed. Probably South Americans are outspoken about sexual desire, which is even move than the Europeans and the North Americans. When I was back I immediately prepared a telegram for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and cabled to Jingchen, informing him about the change in itinerary. I slept until one.

[1] Owen Lattimore (1900-1989) was an American scholar. He was an expert on Mongolian history.