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Herbert W. Armstrong Post Office Box 431, Tucson, Arizona 85702
December 18, l979
Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with CHRIST:
I am back from probably the most important and successful single trip
overseas. I was honored to be the first church leader from the world of
Christianity to be invited as a guest speaker and for personal conferences with
leaders of the Communist People's Republic of China. There I spoke with leaders
who shape the minds and thinking and beliefs of one fourth of all the people
on earth!
With me was my wife, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley R. Rader, Mr. Osamo Gotoh
and Mr. Yamashita, a senior member of the Japanese Diet, secretaries, and
aircraft crew. All were guests of the government, and all were housed in the
government State House--a special guest house for official government visitors.
It is a two-story building, large enough to house the entire entourage
accompanying
me.
Government limousines drove up to our aircraft as we landed. A welcoming
delegation had come to the airport, including the president and vice-president
of the educational system, which includes the national library.
A woman interpreter was assigned to us, who accompanied Mrs. Armstrong
and me throughout our visit. She is a professor of English at the University
of Peking.
We arrived on Sunday evening, December 2nd. On Monday evening I spoke
for about a half hour at a banquet in my honor, attended by prominent members
of the government and their wives. Tuesday evening I spoke again before the
Diplomatic Corps, including ambassadors--many with wives--representing 76
(SEVENTY-SIX) other nations from all parts of the world, beside a number of
high-ranking Chinese.
Both of these speeches were taped, and will be heard in most of the local
churches of the Worldwide Church of God around the world.
A more detailed account of the entire visit to Communist China will appear
in the February issue of The PLAIN TRUTH.
We were taken on a virtual all-day visit to the great China wall--
undoubtedly
one of the seven man-built wonders of the world--on Tuesday. Wednesday was
a very full day. In the morning we visited the national library, the "Forbidden
City"--a walled city within the city of Peking--former palaces and buildings
of the Emperors. Then a noon luncheon, and at 4 p.m. the real highlight of
the visit--the private meeting at the Great Hall of the People (government
headquarters) with the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress--one of the three top men in the government, Mr. Tan Zhen-Lin.
A full report on our conversation--which lasted a full hour--will appear in The
PLAIN TRUTH. In a note from Mr. Rader from Tokyo, later, he said of this
conversation with the Communist leader, that the meeting "was truly a highlight,
in my opinion, of our travels around the world as you have strived to spread
the Gospel of the living Christ. The comments of the Vice-Chairman and your
own response to him, I believe, are well worth reciting for the benefit of all