Today I saw the news about the renovation of the Premier’s official residence and wanted to share this article, “Life Reflections of a Travel Agency Manager.”
I was fortunate enough to arrange the only trip in my life for Premier Sun to accompany his wife, Mrs. Sun, to Europe. At the time, I was a business manager at a travel agency, commissioned by Ms. Yin Yun-peng of CommonWealth Magazine to arrange an 18-day trip for the Premier to Austria and France. However, a bank statement was required for the visa application.
Shortly after returning to my office from Premier Sun’s home, I received a call from Mrs. Sun, Yu Hui-hsuan, informing me that she was having difficulty obtaining the bank statement and that if she couldn’t get the visa because of this, she would have to consider canceling the trip. These words truly moved me!
The position of Premier is equivalent to the prime minister in ancient times, and I served in that position for six years. I couldn’t believe the Sun family couldn’t even produce a bank statement. And if they didn’t even have a 100,000 NTD bank statement, how could they afford the trip?
After reporting this, I learned the reason for the trip, which moved me to tears. Years ago, after finishing his work on a power plant project for the United Nations in Nigeria, the UN offered him a second contract. However, a respected elder of the director in Taiwan called, and due to national needs, he declined the offer and returned to Taiwan. Returning to Taiwan from West Africa required a layover in France, with his first stop being Nice on the French Riviera. During the transit, Mrs. Sun saw the beautiful scenery from the immigration room and expressed her desire to visit. Director Sun promised then and there, “I must take her to Nice at least once in my life!”
Unexpectedly, after returning to Taiwan, he continued his official duties without interruption, and the promise had to be put aside. It wasn’t until he suffered two strokes that he finally retired from public office, but his mobility was limited, and his savings were insufficient, so the promise was never fulfilled.
This story came to the attention of Yin Yunpeng of CommonWealth Magazine, who was deeply moved! At the time, CommonWealth Magazine published the first biography of a living person in Taiwan, “The Biography of Sun Yun-hsuan,” which sold 100 copies immediately. The royalties that should have been collected by Dean Sun were, in his contract, donated entirely to charity. Therefore, despite the high sales, Dean Sun didn’t pocket a single penny.
So, when CommonWealth Magazine learned of Dean Sun’s unfulfilled wish, they offered to cover the expenses for Dean Sun and his wife to travel to Europe to fulfill their dream. By chance, I became the organizer of this trip.
I visited the Sun family home on Chongqing South Road several times to discuss matters with Dean Sun and his wife. Their home was furnished similarly to mine.
Each time I visited, Dean Sun would be impeccably dressed in a suit, sitting in his wheelchair, to express his gratitude, even after undergoing arduous rehabilitation. I, on the other hand, was just a manager among 2,000 travel agencies in Taiwan.
To ensure that obtaining visas wouldn’t prevent the Sun couple from traveling, I immediately wrote two letters in English to the visa officers at the Austrian and French embassies in Taiwan, respectively. The letters stated:
Mr. Sun is a former Premier, respected by the entire nation. He wishes to travel to your country for private purposes and earnestly hopes for a gracious visa.
After submitting the letters to the visa offices of both countries, the Austrian visa office, after reviewing them, immediately asked me to present Mr. and Mrs. Sun’s passports, and issued the visas within 20 minutes.
The French visa office is notoriously difficult to deal with. I submitted the letter in the morning, and around 3 PM that same afternoon, I received a call from a visa officer speaking heavily accented English, informing me to submit the passports by 4 PM and collect them the following morning. Extremely fast and completely free.
Later, a trip was arranged to Vienna and the Salzkammergut Lake District (the filming location for the movie “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”). With the help of Jenny Wu, the owner of Eurostar Travel Agency, Zhang Chunjuan, and tour guide Ms. Wen Yizhuang (now a vocalist at the Hamburg Opera House), as well as the French travel agency UTA, we spent 18 days touring Vienna’s Salzkammergut Lake District, Nice on the French Riviera, and Paris, fulfilling the wishes of Dean Sun and his wife.
That year, Dean Sun turned 80. To celebrate his father’s birthday, his son, Sun Yihe, commissioned 80 elders to each write an article recording their perspectives on Sun Yunxuan. These were eventually compiled into a book, “Sun Yunxuan’s 80th Birthday Book” (the exact title is forgotten), with a total print run of 100 copies.
As a token of gratitude, they gave me a copy. I took it back to the company and reported it to General Manager Scott Hsu, who then took a look. Unexpectedly, I borrowed it for 20 years and haven’t returned it yet; I still haven’t read the contents. Twenty years have passed; I wonder if General Manager Xu can still find that book.
During this time, I also met his daughter, Professor Sun Luxi, who participated in the trip discussions. I also had several phone conversations with another lady in London. This experience will be unforgettable.
Great men, so ordinary.
Discover more stories: A chance encounter with Sun Yunxuan’s visit to Longtan Amusement Park