Recommendation Letter for Travel Visa outside China

孺子可 教 - This young person is worth educating

Hello folks. Occasionally some of my Chinese friends ask for my help in getting approval to travel outside of China for tourism or job related reasons. One of my friends asked for a letter of recommendation, but she didn’t tell me to whom I should address the letter. With my sense of humor that’s a BIG mistake. I wrote the following humorous letter. None of my Chinese friends will ever ask for my assistance again, I fear. All names are fictional, the events are real, more or less...

LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION FOR PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL

For Attention of: President Hu Jintao
People’s Republic of China

Dear President Hu,

My good friend Miss Li Liming asked me to write a letter recommending her for professional travel outside of China. Miss Li is an excellent representative for China. She is a diligent and professional young engineer with a friendly heart. It is my pleasure to help her. Unfortunately, she did not tell me to whom I should address this letter, or give me instructions where to send it. Therefore I decided to write directly to you. I trust you can find the proper person to assist my good friend.

Miss Li is a young research engineer in the area of advanced composite materials used in airplanes, space craft, sporting equipment, and automobiles. I believe Miss Li will be a great contributor to this vital industry. I have been impressed with her great intelligence, an inquisitive mind, and a diligent hard working spirit. President Hu, I understand that you once were a young engineer with a promising future. Perhaps you can understand very well the importance of international business and professional travel to help develop young engineers into China’s future leaders.

China, of course, has many excellent young people. It is possible that you might not know Miss Li personally. I should take this opportunity to discuss Miss Li’s particular fine points. This will help you know her better.

Miss Li works in a prestigious research institute near Beijing. In the last 12 months I worked extensively with Miss Li, her leaders and her colleagues. In spite of difficult tasks and long hours, Miss Li demonstrated excellent spirit, persistence, and determination.

Miss Li has the unique ability to use good humor with her leadership skills. One night at midnight, I came to their workshop after enjoying a fun evening of dinner, beer, and karaoke singing. Miss Li and her colleagues were still working through the night. I asked, “Why are you not finished yet?” Miss Li pretended to be very angry. She wrapped me in carbon fiber like a big fat silkworm and put me in the cold freezer. This simple action provided tremendous cheer for her coworkers and helped them work faster. Happy workers produce better quality. Through the locked freezer door, I was so happy to hear everyone laughing for hours. Fortunately she remembered to release me before going home.

Miss Li is also a humble and charming wife. She is always praising her husband and telling me good compliments about him. President Hu, I know what you are thinking: “This does not sound like any Chinese wife in history.” I certainly agree…I have a Chinese wife myself. Every time I visit Miss Li, I bring gifts for her husband of magazines and books with pictures of beautiful women. Miss Li is very helpful. When giving the books to her husband, she circles and points out the pictures of the most beautiful women. She does not remove the pictures of the unfortunate beautiful women who forgot to wear clothes. Her husband is a very fortunate man.

Miss Li is a patient teacher to me for Chinese language and culture. She enjoys teaching me many Chinese words, history, and art. One evening, Miss Li was teaching me a Chinese song. As soon as she started singing, many dogs howled to sing with her, glass windows and tea cups shattered, and some old buildings collapsed. Her voice might be perfect for Beijing opera.

Miss Li taught me that dancing can be used for leadership with Chinese workers. One night at a KTV bar, Miss Li cleverly hid her true dancing skills and pretended to have little ability. Her dancing brought tremendous cheer and laughter to her coworkers. Everyone in her workshop worked harder for many weeks, laughing and smiling when they remembered her special dance.

President Hu, I could keep writing about Miss Li’s special virtues. However I hear that sometimes you are a little bit busy. I will conserve your time. In summary, Miss Li is an excellent representative for China. China will benefit greatly from Miss Li’s development of her professional skills and growing network of international friends. I offer only one caution – please ask her not to sing near buildings with many glass windows.

I remain China’s humble friend.

Shaun 酒王