In Giving We Receive

was impossible. The 1984 Sino-British agreement returning Hong Kong to China in 1997 provided the price of admission (p. 22). Returning Hong Kong to the mainland was no easy task, for it amounted to losing a jewel from the British Crown, but it was clear that the British Monarch’s desire to visit China was not unconnected with Britain’s avidity for trade with that country and, obviously, the ensuing gains would be immense. Relations between Britain and China had been uneasy over the last hundred years, but with the Queen’s historic visit—the first ever made to China by a member of a British Royal family—the gates to trade were thrown open. A successful piece of diplomacy, it paved the way to an annual trade agreement of over one and a half billion dollars. A jewel may have been lost from the crown, but the subsequent benefits will be enormous. Clearly, we have to give in order to take. That is the way of the world. □ Rectifying others and being ready to be rectified oneself When Abu Bakr was elected to be the first Caliph of Islam, he addressed the people. “I have been put in charge of your affairs,” he said, “though I am no better than you. I will consider the weakest of you as the strongest, as long as I have not ensured that he receives his rightful due. And the strongest among you will to me be the weakest, as long as I have not ensured that he pays what he owes. People, I am just like any one of you. If you see that I am pursuing a proper course, then follow me; and if you see me err, then set me straight.”