Kang Wei

1434163309@qq.com

STUCK in quarantine at a designated hotel in Tianjin in May this year, American lawyer Charles Stone passed the time by reading ancient Chinese poetry. He even wrote a 五言绝句 (a poetic form consisting of four lines of five syllables, with rhymes on the first, second and fourth lines) and shared it on his WeChat Moments.

You might think he is just another laowai (foreigner) who is captivated by Chinese culture and has a real passion for Chinese poetry. You are right there. But once you come to know what incredible lengths he went to just to pursue his interest, you will immediately realize that he is no ordinary fan of Chinese culture.

Stone exhibited a talent for learning foreign languages at a young age. He studied French, German and Russian before graduating from college. When a friend challenged him to learn Chinese, widely known as one of the hardest languages in the world, he did not flinch.

Stone’s confidence grew incrementally following five years of Chinese language studies in Taiwan. He then went back to the U.S. to further his studies and received his Ph.D. in Chinese language and literature at the University of Chicago. Later, he was enrolled at one of the best law schools in the States, and obtained his J.D., cum laude.

“I thought that [to learn Chinese first and then go to law school] was a useful combination,” Stone said when asked about the “baffling” move he made.

There are five to six sinologists who are also practicing lawyers in the world, according to Stone. “I know four of them,” he said.

While studying for his law degree, Stone fortuitously met David Roy, a prominent sinologist who spent 30 years translating “The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin Ping Mei),” a classical Chinese novel, into English. For many years, Stone worked as Roy’s research assistant, helping him proofread and check his translation and footnotes, and preparing his books for publication. Eventually, Stone himself published a book on “Ruyijun Zhuan,” an anonymous erotic novelette that, in Stone’s opinion, has given inspiration to the author of “Jin Ping Mei.”

Stone said his “love affair” with Chinese poetry started as soon as he knew enough characters to read a poem. About 10 years ago, he “got into the habit of reading a lot of Tang Dynasty (618-907) poetry” and started writing poems of his own in that style.

Boasting extensive experience in a wide range of law, including corporate, M&A, tax and estate planning, as well as complex regulatory matters in China, Stone is currently working in the Shenzhen office of a Chinese law firm with some 500 lawyers. He is the only foreigner at the law firm.

Referring to himself as “Of Counsel,” he said his primary responsibility is to facilitate communication between the law firm and their foreign clients. And the communication gap can be properly handled by simply rewriting an email.

One of his Chinese colleagues once wrote a very long Chinese-style email to an American client, who didn’t text back after quite some time. Having no clue as to what went wrong, the colleague asked for Stone’s help. “I rewrote it really short so the American client could read it on his phone. Two minutes later, he responded,” Stone recalled.

This kind of things happened so many times that Stone later decided to fix the Chinese versions of the emails first. “There is no right way or wrong way of doing this,” he said. “But if you are dealing with American companies, you have to do it the Western way, and then everything will be a lot easier,” he said.