A Very Heartache Day—January 4

A Very Heartache Day—January 4

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

On the 4^th day of January, this is a very heartache day to me for mourning my father‘s death. In 1998, I held fifty or more seminars about ‘Science & Future’, and same year I accelerated the RD of ‘IoT’ to complete Linda’s invention—‘TES’ in expecting to avoid the coming jobless problem, so I had to go Europe to urge my suppliers. On November 22, I returned to Tainan for celebrating my father’s birthday with Linda and Dean, the former VP of Chi-Mei Inc. Mr. Yuan-Chang Zhang who said that “Taiwan’s prosperity because of somebody like your father.” My father Kun-Cheng Kuo put his hand on Dean’s shoulder and we took a picture together, and I’ve never expected father soon pass away in the later few days. Thereafter, the heartache could not be swept away and continued till today or forever.

Father made many efforts to remain his health, because he suffered a lot when he was young. He found out that walking ten thousand steps per day to maintain the strong legs was a best way, but how to make it? He thus researched various methods and finally chose the ‘Tap Dance’ to practice for years and like a professional tap dancer. He did an improvisation in front of Mr. Zhang, we’re all happy for his performance. Father faced me and said: “Don’t forget me as next time you’ll go France, I’ll go with you to buy a Napoleon hat to increase the performance effects.” I promised: “Of course! Let’s go for it.” However, I've never attained my promise because of his sudden death.

Originally, I told him “I’ll come back to take you to Taichung for visiting the Lab of Aerospace Center on January 1 (in 1999).” But he replied me that “I’ll go to Taichung for your seminar by January 6…” Unexpectedly, I can no longer talk to him since then. Father was born in 1925 at the top rich family of Tainan, but everything be taken away in 1937 for the sake of my grandfather rejected the Japanese business to carry those ‘Comfort Women’ by his fleet to South-Asia. It’s very difficult to finish my father’s primary school because no money to pay the tuition, and often insulted by the teachers. Consequently, father did not enter the junior high school but to be an apprentice of dentist. He quickly learned those relevant skills about dentist; however, a conscription order came from Japanese navy to him in 1941, so he served in the navy during the World War II for production of the ‘Zero Fighter’. So that he always told about the aircrafts throughout his life. Father invented and gave many automation to others during the era of ‘White Terror’ in Taiwan, but ‘how to improve the aircrafts’ was his most favorite. He and Mr. Zhang appeared my one of ‘Science & Future’ seminars held in Tainan, I showed him my new product ‘Power Chip’ which size as thin as the stamp. Father was very excited to say that “I want live for 100-year-old to achieve the new aircrafts with you by using the power chip.” Then I heard he was taken to show tap dance on holiday, and felt headache in the evening, then be sent into the Chi-Mei Hospital. I received the information in my proclaiming journey and immediately reversed straight from Taipei to Tainan, but he had been lying in the intensive care unit in a coma. And passed away only 3 days later.

My customer, Mr. Chen who was in a plight because the vacuum tube will be replaced by the transistor, his factory director came to my workshop attempting to develop new things since 1970; my father commanded me that “You must help them as possible as you can.” Because Mr. Chen had purchased hundreds of dollar (NT$) eyelets from me when my father was put into the jail by KMT. Moreover, father accompanied Mr. Chen to New York to take care of Mr. Chen’s trouble with an American client, and brought a sample of ‘Portable Cassette Recorder’, it’s said by the Jewish buyer that “If you can make it, I’ll purchase as many as you can make.” Father gave me his instruction: “Do your best to accomplish the task for Chen.” Soon after, Mr. Chen became the first maker and exporter of ‘Portable Cassette Recorder’ from Taiwan to the United States.

When I was a kid, one day went in a narrow lane; my father held my shoulder and stepped into a small factory of bottle caps. After leaving and on the way home, I questioned my father “Can we make those bottle caps by means of our automation?” Father said, “Of course, 100 pieces per minute automatically.” I wondered that “Why do not we manufacture the bottle cap?” Father sternly warned me that “It’s an unfair competition, do not do that!” In his view, his apprentice just learned a low-end skill from him to produce a cap very hard for living, if we automatically producing caps that same as kill his apprentice, and he defined that ‘Simply Unfair Competition’, therefore, I had been starving and he looked like an impoverished man. But he told me that “To keep faith, for the time has come, we’ll be very rich in one day.” But he still looked poor and to be a ridiculed object, I became the only one who believes his faith on earth. Indeed, when the time has come, we stood immediately in December 1966 by applying his one of skills. My family was admired as a paradigm of turning-over in Tainan. In 1976, I had to be into the army, he was threatened as I handed over the properties to him that I earned in the past years.

Actually, I disagreed my father’s many thoughts and actions, such as ‘Sharing’ and ‘Cooperation’; my crucial customer asked him for introduction of several peers to divide the purchasing orders which I made efforts to maintain. My father really did introduction someone to my customer in order to replace me. And he even hindered I continued the development of ‘Precision Industry’, and stopped seeking the wealth, and forced me left Tainan for social services. My father was a great inventor, but no any patent, he was always against the so-called ‘Intellectual Properties’ (IP) and blamed “Patent is a scourge!” He said: “The inexplicable litigations caused by the patent or so-called IP to affect the peaceful society.” Good stuff should be shared with others was his principle. His most satisfaction was pending his invention or giving it to someone. He said that “Mass production? It’s really insult to my wisdom!”

My father was a brave, he came forward to rescue a ‘Communist Spy’ and ruined his career in addition to be trapped into a pitfall when Chiang Kai-shek caught those espionages of PRC in Taiwan. My father was perseverance, in times of plight, he never yields to the Authoritarian. My father convinced that “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” Even in the days of no bread, he still expressed that “We must have the aristocratic style for it can bear more to prosperity as we gave.” Consequently, I was always starving as a kid, but my brain was deposited an industrial bible by my father, so that I could not resist or disobey his instruction.

My father eventually won the respects by the local and global friends; he made efforts to build a bridge across Tainan to San Jose (Silicon Valley) in 1975 that benefits many people. When he helped Tainan city government establishing the sister city with Kansas City, Missouri in 1978, he met Mayor Charles Wheeler who was same age as my father, and also same as realized the aircrafts. Mayor Wheeler was a captain of the ‘Thunderbirds’, my father had been trained to drive the ‘Zero Fight-jet’, and they clicked immediately and received the international friendship as Taiwan in the diplomatic situation of hardship.

Till today, the heartache can not be taken away from me, if I was according to the original plan to take him for Taichung from Tainan on that very day--January 1 of 1999, it might be escaped that catastrophe, my father perhaps alive until nowadays. This assumption is able to set up, but I was an oversight at that very moment. Therefore, many people and myself lost a mentor of life, and his dreamed aircrafts would never be accomplished. Finally I recognized that the idiom says “The tree wants standstill, yet the winds do not stop.”

My American Client

My American Client

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

Jennifer Lawrence’s famous movie—‘The Hunger Games’ in which there was a saying: “Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.” This meant the ruler gave his hunger people something good. And ‘Yield Benefit’(讓利) became the popular words in the recent years. 

Reminiscent of 1966, every early morning at 2 o’clock, I went to market to help a stall to kill ducks and inject water into the skin of dead duck body; after closing the stall at noon, I went back my own machine shop to produce the sockets, tie clips, rings, oil lamps and other scattered orders, how hard I’d done the expenses still much higher than income. Until one day in November as I felt into a dead end, I prepared to go out and expect to find a purchasing order, when I opened the wooden door, a huge figure almost filled the narrow gate, an American handed over a piece of paper to me and asked, “Can you make this stuff?” When I realized that written in dense drawing was just a fine eyelet which my most familiar work, so I told him that “Come back the day after tomorrow, I’ll give you a sample in same size.” Because I must build a new set of deep-drawing progressive die for sampling as his drawing shown. He really came back the day after tomorrow, looked like very exciting as received the sample, then he’s gone and came again next day to point out a long line of defects to be improved, then to and fro a month, he eventually exposed a satisfied expression, and I had finally received a first purchasing order from him and took five working days to finish it. In that year, the money I earned could buy ten thousand square feet land at Park road of Tainan, and when I paid back the debts to those uncles and aunts in the Yamuliao Market(鴨母寮市場), they astonished but proud to say: “Your family will turn over!”

If you dared to stand up in the arena, American will never have mercy on you because you only 13 years old in 140 cm height, he still follows the game rule to treat you, so there is not the thing concerning ‘Yield Benefit’; conversely, if you’re looking for peace you must dare to face the challenge and be able to meet the requirements, and then you can win the respect to get rid of the plight, and enjoyed the first good year in 1967. President Eisenhower once said: “Peace was purchased only at the price of strength.” I showed my strength to my American client, the strength delivered my family from poverty to rich. In 1974, I was building my ‘Cheng Kuang Precision Industrial Co., Ltd. ’ at the side of Salt River in Tainan, Premier Minister Chiang Ching-Kuo entered my property, and gave me four words ‘Benefit Use Care People’(利用厚生) that meant “You are good at using the resources to benefit the people.” And encouraged that “People through voluntary service to country is a good thing.” Soon after, my American client who was in the name ‘AVNET’ to list on the NYSE, it’s said that “He provided 80% of TV Antennas to the world.” And I supplied him 90% what he needed. Many evildoers came to lobby that “Ha! Do you know that Avnet earned one US dollar, you just gained one NTD?” Attempted to cut off my American client’s supply line. In that year, the exchange rate was 1:40, it meant my American client earned 40 times of what I got; however, my family had turned over and my production line kept expanding by what I got; especially, I could use the rest hours after I worked 18 hours a day to study at the night junior high school till college, not only got wealthy but also supplemented those required knowledge and degrees, and I passed the examination to be a Reserved Officer as served in the army during 1976-1978. 

In 1979, my American client invited me for a dinner in the Twin-Tower of New York City, he expressed his gratitude for he started his business in a few sum of money and I never asked any penny of developing new products, at last, he genuinely appreciated that he met an excellent suppliers as well as a partner in Taiwan.

Vietnam had fought a tragic war with the United States of America, although Vietnam still listed as less-developed country today, but this October, they have courage to face the high standard agreement—‘TPP’ which dominated by the United States. On the contrary, we saw Taiwan authority’s indecisive, public sector is failure in the policies, and private sector is into a moral crisis from the food security issues, the society full of the drifting thought and missed an opportunity to challenge ourselves, the prospects are out of consideration, Taiwan will be left behind.

My Father Kun-Cheng Kuo

My Father Kun-Cheng Kuo

God always sent the chosen ones to change the world, my father Kun-Cheng Kuo was one of them.

Recently, Joseph F. Engelberger, an American who was admired ‘Father of Robot’ and passed away on the 1st day of this December, there are many articles highly praise and honor him; Mr. Engelberger was born in 1925, grew up in the period of Great Depression, and studied at Columbia University during the World War II, then earned his master degree from Columbia in 1949; he started his business in 1961, and thereafter, developed the first robot of America named ‘Unimate’ to be the helper of factory automation. My father Kun-Cheng Kuo was born in 1926 at the most wealthy family of Tainan. For the sake of my grandfather Biao Kuo refused to use his fleet carrying ‘comfort women’ for the Japanese militarists, Japan’s officers raided all the Kuo’s properties in one night of 1937, then my father was forcibly recruited into Japan navy, until Japan surrendered in 1945, he returned hometown Tainan to start his Metal Works. I was born in 1953, a lot of automation around me at that time, I saw my father always carried a small pencil with some fragmentary paper in order to put his idea down at once. In the very difficult year of 1963, my father still completed one set of automation in addition to invent one kind of deep-drawing processing technique, and produced that special usage brass stripe for making the very fine eyelet—it can  put ten thousand pieces in my palm.

He said: "A-Chan, you must learn how to use this technology, rely on them, one day shout ‘BO’ the moment we will be away from poverty to rich…." But, year after year, no one came to purchase these fine-eyelets, and I became the only one who believed my father’s words on earth, no matter where we moved to, I had protected these automation by my life, and tirelessly day and night to practice application of realizing them; finally, I really utilized these automation to conquer the world in the days of my father was imprisoned; afterwards, I got those most bigotry Americans impressed just used his one of techniques.

The eve, my father was commanded to step into the ‘Zero Fighter’, his boss received a bad news--my uncle Kun-I Kuo died in a battle of New Guinea, and to secure my father to let him escaped the death; so that my father often said, “Life is fragile, people should be ‘help one another, share the harvest and cooperation’…” My father invented many stuffs, but he opposed that applying the patents, he said; “Patent is a world's curse, good stuff must share with others, and non-litigation is our family Instruction…” Moreover, he thought that ‘Social Service’ should be the right way to go, not pursuit of wealth endlessly. In November 1998, I celebrated his last birthday, he also performed a tap dance to former vice president Chang Yuan-Chang of Chi-Mei Company, and took his paper from his pocket to show a sketch to say how to use my ‘Power Chip’ at his new design aircraft in avoiding the air crash; however, no more than one month, I heard he was admitted to Chi-Mei hospital because of a headache, I was rush to drive the car straight from Taipei to Tainan, unfortunately, he told me he would live to be a hundred-year-old and commit to accomplish the new aircraft unable to complete for he was soon passed away on the 4th day of January in 1999, and his death became a pain at the bottom of my heart forever. 

Today, I saw an American the age similar to my father, would be able to grow up in the Great Depression, take the degree during the World War II safely, my father had to survive in the gap of death, and a dictator Chiang Kai-Shek who lost his authority from Mainland China to Taiwan in catching the Communist Spies and knocked my father into the abyss because my father helped the needy. Even though, when my father recovered and was able to help others, he would be always spare no effort, for example, just built a bridge in 1975 across the Silicon Valley to Taiwan with Mayor Janet Hayes of San Jose that already achieved many nascent entrepreneurs….

Recall that the age of reigning by the tyrant; my father’s pocket was always with some fragmentary sheet of paper and a small pencil, relied on them to create the necessary techniques of automation for achieving the Taiwan society in common prosperity , also to leave an industrial bible in my mind---

Father of a small pencil
Always with him and
Some fragmentary paper
He intently drafted up
To build the automation
Father of a small pencil
Jail could not lock his mind
Even the plots of evildoers
To trap him by iron-bar
Pencil still penetrated out
Father of a small pencil
Contributed Taiwan’s Industry
Deeply influenced his son
To create precision components
To reveal the miraculous signs

‘Open Society will appear its enemy’—said by Karl Popper

‘Open Society will appear its enemy’—said by Karl Popper

‘Siege as 10 times, attack as 5 times…’This is a method of ‘Destroying the Enemy’ said by Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’, simple interpretation: “To punch 10-kg kid with 100-kg boxer’s fist, the later must win!”—This dirty tricks are often used by Taiwan’s corrupt entities. On the 24th day of May in 1999, we came to Taipei City Hall for proposing that “TranSmart card and its transaction reading device (TRD) will construct a Golden Net (per Fig)→Job Creation→Rich Taiwan…”

Meanwhile, preparing 499 million(NT$) for building the plant at Taichung’s Chungkang Export Processing Zone (TCEPZ), many tycoons came to ask for cooperation as the said ‘Most Technology-based Investment’ passed by the government (MOEA), and then the burglary broke our Lab to steal all the RD results, we thus ceased the investment of TCEPZ and paid the penalty which was required by the authority; Afterwards, the Investigation bureau attacked us, and the Prosecutors Office and the Polices were pitching us the stones. In December 2004, a jackal of corrupt group arrogantly said: “Ha, your 499 million is a little piece; we can destroy you in 4.99 billion…” (It fulfills Sun Tzu’s ‘Siege as 10 times of the opponent force’ ) The truth is that ‘our money was self-fund’, but ‘the money of corrupt group was from the public’. If my sovereign God did not reach his hand, the who was knocked down would not any possible to alive over the year of 2004. Nevertheless, today in the end of 2015, our invention-- the instrumental solution originally for Rich-Taiwan has become the most important part of human lives, and the commitments of ‘Eliminate Corruption’ were declared from UN’s Global Compact to TPP. Although ‘Open Society will appear its enemy’—said by Karl Popper (1902-1994); however, those entities of corruption they have done the exceed rampant attacks, and they will also not be accepted in this world.

A Hundred-year-old Teacher Mr. Ma Chen-Chiu

A Hundred-year-old Teacher Mr. Ma Chen-Chiu

Robotics industry has become a hot topic of speculation for fundraising, someone came to ask how to operate this industry, and a very deep influence teacher to me is natural to think of him, but I can not remember how to think of his name; until the day before yesterday, two presidents of universities talked about ‘Taiwan High-education Industry is disintegrating’ loudly in the TV Talk Show, suddenly, a name ‘Ma Chen-Chiu(馬承九)’ came over my mind. Long time ago, Mr. Ma provided ‘Mechanic Introduction’ to me and let me handle the affairs smoothly on establishing Taiwan’s Precision Industry as well as doing the social services of promoting the Factory Automation. In spite of over forty years, more past images like a movie flashback, for example, I saw Mr. Ma who was riding a bicycle into the campus of Cheng Kung University, very patience in the classroom to explain the relationship between ‘Driver’ and ‘Follower’ of the machine, and sometime he’d told me the stories like “C. W. Musser invented the strain wave gearing (SWG) and bearing set that will bring the era of high-speed machine.”

Mr. Ma was born in 1915, just full of a hundred-year-old, but the nation was very upheaval when he was young, so that his education was not smooth, he served in the arsenal as graduated from the department of Mechanical Engineering of National Central University (NCU), and then he earned an opportunity to obtain the public funds to study in the UK for two years because he did the outstanding performance in the arsenal. And later he went to Taiwan from Mainland China to teach the young people patiently, and taught that academic research methods like ‘Find and solve problems, to record the result of research’ to the industrial occupations, and indirectly laid the foundation of social prosperity.

I founded my first Metal Works at the age of 13-year-old in 1966, my brain was full of my father’s ‘manufacturing processes’, but after a tremendous purchasing orders were influx as water coming that ‘method’ should be required for digestion. Coincidentally, Mr. Ma Chen-Chiu provided me a method to integrate the manufacturing processes, and kept all the purchasing orders which came from abroad and very unique to Taiwan. And I must say that there’re two firms listed on the NYSE—Avnet Inc. and Mattel Inc. should be the most beneficiaries of above mentioned processing methods. In those past days, Mr. Ma did not show off the doctor degree to others, but earnestly impart his knowledge and his attitude of human being. In contrast, today we can see too many PhDs on the streets and at the campuses to contribute, their opinions for the future just ‘disintegrating’; when mentioned the practice they’ll answer “We knew theory only!” When you keep digging, you’ll discover they are in a very limited domain as the ancient philosopher Lao-tzu described, ‘Pirate’s boast(盜誇)’ that how to resolve the social dilemma? At last, I open the computer to search about Mr. Ma and acknowledge he is alive. May God bless Professor Ma Chen-Chiu ! 

 

 

References:

Mr. Ma Chen-Chiu’s Book: “The Notes of Fuel Cells”

Published in 2008

馬承九(2008)。燃料電持池札記。台北：三民。

 

馬承九老師(Mr. Ma Chen-Chiu)，1915年生於河南省，2018年卒於台灣台南；馬老師早年畢業於國立中央大學機械系，1944年留學英國，1947~1948年擔任「瀋陽兵工署九○工廠」工程師暨第二所所長，1948年擔任台灣省立工學院機械系專任副教授－1953升任機械系專任教授，1956年台灣省立工學院改制為「省立成功大學」擔任機械系專任教授至1971年，省立成功大學1971年改制為「國立成功大學」擔任機械系專任教授至1985年 (70歲)，後轉任兼任教授至2008年(93歲)—那一年出版了《燃料電池札記》。

 

Li-Chang Kuo’s Future Sewing Machine

Li-Chang Kuo’s Future Sewing Machine

The unit price of WTI crude oil was down to US$ 35.49 per barrel last week, today Taiwan’s media says, “Oil prices are collapsing, fill it up no more than NTD 1000 (US$ 2.558 per gallon)”—This is definitely not government's benevolent rule, but an international trend. There is a fatal factor in this trend that is ‘Taiwan's petrochemical industry in jeopardy’, because I initiated that needle and thread will be no need in the future sewing machine, that concerning the oil price and development of new industry, those related industries will think carefully about the consequences of it. I proposed that ‘IIA-TES’ (Invest in America for the Economic Stimulus) as I attended the APEC 2009 CEO Summit to response the topic ‘Rebuilding the Global Economy’ after one anniversary of the unprecedented financial crisis, I was questioned that “The cost is so expensive in the United States, how to invest in America?” I responded that “The Investing reason is right at expensive!” The ‘IIA’ really achieved by the smart leader in the later 6 years, for example, like the successful exploration of oil shale at the highest point of the oil price, afterwards, new energy carrying out the new opportunities, and then the new multilateral free trade agreement—‘TPP’ will bring more benefits in the United States for the rule of ‘Textiles and Apparel’ was set in Chapter 3 of TPP—it declared that “Most tariffs will be eliminated immediately, the chapter also includes specific rules of origin that require use of yarns and fabrics from the TPP region, which will promote regional supply chains and investment in this sector, with a ‘short supply list’ mechanism that allows use of certain yarns and fabrics not widely available in the region.” In other words, TPP regional industries will enjoy all the preferential treatment and protection, outsiders who can only watch and slobber. Actually, America was a big exporting country of textile and apparel in the 20th century, as well as the sewing machines; they’ve been misleading by the fallacy of "To buy the things there where the prices are cheap!" But experienced the great unemployment problem of the unprecedented financial crisis, American asked ‘Mr. Barbie’ about the feasibility of sewing machine without the needle and thread. I must say “This is already 21st century; my power chip was by means of the ‘pico-tech’ (one trillionth meter), and contactless TranSmart card was a product of laminating-tech, so that the sewing machine without the needle and thread should be feasible." At last, the questions is, under a series of rampant corruption, as Former President Lee Teng-hui asked: “Where shall Taiwan to go in the 21st century?”

‘ANTI-CORRUPTION’ has become a great trend

‘ANTI-CORRUPTION’ has become a great trend

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

‘ANTI-CORRUPTION’ has become a great trend, UN’s Global Compact determined to eliminate corruption for the purpose in order to build sustainable, inclusive and transparent societies. Taiwan’s corrupt group had threatened in December 2004, “Do not let you live over 2004!” After much deliberation, I realized that our mission is just to implement the goal of "everyone has job, and every family has bread", invention of the E-Commerce Industry was only for rich Taiwan and to open the way for next generation  under the LORD’s teach: “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.” However, inventor was actually attacked by the evildoers plus those investigators, prosecutors and polices together as a sort of siege to overthrow to the ground, and it was also really scared someone to death. When I was in extremely dangerous, a voice sounded from the bottom of my heart, followed the instruction to sell my property in very very cheap price and by such resources to take care of the inventor entire year, then redeemed her life; and I further was at APEC 2006 CEO Summit to propose the theme of ‘ANTI-CORRUPTION’ with the other leaders of economies, Taiwan’s public-private hookers were defined as ‘the Entities of Corruption’, but my social service was admired as ‘Open the Way for Next Generation’; in addition, the situation was gradually changed from ‘I bright and enemy dark(我明敵暗)’ to ‘I invisible and enemy expose(敵明我暗)’, the head of corrupt group-- brutal Moab-king found out that he was seeking his ‘Personal Gain’ whole life and finally walking into the valley of death and gave the breath to perish to the dust—his followers foolish enough to keep moving forward into the rat cage and trying to eat the hanging bait. Recently, the leaders of the civilized world have issued the declaration on ‘Anti-Corruption’, TPP Agreement set the rule of ‘Anti-Corruption’ in Chapter 26, emphasized that “TPP Parties agree to ensure certain due process rights for TPP stakeholders in connection with administrative proceedings, including prompt review through impartial judicial or administrative tribunals or procedures. They also agree to adopt or maintain laws criminalising offering to, or solicitation of, undue advantages by a public official, as well as other acts of corruption affecting international trade or investment. Parties also commit to effectively enforce their anticorruption laws and regulations.” Right now, the situation is totally different from December 2004, and indeed in a condition of ‘I relax and enemy toil’, the Most High‘s voice sounds once more, “Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.”