Marco Polo's Mixer

In the international community of Hong Kong, few invitations are more coveted than the simple postcard reminder mailed once a month to 200 or so carefully chosen residents of the British Colony. The card requests their presence at cocktails, a European-style formal dinner, and a screening of Chinese films on the last Thursday of each month in a private dining room of the Mandarin Hotel. The recipients--journalists, businessmen, trade representatives and consular officials--seldom decline this summons. All of them are members of the Marco Polo Club, the world's only social organization in which Westerners can meet regularly and informally with officials of the People's Republic of China.

The club, which was founded in 1956, has no dues, and guests pay for their own dinners and drinks. The main attraction for the Westerners, Japanese and others who attend the meetings is the opportunity to sound out, over whisky and soda, representatives from such organizations as the New China News Agency and the Bank of China on the latest developments in mainland China. Usually, about 30 Communist officials attend the dinners.

The man who keeps both the conversation and the guests circulating affably is the club's founder, a witty, white-haired retired lawyer named Percy Chen, 70. Born in Trinidad into a wealthy, land-owning Chinese family, Chen is an atypical apologist for the People's Republic. He studied at University College in London and did his legal apprenticeship at the Middle Temple, one of London's prestigious Inns of Court. Even today, his accent is impeccably British, and he speaks very little Chinese.

Making Friends. A visit to China in 1926 as a tourist extended into a permanent stay when Chen realized that he "had come home." He was given a post in the Nationalist foreign ministry, of which his father, Eugene Chen, was the head. He became increasingly disenchanted with the inability of the Nationalists to cope with China's "15th century conditions" and gave his support to the Communists. In 1947, he established a private law practice in Hong Kong.

"I am an Overseas Chinese," says Chen. "For 45 years I have tried to work for the good of my motherland. The old warlord China was a burden on the world. Now China can help others. I think it is ready to play a positive and constructive role."

Because of the coldness in Sino-American relations, Chen until this year refused to let U.S. citizens attend the Marco Polo dinners. The rules have now been changed so that American residents of Hong Kong who have visited the mainland can join the club. The list of eligibles is certain to expand soon. In Chen's cheery words, "As more and more friends are made, the club will continue to grow."

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