REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK : Bentsen’s Wit Hits Peak as He Traverses an Economic Chasm

Communism and capitalism are intersecting in strange ways these days.

Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, who completed a 12-day visit to Russia and Asia on Sunday, is the scion of a prominent Texas ranching family, a position in society that, just a few years ago, might have earned him a Mao Tse-tung epithet of Evil Landlord. But that did not stop him from citing a Chinese proverb frequently used by Mao himself.

The story involved Old Man Yu, who persuaded his family to move a mountain, shovelful by shovelful, because it was in his way. Despite the taunts of neighbors, their determination got the job done after several generations, proving that hard work can accomplish anything.

Bentsen’s audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences giggled appreciatively--whether in recognition of the proverb, or at the irony that the salesman of capitalism and the Great Helmsman of Chinese communism could find common ground.

Reporting on a meeting he held with Vice Premier Zhu Rongji, the Treasury secretary said they talked about free markets, how they work and the speed with which China is shedding its Communist economy.

“He said they were ready to go with a socialist market system,” Bentsen said, adding wryly, “I told him we were ready to go with a capitalist market system.”

The Treasury secretary made the obligatory tour of Beijing’s bustling shopping strip, Wang Fu Jing Street.

At the McDonald’s on Changan Boulevard just off Tian An Men Square, he picked up a cup of coffee, smiled and shook some hands. He caused more of a fuss, he acknowledged, than when he first ran successfully for the U.S. Senate in Texas in 1970.

Was that man the laobang , the boss, of McDonald’s? asked one of the young Chinese he greeted. No, came the reply, he is the U.S. Treasury secretary. Not quite as impressive.