(Please note that I’m unable to access the blog from China and won’t be able to read any posts from the readers as this is being posted each day from the college.
Day 3 was a long meeting day as we started at 8am to meet the Chinese Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) at their location in Beijing. The CASME group is responsible for approx. 80 businesses that have been developed in a “Technology Park” & have completed this in just 10 years. The technology park has hospitals, schools, housing & all necessary business sources for their community. All 200,000 employees of the 80 businesses live in the technology park. Mayor Clay presented a key to the City of Gary at the end of the meeting. Lunch was at a traditional “Cantonese” restaurant (the Chinese culture has 4 types of food categories- I’ll explain later)
After lunch we visited a silk manufacturing center where silk worms are raised to produce
silk for clothing, bedding & bullet proof vests for the military & police. The silkworm only lives for 45 days. After the silk is removed from the cocoon, it’s washed, stretched & then dried for preparation to be made into silk thread.
We then visited a large 22 story Russian Trade Center to view the many types of articles for wholesale purchases. The day ended with a dinner & presentation with the CASME group who hosted the trade delegation at a traditional “mandarin” dinner( this is the second type of Chinese food. At this dinner the City of Gary, The Majestic Star Casino & The New Gary Development Group presented their ideas regarding economic development opportunities in the city.
Late in the afternoon the country of China had an earthquake where the epicenter was located approximately 2000 miles southwest of Beijing. According to the news releases, Beijing received an earthquake of 2.2 magnitude- enough to shake a few buildings and alarm the employees. The Trade Delegation was not aware of this earthquake until later afternoon. No injuries or damage was reported in Beijing or surrounding towns but approximately 17,000 residents lost their lives near the epicenter.
Here are a few interesting facts about the Chinese culture that we learning from our guide while traveling throughout the city:
1) The country of China began in the year 220. Many dynasties ruled for many centuries, with the Ming Dynasty being one of the earliest.
2) The Chinese culture believes very strongly as to how the country was developed in the
early centuries.
3) The Chinese have many beliefs that are foreign to our American culture. One is that all
houses have a large “curb” in all entrances to the homes. This is believed to keep
evil spirits from coming into the house from under the door.
4) The Chinese also believe in a numbering system using the number 9 as the last number
in keeping track of many items. I’ll continue to share some of that information on the blog
during the week.
Tomorrow we’ll the day learning about Chinese history and cultural while we visit Tianomin
Square, The Forbidden City & the Great Wall of China and a Chinese marketplace near
the Olympic village.
Below is the Itinerary for Monday and Tuesday
May 12, 2008 – Monday – Beijing –Day 3
8:00 AM Breakfast at hotel
9:00 AM Meeting with City of Beijing Vice Mayor
10:00 AM Tour of Beijing Economic Development Zone
Noon Luncheon with Beijing City Officials
2:00 PM Visit to Russian Trade Center
7:00 PM Dinner hosted by Chinese Association of Small and Medium
Enterprises (CASME) – Mr. Ximin Shao, Chairman at Zou Jiaz huang
Restaurant
City of Gary Presentation
“Doing Business with Gary” – Mayor Rudy Clay
May 13, 2008 – Tuesday – Beijing
7:30 AM Breakfast at hotel
8:30 AM Forbidden City Tour (Next to Tiananmen Square)
1:00 PM Tour of the Great Wall of China
4:30 PM Tour of the Chinese marketplace near the Olympic village.
7:30 pm Arrive back at hotel for dinner
Attached photos – #1058 – downtown Beijing
# 1071 – CASME technology park
# 1077 — CASME group & NW Indiana Trade Delegation
August 3, 2008 at 1:41 pm
It’s amazing