As promised in my last column, I wanted to share a few more observations from the trip to China. Our group of 15 left from Indianapolis at 11:00 a.m. on July 27 and flew to Detroit. We then flew non-stop to Tokyo with a short layover to Beijing where we were then bused to a hotel and checked in, exhausted, at almost 1:00 a.m. China time. The entire country of China is exactly 12 hours opposite of us in Indiana. So 6:00 a.m. in China is 6:00 p.m. in our state. Calling home was not difficult if I just did the calculation correctly. I did most of the time. The hotel in Beijing was ok, and we were up early to see the Great Wall of China. The bus trip was about 1 ½ hours, and we passed all of the Olympic facilities but the weather/smog made it very difficult to observe. Our time at the Great Wall of China was limited, we all had time to climb as far as we wished but there was much more that we didn't get to climb. The Wall construction began before the time of Christ and went on for centuries. It is 3,750 miles in length and was intended to keep the Mongols from invading China. It didn't work. We traveled back to Beijing and toured Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. These are extremely interesting places to visit and soak in the history that is there. We had our meals in "authentic" Chinese restaurants and then left for the train station. Our group went to Chifeng in Inner Mongolia on a sleeper train. Now, a sleeper train is an experience to remember! Four members of our group were in a small compartment with two bunk beds. There was minimal air conditioning and both men and women in the compartment. Since there is so little privacy, we all slept in our street clothes and endured the numerous stops along the way. Chifeng is a city in Inner Mongolia of about 4.5 million people. Building projects are everywhere. We had a very nice hotel to stay in, compliments of the Chinese government. After a shower and change of clothes, we had a nice breakfast. We toured a wind farm on the rolling steppe of Mongolia. There were over 1,000 windmills on the grassy hills, and the road was barely passable. Our lunch was at a township center with the local assistant mayor and leader of the Communist Party. It included many ceremonial toasts and our group was impressed by the pomp and circumstance. Next, our bus was off to a major construction site for the Mike Lemmon swine project. The essence of this project is to locate totally away from other swine production so disease is negated. If building in the middle of nowhere is the goal, he achieved it. This facility is away from absolutely everything. This is a major, modern facility with deep pits, slats and modern ventilation equipment. Lemmon has a Chinese investor as a partner in this project. It will be a complete departure from traditional pork production in China. The bus ride back to Chifeng was very scenic and included several interesting roads. We dined with local officials at a traditional Mongolian restaurant. The mayor and his assistants provided a banquet at the restaurant. There were two large round tables that seated about 12 people, each with a large "lazy susan" in the center of the table where all the dishes were served. There were about 30 different offerings, and each of us had a small plate and chopsticks. The pattern is to take small portions of each of the various dishes. The food included shrimp and fish, vegetables (cabbage, kelp, radishes, potatoes, yams, eggplant and some unidentified), pork, beef and something we, as a group, called "buzz saw chicken." The chicken is cleaned and indiscriminately cleavered, then cooked in water with tofu and vegetables. Ladling up various chicken pieces including head, feet and everything else caused very interesting facial expressions! All while this meal is being served and sampled, the mayor offers toasts to the whole group for attendance, friendship and relationships. Our interpreters had instructed us to participate to the extent that we could, and because of my elected office I was obligated to return the toasts and thank them for their hospitality. The finale of the evening was entertainment by native Mongolian singers and dancers and the serving of a whole roasted goat, a symbol of respect and honor to our group of Americans. The entire evening was remarkable and certainly demonstrated their sincere interest in relationship-building with American investors. We then returned to the hotel for some needed rest. The next day, we had more tours of markets, acres of greenhouses, machinery dealers and a meeting to present the city economic plan and exchange gifts. Our group checked out of the hotel, and we were off to the train station for another overnight ride to Shenyang. Again, a very interesting cultural experience.
More later, Bill Friend -30- State Rep. Bill Friend |
