Formal Meeting with Vice Mayor Li

After lunch at the Biology Park, we returned to the hotel and prepared for a formal meeting led by the Vice Mayor of Dezhou, Mr. XiXin Li. The room was set with two parallel tables, equipped with microphones in front of the chairs where the principal speakers would sit. As usual, there was a bottle of water and tea cup in front of each place at the table. Our delegation sat on one side, facing the Vice Mayor and local government officials from Dezhou and the surrounding area. There was red banner hung on the wall at one end of the room to commemorate the signing of a strategic cooperative agreement between the city of Dezhou and Farmingdale State University. Just in front of the banner, there was a small table that would be used during the signing ceremony.

The meeting followed a protocol that we experienced in every formal meeting. The Vice Mayor began the meeting by introducing everyone at his table. When he was done, Jinshui introduced everyone at our table. Once the introductions were out of the way, Vice Mayor Li provided an overview of the economic and social development of Dezhou City. Our host interpreter, Lin, did the translating duties for the Vice Mayor and the gentlemen on that side of the table. A few of the gentlemen from the Dezhou area spoke about their area of interest. Jinshui interpreted what we said into Mandarin. I went first, talking about the SBDC and the purpose of our trip. Jinshui said his piece about the International Business Development program, then Lucille talked about Farmingdale regional center, and John followed up with some words about Evergreen Timber and his desire to trade with Chinese companies.

Then Lucillle, on behalf of the Farmingdale SBDC, signed an agreement for future cooperation with the city of Dezhou. The picture at the beginning of the post shows the table set up for the signing ceremony.

After the hubub of the signing died down, John and Mark distributed their brochure, price list and business cards. John brought out his photo albums and shared pictures of his log yard and different types of wood wtih the assembled businessmen. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the hardwoods Evergreen Timber harvests - hard & soft maple, beech, birch, white & red oak, etc.

We ate dinner with the Vice Mayor at one of the dining rooms in the hotel, then our hosts treated us to an after-dark tour of Dezhou. The Vice Mayor declined to join us. On our drive around the city, we stopped at the lake at the center of town, and then took a short boat ride on a canal decorated with neon. Actually, we saw a lot of neon around the new downtown area.

Mei Li Hua in Dezhou

Our first full day in Dezhou was a busy one. We had breakfast in the same room in which we had dinner the evening before. I think it is a room for special banquets. Did I mention that the table seated 10 people comfortably? It had a huge, motorized turntable in the middle, and was equipped with artificial flowers and fountains. It was a bit distracting.

After breakfast, we met in the lobby and boarded the minibus. First on the agenda was a tour of the city, both old and new sections. The tour included brief visits to three city parks. One of the parks was built along a branch of the Yellow River, and featured a large checkers board in which each of the checkers contained a historical fact about Dezhou.

We spent the next part of the morning in the Dezhou Economic Development Zone. Our first stop was a high tech incubator. The incubator director took us on a tour of the facility and introduced us to a couple of tenants. One was developing a new kind of toilet that uses a fraction of the water used in current toilets. The other was developing a kind of water purifier that used vibrations to break large water molecules into smaller ones. Their marketing pitch said that the water helped get clothes cleaner and was more easily absorbed by the human body. As we expected, there was innovation on demonstration at the incubator. Next, we visited three businesses in the Zone - a solar energy company, a filter press manufacturer, and an air conditioning manufacturer. The visits rounded out a full morning. On the way to lunch at the cafe in the Dayandao Biology Park, our hosts pointed out an impressive structure, the site of an international conference on solar energy scheduled for 2010.

After all the evidence of technological advancement, when I returned to my room to get ready for dinner later that day, I noticed the following on the back of the door to my suite -

Security Scattering Sretch Map

Dear customer: When the suddenness or fire alarm happen, please keep your head and live up to the two ways

1. Please dial 85110 or 85119 immediately;

2. Please according to the green direction channels what in the evacuate map to the safety exit, or following the waiter to give away the locale.
Meilihua Hotel

Rules around the Table

While we were traveling to Dezhou, Jinshui told us that some things would be more formal there than in Huzhou. For example, he explained about protocol at the dinner table.

First, where you sit. There is a strict seating arrangement - the number one host sits at the top of the table. The number one guest sits at his or her right. The number two host sits at the bottom of the table, directly across from the number one host. The number two guest sits at his or her left. The interpreter for the host sits on the right side of the number one guest. And so on. In the picture on the left, I am sitting next to the Vice Mayor of Dezhou - the number one host at the meal - and Jinshui is on his left.

We learned that you can usually tell where the number one host will sit by looking at the way the table is set. The napkin is the key. The napkin at the number one host's place might be a different color, or it might be folded differently from the others. In the picture on the right, which was an informal lunch, we named Jinshui the number one host, and he sat at the place with the napkin folded like two fans, a much more elaborate presentation than the other napkins on the table.

Second, who toasts first. The number one host always makes the first toast near the beginning of the meal to welcome the guests to the table. The number one guest should make a reciprocal toast soon after to acknowledge the generosity of the host in inviting the party to the meal. The number two host makes the next toast, then the number three host, then the number four host, and so on. At some meals, there were as many people wandering around the table to make toasts as there are people eating dinner. At formal meals, most of the toasting is done by the hosts. In less formal settings, the guests can join in the toasting melee.

In the picture on the left, Lucille Wesnofske is toasting Mr. Sun, the number one host, late in the meal. In the picture on the right, Madame Jun Yun Ma, the Lingxian county executive and number two host, toasts John Barber. That lunch was at a restaurant near a reservoir in which much of our lunch (various varieties of local fish) grew to catchable size.

Third, the order of the meal. First the waitresses bring appetizer type dishes - fresh cucumbers, steamed lettuce, dried meat, and other dishes like that - and put them on the turntable. Then they generally bring individual cups of soup to every diner, often a sweet soup to begin the meal. If you are the number one guest, I learned, it is wise not to get too involved in eating until the number one host makes the first toast. You probably don't want to stand for the toast with a mouthful of food. Throughout the meal, waitresses bring most dishes family style and put them on the turntable. Gradually, the appetizer dishes, if not emptied, get pushed into the center of the table.

You'll find that the more elaborate meals are brought to the table later in the meal. Some times it is a large tureen with chicken or tofu or fish in a broth. Other times it may be duck with scallions, sauce, and pancakes. During the meal, the waitresses will bring individual portions of some dishes, especially soup to your place. At some meals I found I had three glasses (water, tea and wine), plus a soup bowl and one or two plates in front of me.

You can tell when a meal is in its final stages when the waitresses serve noodles, rice or dumplings. The second to the last thing that appears on the table is one of those three things. And last, but not least, the dessert is brought out, which invariably includes watermelon. That was my favorite part of the meal! The watermelon was usually served with other fruit, lychee, pears, other types of melon, berries, etc.

Fourth, can you just say no? Jinshui told us that often the host sitting next to us would serve us a portion of food from the communal dish. This did happen to me often, and fortunately it was always something I liked. I also found that if I ate all of it, the host would spoon another portion on my plate when the turntable brought the dish around again. I learned to eat most of it, but not all. I asked if I could refuse to try something, and he said, "you can....." I filled in the blank - ...but you might insult your host. I tried everything, even donkey, and survived.

The meal ends when the number one host stands up and makes the last toast of the meal. At the point, everyone drops his or her utensils and walks away from the table.

From the Minibus

In the smaller cities on our route, our hosts drove us from hotel to meeting to factory and back on small minibuses. Along the way, we were able to learn more about the area we were visiting. Jinshui also took advantage of the time to tell us about our next appointment: the name of the company and the people we would meet, the order in which we would speak, the information we should emphasize, and anything else he thought we should know. We were learning as we needed the info, just in time. We agreed that this type of briefing was critical to our successful meetings.


Our hosts also gave us a lot of information as we rode from place to place. They shared information about their economic development successes and plans for the future. They also told us about the culture of the area and the people. I'm sure Jinshui was glad we always had our hosts' interpreter with us, to translate the Chinese remarks into English - and to translate our questions into Chinese.


In the beginning of the trip, we drove past a lot of farmland on our way to visit businesses and attend meetings. We saw the vitality of the city streets as well as wheat being raked, dried and bagged at the side of the road near the fields. Now and then we saw a mule or water buffalo, but most of the time we saw people providing the brawn to pull a plow or pedal a fulled loaded cart. In the small towns, we saw fruits and vegetables laid out on tarps by the side of the streets, household products on tables outside shops, and more bicycles and small trucks than cars. On the main highways, we saw numerous trucks of all sizes, and long lines at the service areas that sold diesel. In the cities and the economic development areas, we saw sculptures celebrating the success of the planners.

We were always grateful for the air conditioning on the minibus, since we were touring during the summer and it was hot and humid during the time we were in the southern provinces.

If it's Monday, it must be Dezhou

Our hosts in Dezhou were every bit as hospitable as our hosts in Huzhou. A delegation of four greeted us at the Jinan Yaoqiang International airport, relieved us of our luggage, and showed us out to a minibus in the parking lot. Once every bag and every person was on the bus, our hosts handed out bottles of water. Dave Zhang, the Vice Director of the Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation for Dezhou and Lin Feng, our interpreter from the Foreign Affairs Office, cordially welcomed us to Dezhou and gave us an introduction to the city we would be visiting.

Traffic was heavier on the highway than it had been between Shanghai and Huzhou, especially truck traffic. We weaved around truck after truck along the four lane highway as we tried to travel at a good speed. After an hour of this, our hosts began to grow anxious about our relatively slow progress. They were worried that we would be late for our meeting with Mayor Cuiyin Wu. Evidently we were not only late for dinner, but also the press - there was a press conference scheduled for shortly after our arrival. The picture to the left of the text is Madame Mayor Cuiyin Wu, a very charming woman that we were delighted to meet.

At the outskirts of Dezhou, we picked up a police escort. Then, as we drove farther into the city, we noticed that there were policemen at every intersection. We weren't sure if the escort and other policemen were stationed along the route for us, but our hosts assured us that indeed they were. It was a novel experience for all of us (except Jinshui). While we had a police escort throughout our travels in and around Dezhou, that was the only time there was such a police presence at the intersections.


As the minibus stopped under the porte-cochere of the elegant Meilihua hotel, we were hurriedly escorted to the elevators and to our rooms. We weren't too rushed to appreciate the big red banner of welcome in the lobby. We had about 20 minutes to change into formal clothes, collect our thoughts, and go to meet the Mayor. A note to anyone planning to join a future mission with the SBDC - this was not an unusual occurrence. Be sure to pack formal clothes that can be worn right out of the suitcase without ironing, and be aware that you might have a formal meeting in the presence of the press on short notice.

Jinshui told us later that we all looked good on TV.

Domestic Flight on Shenzhen Airlines

The airport in Hangzhou - Xiaoshan International -was bright & clean, and the waiting rooms were relatively quiet. We checked in without any problem at the Shenzhen Airlines counter, passed through Customs and security in good time, and went to find our gate. I was surprised to see fresh fruit at some of the kiosks in the waiting areas beyond security. There were a few people smoking, but not so much that the smell was noticeable. I was amused to hear an announcement repeated several times, "Flight number ### has been changed ... due to arrangement of the airline." It is different from any announcement I've ever heard in an airport, and a reminder that we were not in the US.

I found out later that this airport is considered a Garden Airport because of its lush setting and many flower gardens. It is also one of the most important territorial airports in China - and the eighth busiest airport in the county in 2007. The airport is on the southern shore of the Qiantang River and 27 kilometers from downtown Hangzhou.

Before leaving on the trip, I had heard a lot of stories from folks in my office who had travelled to China. One of the things I dreaded most, as a result of their stories, was a domestic flight. I was not looking forward to air fouled by cigarette smoke on obsolete and unsafe planes. Since my expectations were so low, I was pleasantly surprised to find that taking a domestic flight in China was comparable to taking the same type of flight in the US. I did smell cigarette smoke once during the flight, but that was all. The plane seemed to be in good condition, the safety demonstration and recitation was similar if not the same, and the amount of leg room was about the same. It was a good flight.

On the plane I had some time to consider our mission so far. I realized that the trip was a learning experience on a number of levels - business & economic development, cultural, culinary, etiquette, and so on. Our hosts in Huzhou were as enthusiastic about sharing their cultural heritage as they were about describing their economic development accomplishments and plans. Several of the people we met in Huzhou mentioned the description of the area by a famous poet, Dai Biaoyuan. His words:

Mountains Standing Around Tian Mu Mouintain,

Rivers Running from Tai Lake,

I traveled so many places along Yangtze,

Huzhou is the only place where I'd like to live.

This picture is characteristic of many Huzhou landscapes and shows the mountains in the poet's verse.

We felt a strong personal connection to the people we met in Huzhou, something that I did not expect. The picture below and to the left shows Lucille with Mr. Zhou, Vice Director, Administrative Committee of the Huzhou Economic Development Zone. The picture below and to the right shows Mr. Sun, Director, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Huzhou, and John Barber, Evergreen Timber.

West Lake Landscape Spot

Our official agenda for June 8th included two items, a tour of Hangzhou landscape spot and departure for Xiao Shan Airport for our flight to Jinan. Most of us had read about the large public park in Hangzhou and were eager to experience it. We grabbed umbrellas from our hotel room closets and loaded into taxicabs for a short drive to West Lake, the landscape spot.

West Lake is to Hangzhou what Central Park is to New York City - except there is more water in the largest public park in Hangzhou. We toured the park on a rainy day, as you can see from the pictures. In spite of the rain, there were many people strolling the walks, taking pictures of their companions, dancing in pavilions, and enjoying boat rides. In fact, because of the dragon holiday, there were many families with children in the park the day we were there. Some of the people we saw were dressed in special outfits, probably for an event related the holiday. Lucille took this picture of a little girl dressed in a red traditional dress at one of the many pavilions.

Mr. Huang, the business owner whose factory we visited the day before, joined us in our West Lake excursion. When the rain grew to more than a drizzle, he hailed a small bus for a tour around the lake. This suited our need to stay dry and to see as much as possible in the limited time available. The picture on the left shows Jinshui, umbrella in hand, sitting next to the driver/tour guide.

The guide, speaking in Chinese, probably told us many interesting things about the history of the park. Our hosts shared some of the facts, but not everything, because after a while it became apparent that they would not be able to keep up with his recitation. We were happy to see the sights and hear about the highlights - descriptions of statues, temples, and other sights.

There are numerous pavilions around the lake and many, many lotus blossoms, as you can see in the picture on the right. We saw several different kinds of watercraft, from small to large, simple to ornate. The simple boats in the picture below carried just one or two passengers besides the pilot. Other larger boats seemed to have the capacity to carry dozens of passengers. One of them, elaborately carved and painted to resemble a gold dragon, was probably used for dinner cruises and other special excursions on the lake.

After making our way around the lake, we returned to the hotel and piled into taxicabs to drive to the airport. It was raining even harder as we drove past high rise residential and business buildings. In the limited visibility I thought "This could be any modern city in any country."

Hangzhou - a big city

Though Hangzhou is not one of the largest cities in China, at 3 million plus it is considerably larger than the other places we've visited in Zhejiang Province. We drove from Anji to Hangzhou, past tea terraces, rice paddies, and other farmed fields, as well as houses in a variety of sizes and styles. As we reached the outskirts and drove through the city to reach our hotel, we saw much that reminded us of NYC. In fact, the section in which our hotel, the Zhejiang Grand Narada, was located reminded me of some of the neighborhoods in Queens. There was lots of greenery and wrought iron fences.

We had dinner in the hotel with Mr. Huang, Mr. Ye, and our drivers. Dinner that night was in one of the hotel restaurants, rather than in a private room. Mr. Huang and Mr. Ye, our hosts, selected entrees for the table, something we had come to expect. As usual, there were chicken, fish, tofu and vegetable options, along with the noodles, soup, and fruit that graced every dinner table on the trip.


June 8th was a transitional day, one of the few we would have during our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast buffet in the hotel, which included many western options, and then prepared for our morning outing.

Mr. Huang's Factory

One of our business visits in Anji was to Mr. Huang's leather factory. Unfortunately, because it was during the dragon holiday, we could not see any manufacturing in progress. We met in Mr. Huang's office, which was spacious, and enjoyed the wide open windows, which provided a spectactular view of mountains in the distance and the factory grounds just below and across the property. Mr. Huang is a serial entrepreneur, with several businesses, and he was interested in talking to John and Mark about their timber business. In the picture on the right, Weidong Ye, one of our escorts from Huzhou, and Mr. Huang listen to John as he describes the pictures they are seeing in the Evergreen Timber photo album. John assembled pictures from his yard, the forest, and of a special operation in which logs were lifted out of virtually inaccessible places by helicopter. The pictures feature the types of wood Evergreen Timber sells - maple, cherry, birch, oak, and so on. The photo album was an important feature during our meetings with business owners.

After the meeting and picture viewing session, Mr. Huang led us on a walking tour of his factory. The buildings were all pink, as you can see in the picture on the left. The factory complex was different from other places we visited in that it included an apartment building for the workers, a swimming pool and basketball court for their use, and an extensive garden with rock formations. Mr. Huang told us that he collects interesting rocks, as he showed us around his garden. The water you can see in the picture is not the swimming pool, but a large koi pond that is located in front of the main building. Mr. Huang's office overlooks the pond and gardens.

Before we left Mr. Huang's factory, we posed for a group picture in front of one of his rock formations. From l. to r., Jinshui, John, Lucille, Mr. Huang, Mrs. Huang, Mary, Mark. Our next stop is Hangzhou, a city that is considerably larger than Anji and Huzhou.