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On
a nine-day trip to China, a group of 234 business people, most
from the Inland Valley, saw the Great Wall, one had a run-in with
the police in Tiananmen Square and some made business contacts
that could prove fruitful, participants said Wednesday.
The
delegation returned in Saturday. It was organized by Leo Liu, a
Monterey Park
resident from
China
who regularly
brings delegations of Chinese officials to meet city officials at
Inland Chambers of commerce. The cost per person was $1,099.
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Chambers
Delegates at
Tiananmen
Square
in
Beijing
.
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"It
was beautiful, quite an experience," said Bob Traister, executive
vice president if the Ontario Chamber. " They treated us like
royalty."
Trip
participants said the new buildings and cleanliness of the four cities
they visited-
Beijing
,
Shanghai
,
Hangzhou
and
Suzhou
- impressed them.
"
China
is not some backward
country with no running water," said April Morris, president of
Associated Engineers in
Ontario
. "If they're
considered
Third World
, it gives new meaning to
the word."
She
added, however "I'm sure we didn't see the seedier sides of the
cities."
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The
hospitality of the Chinese was notable, participants said. Big
banners welcoming the "
Inland Empire
delegation"
greeted them at all their hotels, for example, they said.
The
group traveled in six buses with a police escort, stayed in
four-star and five-star hotels and met a number of Chinese
officials, from the mayor of
Suzhou
to the executive
director at the equivalent of
Beijing
's visitors and convention bureau, Traister said.
The
most dramatic moment came when the group was at
Tiananmen Square
, he said.
Member
of Falum Gong, a spiritual group outlawed by
China
in July 1999, are
protesting in the square and the Americans were warned not to take
photographs of them or police. But police say one woman in the
Inland
Valley
delegation take
pictures so the sped over, seized her camera and exposed the film
before returning it to her, Traister said. She was almost arrested,
he said.
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Great Wall of
China
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On
a more positive note,
San Bernardino
business owner Greg Wolfe
said he was able to meet some people in
Suzhou
to whom he has been selling
pipes, sinks, toilets and other made-in-the-USA, plumbing supplies. He
also met officials in the city of
Hangzhou
. south of
Shanghai
, who are looking for
Westerners to contract out manufacturing to Chinese plants.
"It's
definitely opened my eyes to possibilities" of doing this, possibly
for certain water system components, Wolfe said.
Don
Driftmier, a
Rancho Cucamonga
certified public accountant
and member of a U.S. Department of Commerce District Export Council, said
anyone on the trip who wanted to meet Chinese business and civic officials
for possible deals down the road had the opportunity.
And
the opportunities abound in
China
, he said.
"They're
an economic force to be reckoned with," Driftmier said.
