Asia 2009 Trade and Investment Mission Blog

Day 3 - September 9, 2009 – Traveling to Hangzhou

I was really looking forward to traveling by train to Hangzhou and I was not disappointed.  It was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the Chinese culture and see more of China's beautiful landscape.

Hangzhou is in the Zhejiang Province located about 112 miles southwest of Shanghai.    Hangzhou has a population of over 6 million people, which is small by Chinese standards, and has a beautiful fresh water lake called West Lake.  West Lake is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is very well known in China.

Many Chinese homes, especially in farm villages, have temples on top of them to pay homage to their ancestors.  Ancestry and history play a large part of the Chinese culture and the temples are another example of these influences.

I also thought it was interesting, that unlike the U.S., Chinese grooms and their families pay for about 80 percent of the cost of their weddings.

It is early in the day of September 9, 2009 – 9/9/09 – and 9 is a very lucky number in the Chinese culture.  If fact, the Chinese celebrate the ninth second, of the ninth minute, of the ninth hour, of the ninth day, of the ninth month of the ninth year.  The luck of nine did not rub off on the number four in this culture.  Four is considered very unlucky, similar to the U.S. perception of the number 13.

I look forward to reporting more about this day's events in tomorrow's blog.

September 8, 2009 - Day 2

We spent the first part of our day with the American Chamber of Commerce for a discussion on "green collar" jobs.  Chinese carbon emissions are escalating and China has seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the world.  As a result, environmental protection has become more important to the Chinese.

Later in the day we traveled to Eli Lilly's facility at the Pudong Science Park.  Lilly has over 2,000 employees in China, which means China has the second largest Lilly operation in the world.  Pudong is one of Shanghai's newest districts with a focus on three main industries: life sciences, software and integrated circuits.

Some of us were also able to visit ShangPharma.  ShangPharma provides research services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies.  They currently have over 1,600 scientists.  An interesting question was raised about how intellectual property is protected for the company and its clients.  The uncertainty of intellectual property protection is not isolated to just ShangPharma.  It is an issue that China is addressing as a country.

Following these visits we had a traditional Chinese lunch that was again served on a lazy Susan.  There were six different courses that included duck, shrimp, squid, scallops, fresh vegetables, jellyfish and fried rice.  Beer and wine were again offered.  Chinese meals are traditionally very  large.  I was curious how the society remains so thin.  Meal preparation seems to hold the answer.  They use vegetable oils and other "waist friendly" and heart healthy preparation methods.

The day concluded with a Friends of Indiana reception.  Guests included companies that have a business connection to Indiana or have an interest in doing business in Indiana.  Eli Lilly, Cummins and Alison Transmission all attended.

I'm really looking forward to traveling by train to Hangzhou tomorrow.  It will be a great opportunity for me to see some of the rural parts of China and its landscape.