May 22

Greetings to all from the land of China. We are in our second day in Guangzhou and leave tomorrow for Hong Kong. The humidity here is a little more than some of us, especially this Minnesotan, are used to, but we're making it work. Fortunately the air conditioning was included in this hotel, rather than a paid option at our previous hotel. It is becoming obvious that this region was the first in the "Made in China" revolution. Shipments of goods here for manufacturing or for domestic use arrive daily in huge quantities, and its economic impact on the region has been immense. Everything from shoes to electronics to clothing bought in the US is made within an hour of where we currently type this blog.

Our sense of smell was kicked into gear early at the seafood market which was our first stop for the day. From lobster to clam to fish species never seen before in the US, this place had it all. Stand after stand exhibited their finest seafood in aquariums and crates of various crustaceans. Statistics-wise, this market goes through about 500 tons of seafood each day, or roughly 20 semi loads daily. The sales are made to individual customers, as well as restaurants and foodservice.

Our next visit was to the fruit and vegetable markets. This market was different in that it dealt with the throughput of goods only by bulk, rather than individual customers. Grapes were the number one fruit quantity-wise in this market, but many others were also sold there such as watermelon, apples, oranges, grapefruit, and pineapples, just to name a few. Imported fruits such as these usually make their way from port, such as the one we visited yesterday, in refrigerated containers. Many of these containers and trucks could be seen lined up throughout the market. They are then either sold locally or bought and shipped elsewhere in the region.

After lunch, we visited the US Consulate office here in Guangzhou, which represents the United States in the south China region. It is a branch office of the Embassy and is one of five located throughout the country. The consulate also is a branch office of the USDA-FAO, or Food and Agriculture Organization. This $300 million facility was moved into in last July and employs over 400 people. One of the main duties of the consulate here is to grant visas for business, study, investments, etc. (non-immigrant visas), which last year totaled over 500,000. This number is the largest in the world granted by any consulate, which shows the global connection to this area for numerous industries. This office deals with market development for US goods as well. When last year's US imports to China totaled over $29 billion, it becomes obvious that this is an important task.

We ended the night on a more scenic note with a cruise on the Pearl River which runs through the downtown area. The lights of the city and sights along the river were beautiful to see. That's about it for the day as we wrap up our time here in Guangzhou and look forward to one last stop in Hong Kong before we head back home. Goodnight (or good morning, probably) from China and you stay classy, America.