DELEGATION BLOG

Greg Aldrich: Final Day

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:48:26 -0700

Day 8 – September 13, 2008
Fuzhou

For some of us, this morning was our only free time of the trip. Several others had meetings all day long. After breakfast, Rep. Barker, Mary and I headed off to do some exploring, particularly some shopping. Up to now, none of us has been in a store and we’ve literally spent only a few dollars (Chinese Yuan) for coffee or a drink. We headed off to the major shopping district, while being fascinated by all the sights. Being Saturday, there were lots of people out shopping and all the stores were open. Of course, there was the usual mix of pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks. Crowds were never so dense that I felt uncomfortable. The people were always polite and you never felt like you would get run over on a sidewalk where there can be some bikes and mopeds. Crossing streets were a little different. We were told to never look at the driver; if they know that you’ve seen them, they will not stop. But they don’t hit people either. At this time, cars are king in China.

We went shopping to find some typical Chinese goods, but after much walking we found endless stores that carry typical western goods and/or catered to the 20 somethings. Hence there were only a couple of successful purchases, but many views and vistas of a medium sized Chinese city of 3 million.

At 2 p.m., we met up with the rest of our delegation and went to visit another environmental protection company at their corporate offices. We all got to make some brief speeches about working together and cooperation. Then we heard about the company’s services and saw a video in Chinese that looks a lot an American promotional video. As was common at most of these meetings, there was bottled water, large bowels of fruit and other snacks. It turns out that the CEO just became one of the officers of the Oregon-Fujian Sister State Association. His company would be co-hosting our final banquet later in the day.

The Oregon-Fujian Sister State Association banquet was a major event for the organization. It was held in a hotel banquet room that was lavishly decorated. September 14 is one of the three most significant Chinese holidays – the mid-autumn festival (based on the Chinese calendar). Thus we were celebrating the 24th anniversary of the association and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Each member of the Oregon delegation received a beautiful orchid boutonniere corsage and we were seated at the guest table with some of the local association officials. There were about 60 people in attendance. The event started with many speeches. Then there was formal entertainment by four musicians who sang and/or played instruments. The music included some traditional works and some modern jazz on a saxophone. Jenny from our delegation, who grew up in China but now lives in Vancouver, WA, said we saw some very folksy, traditional performances. This was followed by another lavish dinner consisting of many small dishes. Again, we seemed to sample about everything that comes from the sea, as well as a number of meat dishes. There were also many formal and informal toasts that typically include a sip or more of wine. Not to be disappointed, the final course included watermelon. It is official – there was watermelon at every single meal we had, including breakfast!

After returning to the hotel, the Oregon delegation assembled in the hotel café for a final drink or ice cream and some quiet conversation. I forgot to mention that the musical performances were at about 100+ decibels – just like going to a loud rock concert. Apparently this is something the Chinese like. After this final gathering, it was time to go back to our rooms to pack. Everyone was leaving the next day – Mary and I would return to Portland and the other five would head to Guangzhou for several days. Javid actually left for Beijing early this morning (Saturday).

Thomas Benke: On the past week

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:28:02 -0700

I’ve participated in more than a few of these types of delegations over the years. More often than not I’ve led them. Few have been as rewarding as this Environmental Delegation to Xiamen and Fuzhou.

I started with a request of Fujian Province for help in establishing Oregon environmental service and technology companies in China. With that promised support I went to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Bureau of Environmental Services looking for those agencies’ participation. I know from past experience that I might have had scores of qualified professionals in both organizations volunteering, but I also know now that the success of this delegation depended largely on Greg Aldrich of ODEQ and Mary Wahl of BES agreeing to participate. Never have I traveled with two nicer people. Our Chinese hosts warmed to them immediately.

None of what we accomplished this past week would have been possible without the support of Murray, Smith and Associates Inc. Beyond MSA’s financial support, the participation of Troy Bowers very much emphasized our message of the Public-Private partnership for environmental protection that we rely upon in Oregon.

Javid Mohtasham joined the delegation late, but his representation of Mt. Hood Community College was very beneficial not only because of Javid’s capabilities but also because of the role that academia plays in the Chinese environmental sector.

Of course, elected public officials also serve an important function in any such delegation. Jeff Barker carried himself with official comportment and a sense of humor wherever we went, even when our excursions took us to some not-so-beautiful places.

Sunun Setboonsarng of OECDD likewise gave another facet to this gem of a delegation. Her experience, position and hard work added tremendously to general impression that ours was a serious and substantial delegation.

Finally, everyone in our delegation will attribute the successful execution of our delegation agenda to Jenny Brown. She managed our itinerary with our Fujian EPB hosts and did most of the translation. More importantly, though, she is to her native country a natural ambassador of her adopted country.

Everyone wants to continue the relationships and good work that we began this week. What we get out of these delegations as individuals depends as much on our personal abilities as it does the opportunities presented to us. My strategy was always to serve the interests of Greg and Mary, of the State of Oregon and the City of Portland, and in so doing I expected that good opportunities would also present themselves to the other delegates. I leave the measurement of success to each individual. For myself, I made many new friends and learned much about China. If I can profit by the experience, that as they say is gravy.

Troy Bowers: First week in china

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:57:45 -0700

I find myself sitting here in awe. An entire week has passed so quickly, yet so richly. Our friends here in China and Thomas and Jenny have done an amazing job of arranging and facilitating an agenda packed with opportunity, and of course, more delicious food than you could ever imagine. We have met with high level government and business officials and have developed new friendships and relationships bright with the opportunity to collaborate in the near future and beyond.

I am grateful to have shared this experience with a special group of friends, some new and some old. This is a life changing experience that I will cherish. I look forward to another week of growth and opportunity as I look back on all I have enjoyed so thoroughly this past week. Having taken 600 photos to date, I’ve attached a few that capture the spirit of this visit. I’ll endeavor to be more diligent in sharing as we move forward. ‘til next time,

Troy

Greg Aldrich: A day in fuzhou

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:34:28 -0700

Day 7 – September 12, 2008
Fuzhou
This was a long day - the morning was very good and we spent at the local (Fuzhou city) Environmental Protection Bureau. They have a very impressive education/public information display center in their main office. Of the 46 largest cities, Fuzhou ranks 11 in terms of best air quality. I believe Xiamen, where we were earlier in the week, is even cleaner. Next we saw an online demonstration of their monitoring system - their info technology is advanced - linking maps to live webcams to live monitoring or industrial discharge data. This was followed by a tour of their new municipal wastewater treatment plant. The wastewater folks from our delegation found the plant to be very modern and it may include several special treatments that we don’t include in secondary wastewater treatment. Then we headed back downtown and had a formal lunch - very much like a dinner.
The afternoon included two tours of industrial facilities. One is an environmental protection company that produces ultraviolet equipment for water and air sterilizing. The other company includes waste-gas control devices, desulphurization and de-nitrification equipment for thermal power plants, as well as other pollution control equipment. As part of the tour, we saw some of the construction of their new production facilities. It is amazing to see to very labor intensive construction practices (much done by hand) to build factories for high tech uses.
We returned to our hotel for a brief rest - which did include a nice cappuccino. Then we were off to a very impressive dinner - another one sponsored by the Fujian Province Environmental Protection Bureau. There were sooooooo many courses of food including delicious snails and about anything else that comes from the sea! They have ended every single meal with a plate of sliced watermelon. Every meal! It is also at breakfast. Luckily it is yummy and refreshing. But we've learned that when the watermelon arrives, the meal is ending.
After returning to our hotel, four of us went out for a first group stroll around the local lake then sat down over beverages. It was one of the very few non-programmed moments of the trip.

Javid Motasham: a too short trip

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:26:12 -0700

Our second day (Friday 9/12) in Fuzhou started in the morning with a visit to the Environment Monitoring Station followed by a visit to a wastewater treatment center and in the afternoon we visited a plant that was the sole manufacturer of the UV devices as well as O3 generators for the disinfection of water in the wastewater treatment centers. We did also tour a company that is involved with several different projects within the fields of wastewater treatment technologies.

I found our site visits very interesting because all speakers were true scientists (chemists) and were trying really hard to explain the sophisticated chemistry concepts in a way that non-chemists can understand them. Believe it or not, they all did an excellent job.

I was also amazed with the cleanliness of the the wastwater treatment center and I tried really hard to take good notes in order to pass them on to my colleagues at the wastewater treatment center that I am using for one of my courses (ESR 271) during each fall term.

I left Fuzhou today and it is very sad that the visit is over for some of us. I am hoping this tour would be the beginning of new adventure for all of us including the Sustainability Safety and Health (SHS) program at Mt. Hood community College. I have learned a lot about the practice of environmental, health and safety activities within the industries that we visited as well as the culture and the people of China.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to every single member of the Chinese officials (private and public) for all they did to give make this trip as one of the best trips that I can remember. Thanksssssssssssss and hope to see you soon in Oregon!

Mary Wahl: Rapid development at a heavy cost

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:23:50 -0700

9/12 in China is 9/11 in the USA because of the time difference.
There was an article about events in the US in the "China Daily" and
likely other coverage here. I absolutely can't tell what's in the
Chinese newsprint except the ones like "China Daily" that happen to be
in English. Representative Barker did a tasteful job of mentioning it
in one of his introductions of our delegation.

We visited the site of a Chinese company established in 2000, that
moved onto the Singapore stock exchange in 2006, and is building
projects (VOC recovery, sewage treatment, etc.) VERY rapidly. The site
had one manufacturing building just completed & only lacking the
equipment coming from Japan, one building for manufacturing the VOC
recovery equipment that break the heart of any OSHA inspector (man on a
wooden ladder leaning over to cut a steel tank with a torch -- no
safety equipment in sight; woman carrying one end of steel pipe
segments with open toed sandals, no one with dust protection), and two
other buildings just going up. The general manager is 34. This speed
of development seems typical.

Mary Wahl: Reservoirs and nightlife

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:16:58 -0700

We visited a beautiful area yesterday, and saw a reservoir with a dam
built mostly ("at least 85%") by women. The men were away, and we were told by three different people that the women in this part of China are
known for being very diligent, hard workers. The visit to this
reservoir was added to the itinerary because Chinese staff and
officials we met at the environmental conference the first day talked
about the urgency of cleaning it up so it can be used as a drinking
water source. There is a city on the headwaters of the reservoir,
including a 20,000 student university, and there are duck and pig farms
along the banks. It was built for flood control and irrigation, and
now -- with the growing population and demand for drinking water-- it
needs to be used for drinking water. It doesn't sound all that
different from what is happening to the Willamette. First it was the
place we sent all our waste water and storm water, it was controlled
with dams for flood protection, it was used for irrigation, and now
cities are figuring out how to use it for drinking water.

Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province, is ALIVE at night, at
least in the area right around the hotel, which is all we've seen so
far. Alive means there are a lot of people out strolling on a wooden
esplanade around the lake, and even more people dancing in the park
around the lake. Some are waltzing, others are doing modern dance,
following an instructor.

The Fujian Office of Foreign Affairs Ministry hosted us last night.
Seemed like a scene out of a movie or novel with all of us sitting
formally around tables drinking tea and exchanging greetings, welcomes,
and hopes for more exchanges between Oregon and our sister state,
Fujian. The head of the delegation expressed his interest in more
exchanges, including two way exchanges of high state and provincial
officials, students, and environmental experts. It would be a huge
mistake to think of this as quaint, just because of the formality and
the fact it feels at first like a scene out of a movie. The head of
the Chinese delegation spoke English fluently, is very informed, and is
persuasive.

For those of you who don't yet know Representative Jeff Barker, who is
on this trip, he's a terrific representative of Oregon, and does well
in the diplomatic role.

Greg Aldrich: Report from Fuzhou 2

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:23:02 -0700

Day 6 – Xiamen to Fuzhou
September 11, 2008

We are now in Fuzhou. It is another lovely city and very lively. We are staying at a lovely hotel that has a gorgeous location on an interior lake in the center of the city. Mary Wahl and I took an after dinner stroll. There were lots of people dancing in three areas, an exercise group (tai chi) and a singing group, and many other strollers. Given all this activity, it did not seem too crowded or oppressive - just lots of people out having a nice evening.

It was a fabulous drive from Xiamen to Fuzhou, mostly on the motorway. Went past several big cities, many small towns and lots of farm land. There were many signs of the new "instant" cities - some big industries surrounded by brand new, high density housing in the middle of nowhere. There is new construction almost everywhere you look - new highways, houses, apartment buildings, industry and commercial.

Mid-day, we stopped to visit a reservoir that is being turned into a drinking water reservoir. Unfortunately, the headwaters include a city of 30,000 and a university of 20,000 at the upper end of the reservoir. There are many challenges such as no sanitation, stormwater runoff and agricultural operations. Yet this problem may pan out to be a project that some or all of the Oregon delegation may be involved in.

To visit the reservoir, we got off the motorway and went into the back country. Saw a bit of old China - a small town with very little new development but lots of life. We met with several of the environmental officials connected with the reservoir and toured the area, seeing some of the problems. Afterwards we went back into a larger town with the reservoir official and had a quick meeting to discuss some of the issues and potential solutions. Then they hosted us for a very special lunch.

Tonight we were guests of the Fujian Provincial Foreign Affairs office for another formal dinner. This included a "formal" meeting where the deputy director general talked about the importance of the Oregon-Fujian Sister State Association and recapped its 24-year history. Then he encouraged Oregon to do more official visits. There have been more Fujian visits to Oregon than vice versa. Representative Barker said he would take the message back to Governor Kulongoski and Representative Hunt (future House Speaker). Then we had another delicious meal - with more elegant food that was a mix of Chinese and European courses.

Wow is all I can say about traveling across a small part of China. You need to toss out your old China playbook and get a new one. In many ways, I felt like we were motoring through parts of Europe instead of my “old” image of China.

Javid Mohtasham: report from fuzhou

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:54:22 -0700

2 weeks ago to date, I received a call from Robin Rogers of the OFSSA regarding the upcoming trip of an Env. Delegation to Xiamen, China and asked me, if I am interested to join them to promote the educational opportunities within the Sustainability health and Safety (SHS) program at Mt. Hood Community College. As soon as I heard SHS program without thinking, I replied YES. Luckily, the OFSSA staff were willing to help me to prepare myself for this journey in a very very short time (thanks to all of you for all you did to make this trip possible).

We left Portland on Friday 9/5 at 7:20 pm and few minutes before landing at the SFO, San Francisco was faced with an earthquake. Anyway after spending 5 hours at the SFO, our plane departed for Xiamen via Hong Kong and landed in Xiamen on Sunday 9/7 at 12:25 pm (Saturday 9/6 at 9:25 pm PST, we were in the sky and ground for 29 hours).

Our official daily activities started in couple of hours after our arrival in Xiamen and since then we have been having meetings and site visits back to back. Today (Thursday 9/11) we left Xiamen for Fuzhou for more meetings and site visits. We will be here for the next two days.

All of the meetings and site visits have been very educational and informative and between all of them, two have been stuck in my mind, the visit to "Coal Power Plant" and the "dam which was built by Women". Hopefully, I will be using some of the information that I have got at the Coal Power Plant in my Env. Chemistry course!

In Xiamen and Fuzhou, the Bureau of Environment has been our host and to me they are the best host that you can wish for. They have been going out of their ways to make our stay a very memorable one. I have learned a lot from our meetings and all site visits, thanks to all of them.

I found Xiamen and Fuzhou very very greeeeeeeeeeeeeeen and Beeeeeeeeeeeeeautiful and I wish for everyone to have a chance to come and visit China. Bye for now!

Greg Aldrich:water quality Day

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:08:18 -0700

Day 5 – Water Quality Day
Wednesday, September 10, 2008, Xiamen, China

Today included three field trips, two focusing on drinking water protection areas. Our day started with a tour to the Chinese Egret Nature Protection area which is operated by the Xiamen Environmental Protection Bureau. We started by driving to some docks in downtown Xiamen, where we transferred to two small motor boats that ferried us to the protection area. The egrets live on an island in the middle of the bay, in the middle of the city. Getting into the boats was interesting as you had to walk across several fishing boats prior to reaching our boats. We laughed a lot of the lack of OSHA standards here – such as jumping between boats that are bouncing in the water. Of course, we had no problems.

We got to see some egrets and look into the captive breeding area. The Chinese are attempting to keep these beautiful birds from becoming extinct. There are only 3,000 left but at least the numbers are not declining any more. We also saw lots of black butterflies and several very BIG spiders.

Next we made a tourist stop at another island in the harbor which is famous as a residence for foreigners when China opened up in the 1800s. There was lots of history and unique architecture, as well as a hike to the top of a hill. The climb to the top offered a fabulous view of the city which surrounds the large harbor.

In the afternoon, we went to two separate drinking water reservoirs that are part of the city’s source water protection areas for drinking water. These are relatively newly established protected areas backing up into the surrounding mountains. Xiamen’s drinking water comes from these two reservoirs and from a large river.

Our other experience of the day related to all the driving. We shared rides in two cars provided by the Fujian Environmental Protection Bureau and they provided the drivers. Up to now most of our driving has been on major streets or freeways. Today we were on lots of 4-lane roads – two lanes in each direction with a double yellow line separating traffic. Over here there are a lot of typical cars and trucks like in the US – many cars are full sized. Add to this lots of motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians – and even a few carts pulled by animals – and you have an interesting mix. Drivers do not do follow the rule of slow drivers keep to the right – there can be lots of very slow drivers n the left lane. Luckily no one drives very fast and speed limits are slower than at home. The result is a continual dodging of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and pedestrians. Several times the two lanes of traffic in one direction becomes three lanes as cars cross the yellow center line to pass traffic. It truly is not for the faint of heart!

The other fun thing I did tonight was to walk to the South China Sea, which is about 1.5 miles from the hotel. There is a nice landscaped parkway with a wide pedestrian/bike lane set back from the road on both sides. It is quite suburban out here, so there is very little actual development along the road except for a college. There were lots of people out walking. However, set back from the road there appears to be a lot of people living in an old area – there was a lot of wood smoke, which probably was from cooking fires. I saw a man sitting on the grass of the parkway with his cow. The cow was enjoying the green grass. At the Sea, there is a large outdoor restaurant and a big sandy beach. I could not resist taking off my shoes and socks and wading into the warm seawater. The night air was warm (perhaps 85 degrees) and full of the sounds of crickets and other noise makers. I saw several bats and a frog.