Day 5 -- Get Away Day

Thursday, December 11, 2008. Thursday was our last day in Beijing, with an early afternoon flight to Hefei in the Anhui province.

Our first meeting of the day was with an extremely high-level official – the head of the All China Youth Federation. In the Chinese government structure, this particular leader is one of the highest-ranking officials we have met with so far. Our host had just finished participation in high-level economic talks that took place in Beijing last week, so as you can imagine, much of our discussion focused on the current global economic crisis.

Some Chinese economists and the international press have been painting the crisis in the U.S. as worse than the Great Depression and are predicting it will be 10 years or more before our economy rebounds. Part of our job this trip is to help explain the differences between the Great Depression and our current recession and correct much of the false information that is circulating about the economy.

Before I left for China our Senate Caucus received a briefing from the Senate Appropriations staff and things do look grim for Missouri for the next two years. Massive budget shortfalls are predicted. The good news is that most economists are in agreement that the economy should start to turn around and head back up in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2009. This potential timeline was welcome news to many of the government and business leaders that we have met with in China.

Since we were rushing to catch a plane, lunch was at the airport McDonald’s. I opted for a protein bar from my backpack, but the rest of the gang seemed to enjoy a taste from home. I did sample the hot taro and pineapple pies. I’d like to see those go stateside.



Once in Anhui we went straight to visit a U.S. electronic factory in the Hefei Economic Development Zone. We met with 2 men who were born in China and Taiwan, but who are both U.S. citizens and now running the manufacturing plant.

We asked several questions about wages, benefits and conditions for workers. We were met with varying degrees of specificity in response. We have not met any manufacturers yet who will tell us what is the average wage for their workers. They claim the wages are secret, but that they are attractive and competitive.

After a tour of the factory we checked into our hotel. We had a nice dinner with our local hosts and local government officials, then called it an early night and got some much-needed sleep.