I’m going to China this week. Those are words I never thought I’d write with truth, but nevertheless, it is so. And it is so for a number of Western Canadian farmers who are part of the same tour.
This is the 12th trip to China organized by Dr. John Keng, an agro-environmental scientist formerly with Agriculture Canada and Alberta Agriculture, and John Calpas, also formerly of Alberta Agriculture.
The two men have taken many farmers on guided trips to China starting soon after they met through Lethbridge Research Centre channels. This year’s tour includes about 25 people. The route includes Shanghai, Yi-Chang, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi’an and Beijing. Until recently, I’d only heard of the first and last cities. Points in between those places will doubtless yield some information of interest to Canadian farmers, which I hope to relate to you by means of this blog and/or stories in the Producer.
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Along with views of pandas and Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall will be visits to the massive Three Gorges Dam, subtropical orchards, a silk farm and an agricultural research station.
China is not as exotic a destination as it was years ago. Canadian trade with China, plus improved ease and economy of travel, make it a frequent destination for many Canadians.
Now I will be one of them, on this, my first trip to Asia. It’s a relief that prime minister Stephen Harper and agriculture minister Gerry Ritz just visited China last month, because they presumably left an afterglow of goodwill toward Canadians in which our group can bask.
A government news release following that official visit listed no fewer than 22 accomplishments, from discussions on uranium and air transport to co-operation on control of blackleg in canola.
Dr. Keng made inquiries about a visit to the Canadian Embassy and the Alberta-China Office in Beijing, but was told they couldn’t spare any staff to meet with us. Doubtless they are busy working on the aforementioned co-operation and goodwill with the locals, if not with Canadian visitors.
Our tour organizers gave us a short glossary to get the group past those first awkward language barriers. Please is qin and thank you is xie xie in Chinese, although the pronunciation remains a question.
The fallback position is “wo bu hui shou zhong wen,” which means “I don’t speak Chinese.” I’ll commit that one to memory.
Zai jian (goodbye) for now. I hope to bring you material of interest from China in coming weeks.
