This photo is too beautiful to size it smaller. I’m really looking forward to the sights, sounds, good smells and tastes of this annual festival this weekend.
A year ago, high-ranking Chinese official Li Zhaoxing came to St. Louis to talk about plans for an air cargo connection between his nation and the Gateway City. Next month, according to St. Louis RCGA President Dick Fleming, another Chinese delegation will be here to continue that conversation. The group will include representatives of the China Investment Promotion Agency, and that’s a new twist to the relationship, Fleming explained:
They will be bringing investors here looking for investments in companies here and in the broader St. Louis marketplace.
The local companies wouldn’t necessarily have to be connected to the air-freight or cargo business, or even to the goal of finding ”back haul” products to ship from the Midwest to China. Fleming even brought up the possibility that Chinese companies might be interested in funding some of St. Louis’ promising life-sciences companies. He added:
This is an example of how this relationship can develop in a variety of ways beyond the aviation deal.
The aviation deal itself, of course, is in the nascent stage. The latest development was the formation of a Midwest China Hub Commission in January.
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Editor’s note: Do you know the origins of the term “Mound City” used at the top of this story? Here’s an entry from the St. Louis Public Library’s Web site.
Before the Arch became the trademark of the ‘Gateway to the West,’ St. Louis answered to the nickname of “Mound City.”
While few these days could explain the origins of that name, there are still better than half-a dozen Mound City commercial listings in the local phone book. Mounds are an important part of St. Louis’s history and image.
The mounds in question were constructed by native Americans about 1000 years ago. People of the Mississippian culture shaped long-lasting earthen structures on both sides of the Mississippi River.
Click on the following link to read the entire article at the > St. Louis Public Library < Web site.
I just watched a program on CNBC World called “Managing China.” If you are interested in doing business in or with China, this program is a great tutorial on the big picture.
The program is a one-on-one interview format. The segment that I watched was between interviewer (Mr.) Luo Zhenyu and (Mr.) Song Zhenghuan, president of 
I think this program shows how one might investigate issues, express doubt, or uncertainty and do it with a politeness and humble approach to which we simple are unaccustomed, and which would seem unclear, perhaps too subtle, seen through the cultural lens here.
Make no mistake that while a harmonious society is a primary Chinese cultural value, the Chinese are tough negotiators and do not always agree among themselves or across the table. They do, however, maintain a surface appearance of harmony, and one of the ways they would handle disagreement is to have a person who acts as liaison from each of the opposing/collaborating teams. This allows the leaders to lay issues on the table while making the expressions of mutual respect and toasting to each other’s success, while the liaisons deliver information about problematic issues and allow the team leaders to work out the problems indirectly, through their liaisons.
The program today was an excellent study in direct discussion, though, which would be a step up from and riskier way to go than the liaison route, but shows it can be done. Not an exercise for the inexperienced, I might add.
Here is a post especially for my seven readers in China from “圣路易斯中国人角落.”
天堂般的祝福您的健康，
The so-called “Midwest” defined by the dozens of states lumped together in them this way misses the important point that the states and regions and people within those boundaries are as different from each other as the east coast is from the west coast.
