May 21

               Today was an early morning. We had wakeup call at 5:45 am! We had to make sure we were up early enough to make it to Artex by 9 am. Artex is a Canadian based company that is partnered with East Rock which is a Chinese based company. They both manufacture dairy equipment. An example can be the special head gates and stalls that are produced for dairy cattle which are able to lock the cattle in head gates. The Artex company is very international. It has 60 dealers in 44 different countries and 5 continents. The group was able to tour the plant and watch how the production worked. Our tour guide for this facility happened to be from Dallas, Texas which was pretty cool. 

               After the tour we had the opportunity to eat lunch at another Chinese restaurant. One of the favorite dishes at the table was a concoction of peppers, chicken, carrots, and many other veggies. The tour guide for Artex also enjoyed lunch with our group. We learned that he had attended college in Canada and spoke fluent Mandarin, which is the language spoken in this region. We also learned that he was only 24 years old, so he was very relatable.

               Next, our group had the opportunity to tour a government-owned soy bean processing plant during the afternoon. Producing products ranging from oils to medications to beverages, the plant processed 5,000 tons of soybeans per day. We found the plant especially relevant because it purchased roughly 1.5 million tons of soybeans each year, with nearly half of these soybeans coming from the United States.

               After walking through the plant and viewing containers being filled with soybean oil (our class especially enjoyed the hard hats we were required to wear,) we returned to Beijing after a two hour drive. Perhaps the highlight of the day, however, was the delicious Peking duck dinner and the wonderful conversation that came with it. Tomorrow we look forward to touring the world-famous Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, as well as hunting for bargains at several markets.

Jordan Nichols and Spencer Jorgenson