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

May 20 photos

 CAU students

 

 CAU

 

 Cranes

 

 Equine

 

 Jasmine

 

 Pioneer

 

 Tea, Ernest and Erin

 

USSEC

May 20

               Today's adventure led us to the North Asia DuPont Pioneer headquarters. Throughout the meeting it was discussed that corn was the only product sold by DuPont within Asia due to intellectual property rights. Unlike the United States with 100,000 corn growers, China has 300 million corn growers. Most farmers within China only have 1/6 of an acre. With DuPont Pioneer holding 10% of the market share, placing them on the top of the seed market, there are multiple counterfeit biotech traits. China allows Pioneer to do business within the country only by having a joint venture with a local business. Pioneer is included only within two joint ventures, and China doesn’t allow the sale of any biotech crops.

                The U.S. Soybean Export Council showed the break down on soybean usage in China. Imported beans get shipped over and crushed to create soybean meal and oil. The United States exports 27.6 million metric tons of soybeans. On the consumption standpoint soybeans are considered the number one choice compared to peanut seed, cottonseed, and rapeseed. The majority of the soybean meal that is used to create feed for livestock which makes it the main driver of demand. The increase of soybean usage is due to the urbanization of China. The Chinese government is trying to encourage the farmers to consolidate the farming throughout the country. 

               Before lunch we stopped at a tea house to participate in an official tea ceremony. Sitting around a large rectangle table, everyone was presented with six different types of tea. These six samples helped give us a taste of the variety of teas available, just a small dent into the 3,000 teas available in China.

               Touring the equestrian facility during training and lessons was a great experience. This facility started in 1999 and is now open to the public. A one-time membership fee is expensive and considered for the rich. The main focus is on show jumping and dressage using the American Quarter horse and Warm bloods, yet they still have lessons for individuals. Horses are stalled in barns according to the disposition. They import their hay from the northwestern part of China and also feed an imported concentrate feed. The facility took great pride in the work that it did.

               To end the night we visited Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, or MAFIC, where we ate supper and got to know some of the graduate students. The MAFIC students gave presentations on their research while we gave presentations on ourselves so they could see how we can all connect and get to know each other. We ate supper with the students that consisted of a wide variety of chicken, beef, fish and vegetables. We all really seemed to get along well and made some real connections. After the banquet, there was an informal basketball game with students from CAU and SDSU playing, and no one wanted the night to end.

Sara Maloney and Carson Glasnapp

May 19 photos

 Ben and Christ

 

 Dan and Clayton



 

 Elizabeth and the train

 

 Hot pot

 

 Lunch

 

 Pork

 

 Spices

 

 Train ride

 

Tyler, Dakota, Kylee



Xi'an to Beijing

Our last day in Xi'an started off with a buffet breakfast in our hotel. After breakfast we packed our bags and headed to the meat market. After seeing the seafood market and fruit and vegetable market, we all expected this one to be about the same. At 4:30 a.m. every day of the week, animals start coming to market and then get harvested including carcasses and intestines, and brought to their individual booths for display to try and sell them. The meat in the early morning is the most expensive because it is the freshest. As the day goes on, the meat gets cheaper and cheaper until the meat is completely gone. If the meat did not sell, it gets put into a freezer to sell the next day. The sellers live above where they sell their meat in small dormitories. There was also a building full of delicacies including: pig snouts, cured blood, which is a Jello/solid form of blood. They also had a special spot for every animal's organs. After the meat market, we toured the connecting fruit and vegetable markets. It is cool to see it all in one place because then the locals can get everything they need in one area. Walking through the veggie market, we noticed an odd shaped object. With a closer look, we found out it was a green, Buddha shaped squash. They did this by planting a squash seed into a molded out box of a Buddha which when it grew it filled out all the creases making a Buddha squash. Something new at this fish market, were that the heads of the fish were just chilling in a basket waiting to be packaged and sold. Also, we noticed huge bags of live frogs waiting to be sold for whatever reason, we do not know. 

After the markets we loaded the bus to head to the train station. While on our way there, our tour guide for Xi'an, quizzed us on the culture and history of China. She handed out small Terra-Cotta Warriors and information books about China's history as prizes. Also, she showed us what a 1,000 year old egg is. Back in the day when there were no refrigerators, people would wrap lime around the raw egg for 30 days and bury it before consumption. Our tour guide bought one from the veggie market and cut it open to show us. It was gold and had a Jello texture to it. No one had the guts to try it.

Once we got to the train station, we said goodbye to our tour guide, Maggie, and headed to McDonald's for a quick lunch. Not realizing how many people would be riding our train with us, made for a hectic process. We had to get all of our luggage and bodies onto the train all while other impatient passengers were trying to get past us to their seats. Some of them ended up sitting in our seats but luckily Janet was able to sort everything out for us. The train left at 1:15 p.m. and arrived around 6 p.m. in Beijing. The train has a top speed of 218 mph. It is pretty neat to see the country side out the windows.

After arriving in Beijing, we met our new tour guide, Michelle, who took us to our first Hot Pot restaurant. Each individual student had their own boiler in front of them at the table which had broth mixed with different vegetables and seasonings. After the broth was boiled, we were given platefuls of thinly sliced meats and veggies which we threw into the boiler and dipped into a salty but tasty sesame sauce. Everyone seemed to enjoy this meal as there finally a lot of beef, mutton, and shrimp for us to fill up on.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel in the north east part of Beijing where a lot of foreign business people stay and do business. We are planning to go wonder the streets of Beijing before a big day tomorrow.     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         -Katie and Dakota

May 18

May 18, 2015

Ni hao (hello!) from Xi'an! Our second morning in Xi'an began with a visit to a local farmer's home within the city of Xi'an. The wife invited us into her apartment for some morning tea, and we learned that she runs the family farm, which is 4 mu (in China land is measured in mu; 1 mu = 1/6 acre, so 4 mu = 2/3 acre). She raises corn, wheat, soybeans, cherries, and kiwi. All wheat is sold locally for flour, and the soybeans are sold to the government. Cherries are the family's most profitable crop on the farm and are sold at the local wholesale market. The wife also creates and sells crafts to support the family income while serving tourist groups during the busy tourist season.  Her husband builds bridges in Xi'an, and their two children also work in Xi'an.

Our next stop was the Terra Cotta Warriors replica factory and museum. The terra cotta sculptures include Chinese warriors, horses, and chariots that were built during the Qin Dynasty to guard one of the emperor's tombs. The terra cotta warriors were initially discovered by a local farmer who was digging for water in the Xi'an district. At the replica factory we saw how the replicated terra cotta warriors are constructed, and we were able to visit the actual excavation sites at the museum. The sheer number of detailed statues was impressive! There are currently 2,000 statues on display with a total of 6,000 at the museum.  We also had a buffet style lunch at the museum and saw how Xi'an's famous noodles are made.

Our last stop of the day was the Xi'an Yin Qiao Biological Science and Technology Company. Yin Qiao is the largest dairy processing plant in the Xi'an district and has received several pristine awards throughout China and Asia. We sampled some of Yin Qiao's milk and yogurt products out of the company's selection of over 100 products of fluid milk, infant milk powder, and yogurt. Yin Qiao processes 800 to 1,000 tons of local milk per day, which is purchased from local farmers, company-owned farms, and joint-venture farms. Yin Qiao was initially started by 3 local farmers and has grown into a company that generates dairy products with a high consumer demand. After a Q&A session with the company managers, we visited the processing plant and took a tour through the facilities to see the plant's processing setup and equipment.

Xie xie (thanks!) for sharing another day of our trip with us!

Ben and Erin

May 18 photos

 Amanda and Nik

 

 Clayton and Spencer

 

 Dairy

 

 Dakota, Carson, Erin

 

 

 

 Kyllie

 

Terra Cotta