Activities and Events in Chengdu and Chongqing

 Day One – 21st April 2005 (Thursday), 14 – 22 (Degree Celsius)
 
 0345 – Gathered at Projet, Johor Jaya to catch the bus for Changi Airport, Singapore
 0415 – Second pick up point, Menara Ansar, Johor Bahru
 0600 – 40 person, group-checked in, ready for boarding CA 404
 0740 – Here we come, Chengdu, a city with a population of 8.6 million
 1200 – Arrived in Chengdu, Shuang Liu Airport. Mr Lee, Deputy Director of Chengdu Foreign Trade greeted us.
 1300 – Lunch
 1400 – Headed for the real estate exhibition. A big screen, showed “Welcome delegates from Johor, Malaysia” was displayed when we arrived. We experienced a huge crowd flooding the exhibition, where we don’t see it in our country. The exhibitors spend a substantial amount for their promotional catalogues and materials. The next day, the local newspaper reported our visit.
 1530 – Next, we were invited to visit the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade & Ecomomic Cooperation (FTEC). The Director of Chengdu of FTEC briefed YB and the delegates on how the One-Stop Center of the FTEC served the businessmen. A tour within the department had been arranged to explain to us their respective function. En Basir from JSIC also gave a presentation on the Johor Investment benefits to the Chengdu counterpart.
 1800 – Delegates check in at the Prime-Ginza hotel.
 1930 – It had been a tough day. All delegates were given a short nap before dinner.
 2100 – After dinner, most of the delegates member had the first taste of shopping spree in Chengdu. The shopping complexes were just a few steps away from the hotel.
 
 Day Two – 22nd April 2005 (Friday), 14 – 22 (Degree Celsius)
 
 0700 – Morning Call
 0730 – Breakfast
 0830 – Leaving for Xinjin District, about 30 minutes drive from Chengdu city. Xinjin Districts have a population of approximately 0.3 million. Today, Xinjing’s government played host to the delegation from Johor, Malaysia.
 0930 – Formal exchange between the two governments. YB Tan Kok Hong, assisted by his two officers, En Basir and En Asman, explained and answered some of the issues raised during integration. Edmund Liew (from Canon)helped up with the translation process.
 1100 –SMI Association of Johor Selatan signed an MOU with Xinjin Federation of Industry and Commerce with the aimed to further accelerate the friendship and economy benefits between the two NGOs.
 1200 – Proceeded for Lunch with the Xinjin Government, as well as the Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation department. The Muslim friends were arranged to attend the Friday Prayer at the mosque in the city of Chengdu. They were also being introduced to taste the local Muslim foods at the vicinity of the mosque.
 1400 – Factory Visit after the lunch. The first one was a Malaysian owned company, Foh Cheong Chemical (Chengdu) Co. It was a government owned enterprise before, which wasn’t performed well over the years. However, ever since the Foh Cheong group took over, the new team had turned it around to become a profit making company.
 1500 – Heng Li Magnet Co – produced magnet use in the electrical appliances that cater for the export market, such as Korea and Japan. We noticed that the company management doesn’t seem to care much about the rusty environment to its employees.
 1600 – The third factory we visited was a detergent manufacturer, Nice (Chengdu) Co Ltd. It is a household brand for detergent product across the China. “Nice”, the biggest detergent producer in China, employed about 10,000 workers among its 5 branches. The yearly soap powder output is approximately 1 million tones, capturing a market share of 49% in the country.
 1700 – The Xinjin Government accompanying us to visit two popular temples in the district. A brief history of the temple’s backgrounds was introduced during the visit.
 1830 – Dinner hosted by the Xinjin Government. All members were really appreciated with the hospitality showed by the China counterpart. It was a delightful dinner.
 2000 – After a long and hard day of work, members still did not appear to feel tired. They continued to search and experience the other facet of the Chengdu city during the night.
 
 Day Three – 23rd April 2005 (Saturday), 10 – 17 (Degree Celsius) dizziling
 
 0700 – Morning Call
 0730 – Breakfast
 0830 – Today, we did not have any official event in the morning. Sightseeing to the Panda Zoo was arranged. Sichuan is the mother land for the Panda. Panda is a protected species. There are about 1000 panda left in China, mostly located in Sichuan province. According to the tour guide, Panda spends about 1/3 of the time in filling up his stomach and 2/3 sleeping daily, wow!!
 1200 – Lunch
 1300 – Visited a silk souvenir shop. Members were amazed by the products shown in the shelves. Many members took the opportunity to bring home some memories of Chengdu to their beloved one.
 1530 – Proceeded to Bei Men, a wholesale market for the construction materials. A wide range of steel materials can be seen in the warehouse. Unfortunately, it was not convenient to move around for more information due to bad weather.
 1700 – Back to hotel, members are given free time to do their last minute shopping as we were scheduled to leave Chengdu tomorrow morning.
 1900 – After dinner, the tour guide organized an optional activity for the member, i.e. to watch the popular Sichuan Opera, “Fu Rong Guo Cui”. The opera include spraying fire, changing faces etc. It was performed at Jin Jiang Stage every night and patronized by many tourists.

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