The Chinese Are Coming!
By 250 News
Monday, January 16, 2006 03:59 AM
The City of Prince George has issued a media release that will no doubt have everyone in the city cheering.
Mayor Kinsley and George Paul are in Changchun, China attending the World Winter Cities meetings. The City of Prince George paid for the trip while the city of Changchun picks up the tab for the stay.
The release talks about a meeting with Mr. Wang Yitao, a member of the Chinese Olympic Committee " As a result of those meetings , Mr. Wang is now planning a trip to Prince George to look at our facilities for training in biathlon and cross country skiing . He said he will also look at the facilities for his colleagues responsible for curling, short track speed skating, hockey and figure skating. City officials will hold further meetings with Mr. Wang and his colleagues in Torino at the Olympics."
Now did we need to go to China to have Mr. Wang come to PG.? Couldn’t someone have made a call? You know something like, "Hi. Mr. Wang , this is Mayor Kinsley from PG. We were wondering if we sent you a ticket if you could come to our city to see about having some of your athletes train here for the 2010 Olympics? “.
Or was it maybe necessary that the Mayor and City Manager made the trip to draw a map, so Mr. Wang wouldn’t get lost.
A phone call would cost, oh, let’s say if you took a half hour to give directions, about fifty bucks and a link to "Mapquest" on the web is free.
Hey City Hall, here's the link www.mapquest.com
The release goes on to say that City officials will meet again with Mr. Wang and his colleagues in Torino. Mr. Wang and his colleagues will be attending the Prince George reception in BC/ Canada House on February 23rd at the games. Oh! I didn’t know this city was putting on a party in Torino. Gee this is only 2006 I wonder how many more meetings will be needed, but then maybe you need to spell out those directions several times to get them straight .
Finally the release says "From all indications, Prince George’s aggressive pursuit of Pre Olympic international training opportunities may pay significant dividends."
Think about it , here we are all worrying about the problems that will arise when the beetle wood is gone and we have to reduce our cut to a point where upwards of 2700 jobs will be lost. Well wouldn’t you believe it , we may get some pre Olympic training here, of course after we make a few trips abroad, that will turn around the future fortunes of this city .
Sort of reminds me of the famous Ottawa trip that Grey Cup Weekend.
Who won that Grey Cup anyway?
I’m Meisner and that is one man's opinion.
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Posted by: Palopu on January 16 2006 8:26 AM
No amount of jumping up and down will change the attitude of those who are determined to "see the world" under those conditions.
There is another side to this, though.
We do not know much about Chinese culture but there is a possibility that any efforts made to personally visit Chinese officials in their own country are highly valued by them, much more so than a simple business phone call.
Joint ventures with representatives from other countries/cultures require an understanding of their different customs and expectations.
A handshake and a smile can accomplish a lot.