PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN HUTCHINSON-TALASKI
Karen Hutchinson-Talaski and Debbie Pedro got an extra perk recently for being chamber of commerce executives when they spent nine days in China as part of a business mission trip.
Hutchinson-Talaski is the executive director of the Umatilla Chamber of Commerce and Pedro is the president and CEO of the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce.
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Hutchinson-Talaski said the October trip was an eye-opener.
“For me, China is not that country we remember from the 1960s and ‘70s,” she said. “The government is razing old buildings and building new ones, trying to put a more modern face on China.”
Hutchinson-Talaski said she was surprised at how many Chinese people spoke English and wore Western-style clothing. The West, it seems, is much less of a mystery to the Chinese than China is to Westerners, she said.
“I met a young girl who had learned English from someone in Philadelphia,” she said. “She even knew about Oregon. I was surprised by how much they knew about us.”
China’s population of nearly 1.4 billion people has had its impact on the country. Air pollution remains a problem, but Hutchinson-Talaski said China is trying to clean things up and is working to create more green spaces.
Pedro said the highlight of the trip for her was a visit to the Great Wall.
“To walk to the end of the portion of the Great Wall outside Beijing, sit on the stairs looking across the vast terrain and imagining what a task it would have been like in the year 476 B.C. to build this boarder . . . was a breath-taking moment.” The wall is the only man-made structure visible by the naked eye from the moon.
Another highlight for Pedro was a visit by rickshaw to a local celebrity by the name of Cricket Lou, who got his name by raising crickets.
“He and his wife had invited us into their home for lunch one day,” said Pedro. “We learned about the area they live in which is the Hutong District in Beijing. The homes there are hundreds of years old. They shared their home and lifestyle with us.”
Hutchinson-Talaski said the Chinese lifestyle is very different from the West in that they take their health very seriously.
“They work hard at extending life as much as possible,” she said. “They eat a lot less fried food than we do. They have fish and rice with veggies and fruit at every meal. And almost everyone does some sort of physical activity.”
Hutchinson-Talaski also learned a new phrase.
“If you slept well, they say you slept like a pig,” she said. “But if you slept really well, then you slept like a dead pig.”
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