A memorable stop for the Illinois group was The Great Wall, built to repel foreign invaders but now one of China's top tourist attractions.

The Great Wall, the ancient palaces, eels for meals... lingering images a visitor brings back from China. A group of Illinois electric cooperative leaders has returned from a two-week tour of that nation. Along with the sightseeing, the Illinoisans met with counterparts in Chinese rural electrification, examining their electric systems and suggesting improvements.

To many of us, China seems as distant as the Moon's other side. So why did this Illinois co-op group accept China's invitation of an expenses-paid trip to this far-off, somewhat mysterious land? For one thing, it was made at no cost to co-op members. But, there's a more far-sighted reason. It turns out that as we help improve the Chinese economy, we are nurturing a relationship that can boost American agriculture and many other facets of the U.S. economy. Someday, its benefits may be felt directly in rural and small-town Illinois.

"China's a big importer of U.S. commodities," says Jim Coleman, general manager of Shelby Electric Cooperative, Shelbyville, and one of the 21 co-op people who made the trip.

"As their quality of life improves, they purchase more from us. They'll also remember who has helped them. They return favors."

This tour had its origins in a program encouraging joint international training and business development. During the past six years, the America-China Executive Development Office at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UI-C) has arranged an exchange of tours between the two countries. In 1994 and 1995, several Illinois electric cooperatives were visited by Chinese rural power engineers. This in

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Shelby Electric's Manager Jim Coleman, center, pauses in a Hong Kong marketplace.

turn led to the Chinese government's invitation to an Illinois co-op group, only the second such approach it has made through the university's development program.

Judy Curry, associate chancellor at the UI-C, says many Chinese students who attended the university have since gained prominence in China's educational and business fields. They recall their U.S. experiences and look to UI-C for further training of themselves and their colleagues.

"China values relationship," Curry says. "The way they develop a long-term commitment is by starting relationships. The co-op people have been genuinely warm, introducing the Chinese visitors to their families, taking them to church with them. It's something the Chinese don't usually see. I think the impact has been substantial in building a relationship." The Illinois co-op group's journey changed many preconceived images about a country that has often drawn a heavy veil around itself. It is no longer a country dressed in the plain gray outfit of Chairman Mao, the masses waving his little red book. Younger generations wear the colorful clothes of the western culture. Red Coca-Cola signs are joining the government's red banners in public places.

T.L. "Kris" Christensen, president/CEO of Illinois Valley Electric Cooperative, Princeton, compared today's China with the

Gathered aboard Jumbo, the world's largest floating restaurant, in Hong Kong are the Illinois delegation: from left, back row, James Shireman, Connie Shireman (Jo-Carroll Electric president), David Schiver (Edgar Electric director), Bernadine Schiver, Joe Welsh (Edgar Electric director), and Briscoe Menke (Western Illinois Electrical Coop.); middle row, William Raber (Eastern Illini Electric director), Morris Bell (Menard Electric director), Donald Foltz, Doris Bell, William Griswold (Illinois Rural Electric Co. director), Barbara Griswold, Bud Walls (Edgar Electric assistant manager) and Dick Dunsworth. (McDonough Power Cooperative manager); front row, Joyce Raber, Jacqueline Shireman, Janet Christensen, T.L. Christensen (Illinois Valley Electric Cooperative president), John Freitag (tour director, Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives), Joan Freitag, Lin Gu (interpreter), and Jim Coleman (Shelby Electric Cooperative manager).

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Not quite the traditional Illinois style: The look of a modern Chinese farmhouse is more office building than homestead.

Soviet Union he visited just before its breakup.

"The Soviet Union was hard-core Communist. I felt no influence from the Communist government while we were in China," Christensen says. "In Russia there were hungry people, lines at the stores. In China there was food everywhere, consumer goods. The average person's salary has probably doubled in the last five to 10 years."

He says the Chinese that the Illinois group met are upbeat about their future. "Five years ago their dream was to have a TV set in the home. Now, everyone has a TV. They think their lifestyle is improving, which is what they want for the future, for their children—a car and their own home."

Christensen says that since everyone is supposed to have a job, some of the occupations appear to be make-work. An example can be found in the electric system. "At our own substations we have no one there all the time. In China there were 30 employees at a substation, including a cook for them, and guards. I'd have 5,000 employees if I had substations like they have."

Similarly, Shelby Electric's Coleman reports that rather than bringing in heavy equipment to build a substation, a hundred workers might be employed to build the structure by hand.

Coleman says that China's rural electrification efforts are at the stage America's were in the 1940s. Homes don't have many electric appliances, so few, in fact, that one power district they visited has an accurate listing of every appliance served by its substation. "Years ago, co-ops used to have an inventory of what electric appliances were in a home. That's where Chinas at."

A craftsman fashions an art piece at a Shanghai jade factory.

During meetings with power officials, Illinois' co-op people suggested ways to build or operate electric systems more efficiently. For example, equipment standards vary from system to system, making it difficult for one district to help another should an earthquake or other disaster cause damage. Standardized materials and construction is needed, along with much needed routine maintenance like the cooperatives conduct.

As for other aspects of their visit, Coleman offers:

Food: "Unless you've been to China, you haven't eaten Chinese food. It's not prepared the same as here, it's not spiced the same. You don't see soy sauce at the tables, or sesame seed oil, salt or pepper. The food is rather bland, and in some cases, it's rather disgusting to me. They serve you a big plate of eel, or jellyfish, or seaweed or cow stomach. I lived off rice and chicken broth. You see a lot of McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Seven-Elevens.

Beer is the Number 2 drink. A good imported beer to them is Pabst Blue Ribbon. Water is not safe to drink. It has to be bottled. Water, tea and beer are the drinks."

Traffic: "It's just ridiculous, between the bicycles, the pedestrians and the cars all going, coming, they don't pay attention to each other. Surprisingly, they tell us there aren't many accidents. Of course, the traffic doesn't go very fast because of the quantity of vehicles."

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