Schwarzenegger takes execs on selling spree to China

[realFedUp]

(are Shrub and Arnold reading from the same script re: Asian money?)

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=ARNOLD-CHINA2-11-16-05

Schwarzenegger takes execs on selling spree to China

By CARLA MARINUCCI
San Francisco Chronicle
16-NOV-05

BEIJING -- They are the chief executives of Fortune 500 companies, the leaders of big energy firms and major retailers _ and they are farmers and folks who have created their own small family-run businesses.

They have come a very long way as members of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's trade delegation for _ they hope _ a very big payoff.

That's why Californians like Mike Gallagher, founder and president of Napa-based City Pass _ a tourism venture that offers one-price tickets to major attractions in nine U.S. cities _ has brought his company's materials and plenty of business cards and is literally running from seminars in hotel meeting rooms to meet-and-greet receptions to fancy dinners for the next five days in three Chinese cities.

For Gallagher, the $10,000 he paid to be part of the group being led by Schwarzenegger is more than a bargain. It is a valuable ticket into the sometimes exotic, sometimes confusing universe of doing business in China, where vast consumer markets hold the promise of equally vast profits.

"You couldn't ask for a better representative," said Gallagher, as he waited to enter the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon Tuesday in Beijing's Grand Hyatt Hotel, where 250 Chinese and American business leaders gathered to hear the governor. "This is to dream for as far as the tourism business goes. Arnold knows how to promote _ and this is 'California, the Movie.' "

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