About 27 hours after we left our homes in Westchester, the delegation arrived in Shanghai, China. In the process, we stopped in Anchorage, Alaska for refueling, we changed planes in Seoul, Korea and lost Saturday somewhere 35,000 feet over the Pacific.

We were met at Shanghai Airport by officials from Jingzhou (our sister city), including Mr. Wang Zuhua, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office. These officials flew three hours to meet us and assure that we successfully got through customs and to our hotel.

As we traveled from the airport to downtown, all of us saw how quickly Shanghai's modernization is overcoming the remnants of an older, poorer city.

There were many ultra-high business skyscrapers and apartment buildings.
	Each seemed to be topped by an even larger satellite dish. Billboards for almost every computer company were everywhere.

There was so much building that our guide joked that the "state bird" of Shanghai is the crane -- the construction crane. Our effort to make people here aware of Westchester means that businesses in the county will have an easier time getting a foothold in the early growth stage of this major world business capital.

After checking in, we left immediately to go to Shanghai University, the main university of Shanghai. The purpose of the trip was to open up discussions to establish cooperative MBA programs between the university and Pace University in White Plains. Clearly, if the up and coming business leaders of Shanghai get training from a Westchester institution they are more likely of thinking of doing business in the county.

So County Executive Spano, Dean Marge Gotti of Pace, Larry Dwyer of the County Association and I met with a delegation of officials from Shanghai University and the City of Shanghai for several hours.  

	Here is the opening session with the Vice President of the University, Dr.Zhuang YunQing.
After the discussion, there was an exchange of mementos.
	Then we took a tour of the campus. Here's the County Executive and the University's Vice President in front of an instruction hall.

We also visited a high-tech incubator that was being built as part of the campus. Here is a picture of part of our delegation as well as several university officials, including the Vice President to the left of County Executive Spano and the Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office, (Mr.Zhong Guixiang) to his left. The President of the University will be coming to Westchester this fall in order to conclude the arrangements with Pace.

After a 12 course -- or more, we lost count -- dinner with the University staff, we headed back to the hotel. For most of us it had been more than 48 hours since we were in a bed and so the first day came to an end.