Greetings from sunny Changchun in NE China

Hello! How are you? I’m Duggy Day and I’m currently touring northeast China with a group of people who are collectively known as the China-friendly International Netizen’s Group. Yesterday, after arriving in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, we were kept busy visiting a number of interesting places, including the famous truck and car manufacturer known as FAW.

Duggy Day poses photo at the venue of the 11th Northeast Asian Expo which is held in Changchun, Jilin Province. [Photo: China Plus/Li Tianbao]

Today is Day 2 of our tour, and this morning after a hearty breakfast we headed to downtown Changchun for a tour of the area, which included a visit to Culture Square, a vast location which features some iconic sculptures, and also the famed Provincial Geology Museum. Believe it or not, a highlight of our visit was seeing the “naked man sculpture”, also known as “Da Luo Nan”, which is quite an impressive artwork. I’ve included a photo of this famous sculpture for you to see!

The venue of the 11th Northeast Asian Expo. [Photo: China Plus/Li Tianbao]

After visiting Culture Square, we hopped onto our tour bus again, and made our way to the 11^th Northeast Asian Expo, which kicked off today. As I mentioned yesterday, this Expo has been organized by six northeast Asian countries and highlights each country’s culture and popular tourist places. The Expo consists of 9 pavilions, which feature many different types of merchandise, from IT goods to pharmaceuticals, and there was a fine selection of food on offer at the Food Pavilion. To my surprise, the Food Pavilion also included Asian fayre from countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore. When I was inside the Food Pavilion, I tried some mouthwatering samples, including tasty Inner-Mongolian cheese balls, and I also drank some delicious coffee from Malaysia, called Ipoh White Coffee, which is very sweet and it had a great taste. We really had a good time at the 11^th Northeast Asian Expo and we are looking forward to the next one, which will be in two years time.

Many people compare Chang Chun to the motor city of Detroit in the USA, but it now looks like Jilin‘s provincial capital realizes its better to diversify its number of products by developing other industries. Chang Chung will continue to be at the center of China's automobile industry, but it also aims to be a leader in the fast developing new technology field which at present is producing results with high standard drones and satellites. Cultural tourism is also another field that the city could really benefit from.