Pitching China’s Virtues in L.A.

Luo Yangpeng, a visiting deputy mayor from China, stood on stage between two towering projection screens that displayed Utopian visions of his city.

“A renowned seaside city with illustrious personage,” read one caption beneath snapshots.

“Practically protecting the legitimate rights and interests of investors,” another said.

Luo was not touting the virtues of such famed Chinese commercial centers as Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, near Hong Kong. He was selling Shantou, a port city of 4.8 million people in Guangdong province.

Although Shantou may not be well-known outside of China, the presentation drew more than 200 Chinese Americans and some non-Chinese who hoped to cash in on China’s explosive economy.

Los Angeles has long been considered the gateway to the United States for many Chinese. Now it’s a proving ground for Chinese cities of all sizes hoping to lure investors. It’s money and the cachet that comes with presenting itself to leaders of the largest Chinese community in North America.

So one by one, representatives of emerging Chinese cities have come to L.A., hoping to secure a piece of the $85.6 billion in two-way trade between China and Southern California.

“You have all these rapidly emerging areas around China, your head swims trying to keep up with it,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the L.A. County Economic Development Corp. “We’ve had investment by Chinese firms for a long time, but they used to be very, very low key about it. Now they come in with trumpets blaring and flags flying saying, ‘Pay attention to us.’ ”

When such tours began a few years ago, they were mostly limited to conference rooms in the San Gabriel Valley. But in a sign of their growing prominence, the Shantou presentation was held in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. And the attendees were also diverse: textile manufacturers, service industry consultants and gas producers.

The meetings are key because American business people often say they need connections in the Chinese government to make deals.

Bill Dickson, a porcelain importer, has been doing business in China for five years and has continued to improve his Mandarin. Shantou piqued his interest. He said the forum Tuesday was emblematic of the way business is done in China.

“It’s all about guanxi -- connections,” Dickson said. “This is a relationship-building event. They’re thinking, ‘Hopefully someone here will visit our town.’ ”

David Lang, whose L.A.-based L/P/C Public Relations firm put together the forum, said he was under strict instructions from Shantou officials to reserve a first-class hotel and banquet hall. The use of the hotel alone was $25,000, Lang said.

“They told me, ‘Don’t bargain with the prices,’ ” Lang said. “They wanted the best of everything. I was surprised. I didn’t know they’d have a budget like Guangzhou or Beijing.”

Monterey Park Councilman David Lau attended to see if anyone in Shantou was interested in opening an office in his city. Monterey Park has been playing host to Chinese delegations for decades, but most of them include only half a dozen or so people.

So Lau was taken aback when he walked through the banquet room doors Tuesday and saw dozens of representatives and row upon row of tables equipped with listening devices for translations.

“How much money did they spend on this?” Lau said. “This is a no-nonsense approach.”

The day started modestly enough with Deputy Mayor Luo greeting attendees in a breakfast room. Officials were pinned with corsages, and business cards were exchanged with the customary two hands.

The city officials stayed on message.

During a brief interview with a reporter, the deputy mayor was determined to accentuate the positive. And he was reluctant to talk about life in Shantou prior to the 1980 economic reforms that made the city one of five special economic regions in the country with a free-market system.

“There wasn’t anything 20 years ago,” Luo said through an interpreter, his generous smile now gone. “It was all agricultural.”

Luo rattled off a series of statistics designed to entice foreign investors -- many of whom recognize that a plunge into China would require a great deal of time, money and trust in the nation’s infrastructure in order to succeed.

“It’s one of the excellent cities in China,” Luo said. “Its climate is very suitable. Shantou has two 50,000-ton berths [for ships]. Shantou is an important connection to the Yangzi and Pearl River deltas. Shantou has free highways connected to the national highways. Shantou has $7 billion in overseas investment.”

To further stress the point that Shantou was a safe investment, a Chevron Corp. representative took the podium and praised local officials and other bureaucrats for their cooperation in helping establish a major liquid petroleum gas terminal.

“The Shantou government is a staunch advocate and ally,” said Robert C. Schwarz, chairman of the board of Caltex, Chevron’s division in China.

After lunch, attendees were left to meet and greet representatives from both countries.

“I met a woman from the Shantou Foreign Trade and Economic Corp.,” said Dickson, the porcelain importer, showing off a white-and-orange business card. “It’s a new seed.”

Kyser said the goal now is to make Southern California as successful a business destination as it was for the Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong Chinese in decades past. Because there are already so many Chinese in the L.A. area, it will make it easier for Chinese manufacturers or investors to take a chance here, he said.

The idea behind the delegations “is that you get to meet these people,” Kyser said. “To make it work, you have to go overseas. It takes several trips to develop the relationship. It’s different from the U.S., where you make cold calls and expect to walk away with a contract. You have to do your homework.”

Alex Cheung owns saw and furniture factories in China. He also runs a trading company. He had heard of Shantou, but wanted to know how much economic reforms had changed it. The presentation left him optimistic.

“You mostly hear about” the big cities, Cheung said. “So this is how a small city like Shantou advertises itself. Then they will go home and say, ‘I’m in the international market.’ There’s more of these small and medium cities coming up. It’s amazing. They’re trying to compete with the Shanghais and Beijings.”