700 years ago, 17-year-old Marco Polo, arrived China following his father and uncle after 4 years’ long trip. The Travel of Marco Polo unveiled the mysterious oriental world for the whole Europe at that time. Now 700 years later, a man with the same name, Marco, and his business partner visited Shanghai from Naples, after a stopover in London and 14 days of quarantine…what for?
The Biggest Opportunity This Year Marco, the exhibitor(参展商 cānzhǎnshāng) of China International Import Expo(CIIE 进博会 jìnbóhuì) from Italy has been famous on Chinese media these days. He is the fourth-generation successor of one of the oldest shell carving family business in Naples.
Whether or not to take part in the third CIIE is not a choice for Marco. Family persuaded him to think twice about the decision, as 28-day quarantine period(隔离期gélíqī) was definitely not short, plus other exhibitors started to withdraw. However, Marco has determined to join and prepared for the exhibition early.
He left Naples with his business partner on October 20 and flew to Shanghai through London. After three times of nucleic acid tests(核酸检测 hésuān jiǎncè) and 14-day health quarantine(健康隔离 jiànkāng gélí), Marco finally arrived CIIE on November 5.
Last year, they participated CIIE and various delicate shell carvings drew great attention of many visitors on the spot. After returning home, Marco prepared to do a big business. Unexpectedly, the pandemic caused all business bleak and orders were decreased by more than 90%.
Though another 14-day quarantine is waiting for him upon returning home, Marco thinks everything is worth this oppotunity at CIIE because China becomes the biggest market to him now.
How hard is it for foreigners to enter China now? As we know, during pandemic China has imposed restrictions on foreigners’ entry. The policy is strict when it comes to the 3rd CIIE. Every foreign participant who enters China for the Expo in Shanghai must observe three stages.
Before entry(入境前rùjìng qián), 14-day independent health monitoring(自主健康检测 zìzhǔ jiànkāng jiǎncè) should be done. During entry(入境时rùjìng shí), health declaration(健康申明jiànkāng shēnmíng), body temperature test(体温检测 tǐwēn jiǎncè) and sampling nucleic acid test must be submitted.
After entry(入境后rùjìng hòu), foreign visitors will be sent to designated hotel(指定酒店 zhǐdìng jiǔdiàn) for a 14-day centralized health quarantine observation. Sampling nucleic acid test will be taken on the 5th and 12th day respectively for detection at agency. If all tests show negative(阴性 yīnxìng) and nothing abnormal happens during the period, visitors can go to attend expo on their own.
The Pass to CIIE Another exhibitor from New Zealand, Roy, finally got his green code(绿码 lǜmǎ) after 14-day quarantine and went to National Exhibition and Convention Center(国家会展中心 guójiā huìzhǎn zhōngxīn). More to his delight, orders have come before him. He signed online on behalf of the company and finalized the order of 350 million yuan for next year with a few companies. What a magical journey through southern to northern hemisphere!
What Roy has experienced could be called “braving the wind and the waves(乘风破浪 chéngfēngpòlàng)” due to the difficulty to come to the exhibition. New Zealand has strict prevention and control standards on pandemic. Not to say twice nucleic acid tests before leaving, the visa application alone is troublesome enough. After the plane arrived in China, another two nucleic acid tests in succession has to be completed, but he felt everything is worth it when he was standing in the exhibition hall.
During pandemic, Roy’s company established a live stream(直播 zhí bō) team in China for online marketing, resulting an explosive growth of online sale, which turned the loss during pandemic into profit by increase the online sale more than 80%. This makes him believe that China is the most important market to New Zealand’s dairy product and he must come to CIIE again.
