A few days later, Eakins and McGee appeared on the streets of Shiyang County, Jinnan City, Haidong Province, accompanied by a local businessman named Mao Haodong. In the past, the Yimai factory used to purchase some machine tools from China, because they needed to be customized, so Yiggins contacted the manufacturers in China directly, and Mao Haodong was the owner of a production company with which they had contacts.

Ikins and the others did not know anything about the situation in China, and if they wanted to come to China to investigate, they naturally needed to find an acquaintance to lead the way. They tried to contact Mao Haodong, and the other party promised to ask them to take a plane to Jianlu, the capital of Haidong Province, and Mao Haodong personally drove his own Daben to Jianlu and took them to Shiyang.

Ekins and McGee had not met Mao before, but had only contacted him by phone and email. In their imagination, Mao Haodong should be at least a middle-aged man in his 40s, and given that he can speak basically reliable English on long-distance phone calls, Ekins and they think that Mao Haodong should be well-educated, the kind with gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and a decent suit.

When they saw Mao Haodong outside the exit of Jianlu Airport, the two Americans were shocked. The other party turned out to be just a young man in his 20s, and he was indeed wearing a suit, and it looked like a famous brand, but no matter how he looked at it, he felt a little incongruous, obviously the other party should not be used to wearing this kind of clothing.

"Mr. Ekins, Mr. McGee, it's a pleasure to see you. ”

Mao Haodong did not look restrained in front of the two American guests, and he generously stretched out his hand to shake hands with each other.

Yikins stepped forward and shook Mao Haodong's hand, and the moment he shook hands, he could feel that the other party's palm was powerful and full of calluses, which was quite similar to Yikins himself. Ikins himself was born as a worker, and even after opening a factory and becoming a boss, he often drove machine tools himself, so the calluses on his hands never faded. On Mao Haodong's hands, Ekins felt some of the same calluses.

"Why, does Mr. Mao often drive machine tools?" Eakins asked bluntly.

"That's for sure. Mao Haodong said, "We people are born to work, how can we not open the machine tool." ”

"I've always thought that Mr. Mao's business is very large-scale. ”

Mao Haodong said with a smile: "Mr. Ekins has praised me, my factory is a small façade, and with me, it is only five people." ”

"Five people!" McGee was stunned, "how is this possible? Every time we order a fixture from you, it only takes you one day to ship it, how can this be made in a small factory of five people?"

Mao Haodong was a little embarrassed, and he said: "Well, when you go to our Shiyang to have a look, you will know." Two, why don't we eat first, you guys are probably tired all the way by plane, right? Although the food here in Jianlu is not as good as our side in Shiyang, it is still very good. ”

As soon as Eakins and McGee were in the dark in China, they could only be arranged by Mao Haodong. Mao Haodong took them to a high-end restaurant in Jianlu and ordered a table full of dishes to entertain them. When had the two Americans seen such a formation, and when had they tasted such Chinese food, until their stomachs were round, and finally they only rolled their eyes when they stared at the leftovers on the plate.

"It's a pity, in fact, there are only three of us, so we don't need to order so many dishes. Eakins said.

Mao Haodong said: "Not much, not much, you rarely come here, how can I treat you slowly?

"It's so delicious!" said McGee, with an exaggerated expression, "I've never eaten such a delicious dish in my life." ”

Mao Haodong said: "Haha, it's good to eat if you like it." When you arrive at our Shiyang, I invite you to eat Shiyang's eight big bowls. Our Shiyang's dishes don't look as delicate as Jianlu's, but the taste is much better than Jianlu's. ”

McGee smiled and said, "I'm already looking forward to it." ”

After eating, Mao Haodong asked Eakins and McGee for advice, asking them if they planned to spend a few days in Jianlu or go directly to Shiyang. Both of them rushed to inspect the factory, so they naturally said that they wanted to go directly to Shiyang. Ekins also suggested that after visiting Mao Haodong's company, if other companies are not far away, they would like to see a few more companies in order to get a comprehensive understanding of their Chinese counterparts.

"What does it mean to be not far away?" Mao Haodong was a little puzzled.

"I mean, if the other factories aren't too far away from your factory,...... Well, let's say, within 30 miles...... "Ikins explained.

"30 miles, that's 50 kilometers, right? That's almost to Jinnan City......" Mao Haodong muttered, and the doubt in his heart was even worse. You want to see the factory, the factory in Shiyang is not enough for you to see, what are you doing in Jinnan?

The two foreign businessmen didn't want to visit Jianlu, but Mao Haodong didn't find it strange. Shiyang is now a world-renowned hardware parts processing center, and there are simply more foreigners roaming the streets of Shiyang every day than the locals of Shiyang. When some foreign businessmen come to China for the first time, they will find ways to go around the surrounding area and see the scenic spots, and the more they come, they will lose interest, even if they need to stay for a few days, they will prefer to stay in Shiyang County and enjoy some local specialties and other services. In Mao Haodong's opinion, Eakins and McGee are probably the kind of foreigners who are particularly dedicated, and since they claim that they don't consider the issue of tourism, he will take them back to Shiyang directly.

There is a drive of more than 300 kilometers from Jianlu to Shiyang, but the whole process is a newly built highway, and Haidong has a tradition of speeding, Mao Haodong brought the two from Jianlu back to Shiyang, and it took a little more than two hours in total. Along the way, Eakins and McGee felt that their eyes were running out, and the road was almost entirely lined with buildings, including small four-story buildings built by farmers, simple factories with blue metal roofs, and huge billboards supported by thick steel pipes standing next to the highway. There is nothing special about these buildings, and the quality of construction is not even as good as that of the buildings in the small town of Barr. But the buildings stretch for hundreds of kilometers, and the local population must be large.

The Mercedes-Benz drove into Shiyang County, and the speed had to slow down. While driving, Mao Haodong introduced the shops on both sides of the road to Yikins. It was only at this time that Eakins and McGee realized how ridiculous their requirements for Mao Haodong were when they built the land, in this small county town, there is a small factory behind every store, and within a few hundred meters, there are dozens of factories, where do you need to run 30 miles?

"Here we are, this is my factory. ”

Mao Haodong parked the car outside a shop, got out of the car first, and then helped Yikins and them pull the car door, invited them to get out of the car too, and then casually introduced his business to the other party.

It's a small storefront, and on the walls of the store are all kinds of machine tool fixtures, some of which were ordered by the Yimai factory. Behind the storefront is a production hall with three machining centers, and next to a few small pieces of equipment, where several workers in overalls are doing something. Seeing the two foreign businessmen enter, the workers were not surprised, and continued to do their work, except for an old man who looked up and greeted them. According to Mao Haodong, this old man is his father, named Mao Wanquan. However, Mao Wanquan did not speak English like his son, and just said "hello" bluntly, even if he had greeted a foreign businessman.

"This is my family's factory. Our factories here are like this, front shop and back factory. My father founded this factory, and when I came back from college in Jianlu, I took my father's class. Now he is in charge of the production in the pipe factory, and I am mainly responsible for doing business, and I usually open machine tools or something. Mao Haodong introduced to the two.

"Amazing!" Eakins looked at the crowd's actions and praised them heartily. Mao Wanquan was the most skilled of the guys, but given his age, it wasn't enough to surprise Eakins. But the young people next to him are also so skillful in operating the machine tool, and they are serious and focused, which is commendable. The youngest workers in the factory are in their 30s, and the younger people in the area are reluctant to work in the manufacturing industry, feeling that the industry is too bitter and dirty. But here, there is no such frivolity in the young man that Ekins sees.

"But, Mr. Mao, with all due respect, how can a small factory like yours with five people complete the orders we need? To make a fixture, it takes more than a dozen processes, and your equipment here is obviously not enough. McGee raised her own questions. He has an unspoken subtext, that is, whether Mao Haodong deceived them before, maybe Mao Haodong claimed that the products he produced were actually purchased from other places.

Mao Haodong smiled slightly and said, "In this way, two gentlemen, you follow me to walk around the street, and you will understand our production methods." By the way, do you have any drawings with you this trip? If you want to order any product, you can find a random store and ask, and they will tell you how to produce it. ”

The two followed Mao Haodong to the street, this time they saw more clearly, the shops on the street are indeed the model of the front shop and the back factory, standing outside the store, you can hear the roar of the machine from the back workshop. Mao Haodong introduced to them, saying that half of the streets here are made of fixtures, and the half of the streets further forward are made of molds, and then there are other streets, each with its own division of labor. There are also some enterprises to do a certain process for other enterprises, such as Mao Haodong's fixture manufacturing business, after machining to do heat treatment, he himself does not have heat treatment equipment, so there are special enterprises to provide this service.