Our day begin bright and early, as usual, with everyone getting up around 6 a.m. However, today was a little bit more hectic because we had to checkout and pack for our upcoming sleeper train ride to Wuhan. After our quick breakfast, we boarded the bus to go to Heibei Agriculture University. The drive to the University took almost 3 hours, but they time flew by with most students sleeping, playing cards, or journalling. We arrived at the Heibei Agriculture University around 11 a.m. and Dean Wang was waiting to greet us. The campus was very large and beautiful; you could tell most of it was very new and modern. We were led to an auditorium filled with students from the Heibei Agricultural University and we joined them in the audience

We listened to Dean Wang talk about the history and culture of this key University which was started in 1902 and now houses over 40,000 eager students. The University is located in Baoding, a couple hours drive from Beijing.  This city, the largest city in China belonging to a providence, is home to more than 10 million people and is driven by wheat, corn, and pepper agriculture.  The city consists of 80% farmers.  With our wonderful translator Chen, we were able to understand the entirety of the lecture. Both Chen and Chih-Hao helped out with the presentation and made sure everyone in the room was able to follow along. Professor Martens greeted the class in Mandarin captivating the audience of about 300. Professor Martens talked about the University of Illinois and the IBIP program and introduced all the group research topics. All the groups presented their topics to the audience in hopes to find connections and future contacts for research. The Chinese students then shared with us some of the individual things they were researching as well.  Most of their research centered around seafood and scallops and their preservation along the supply chain to the final consumer.  

Dean Wang gave us a personal tour of the campus, which was very beautiful. We saw the main campus which included many buildings full of classrooms as well as the dormitories. After our tour, we were invited to  one of the best restaurants in town for lunch with Dean Wang.  Lunch carried on with great food and continued conversations with Dean Wang.  Thank you Mr. Wang for providing us with lunch and your insight into Chinese Agricultural studies at Hebei Agriculture University.  

After lunch we took a short travel to HuiYuan juice factory.  HuiYuan is currently the leading juice producer in China and divides their 12 different products into three different categories.  Haiwei Niu who generously gave us samples of two different kinds of the juices they produce as he welcomed our group.  From here he gave us insights into the company’s history and led us on a group tour of their production factory.  Mr. Niu informed us that the factory opened in July 2003 and it only took 4 months to start the factory.  The factory started with equipment imported from Italy, but now has expanded to include equipment from Spain, Sweden, and Norway.  

The first line of their production is making the bottles which then moves onto being filled with the juices.  Next, the bottles are capped and sealed by machine and hand.  Then, the bottles are labeled by hand or by machine depending on quantity being produced.  We were informed that the product goes through five different cleanings; the first a UIT cleaning, two in the processing, and a final pasteurization.  Also, we were informed that for quality assurance, during the stages of packaging the rooms, machines, and laborers are better than operating room standards.  All of this reinforces the dedication HuiYuan has for the quality of their product.  After all stages of production are complete, the product is stored in-house for seven days to continue monitoring the quality of their product.  From here, products are sent to cities or retailers for distribution to the final consumers.  After the completion of the tour the juice and retail groups had the opportunity to conduct interviews on-site for their research presentations.  

From here we traveled to the railway station back in Beijing to take an overnight train to Wuhan.  The overnight train took almost 10 hours and most of the group was able to rest up for another day in another city in China!