A touch of Venice in Old China
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, October 31, 2006
Shaoxing, China — This ancient canal city took me completely by surprise.
I left the thriving industrial cities of southern China behind for a two-hour night flight to the northeast to the coastal Zhejiang province. I landed in Hangzhou, one of China's six ancient capitals, a city that medieval adventurer Marco Polo described as the most beautiful in the world.
I never saw Hangzhou itself, but its airport was impressive, another testament to the booming Chinese economy. David Zhong, North American sales manager for Xilinmen, met me at the airport and accompanied me directly to Shaoxing, about 40 miles southeast of Hangzhou.
Xilinmen, one of China's largest bedding makers, is based in Shaoxing.
Here I experienced old China — and beautiful China. Dongguan, the first city I'd visited, didn't even merit an entry in my main guidebook, Insight Guides' China, published by APA Publications and updated in 2005. But Shaoxing received its own little section. There I learned that Shaoxing, famous for its rice wine, is "a picturesque canal town" whose charms are best appreciated with a stroll alongside the canals.
I stayed at the Shaoxing Hotel, which is bordered by one of those famous canals and offers spectacular architecture at every turn. My room had its own courtyard, where I could sit in splendid isolation and ponder my upcoming visit to Xilinmen, whose top officials had visited me a few years ago at the High Point market. Now I would return the favor.
The next morning, I spent an hour taking pictures of the lovely little lake that is enclosed by the hotel, the gardens on the grounds, and the canal outside the hotel's entrance. It was, indeed, beautiful. Men and women on bicycles whizzed by as I stood on the bridge overlooking the canal.
I met Zhong for breakfast at the hotel. He guided me through the buffet line, helping me select bean curd soup, a steamed bun with pork filling, fried noodles and the omni-present watermelon, much favored by the Chinese.
Suitably fortified, I joined Zhong for a drive through old Shaoxing to the modern, impressive Xilinmen complex on the outskirts of the city. There I met Dongliang Shen, Xilinmen's CEO, and Sharon Zhang, the export manager. I've talked to Sharon several times in High Point. It was nice to see a familiar face 7,000 miles from home.
The Xilinmen executives gave me a walking tour of the campus. The mattress factory, the main reason for my visit, was our first stop. Its sheer scale was breathtaking. This was a factory fit to serve a country as large as China, with some capacity remaining for a line of beds shipped to the United States.
I'm not an expert on mattress factories, but some people who are give the Xilinmen factory top reviews. "There is nothing like it in the U.S.," one leading bedding producer told me. He was thoroughly impressed with the plant, which he has seen. I was impressed too.
My tight schedule didn't allow me to linger at Xilinmen. There was much more for me to learn there, but it was time to head for Shanghai, my next stop. And there was no chance to further explore the charms of Shaoxing. Maybe next time. This Venice of China is an alluring destination.
