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Gov. Perdue welcomed, state will open trade office in Beijing
By JIM THARPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/31/08
Shanghai, China — They served Coca-Cola along with the "braised shark's fin soup with cucumber and fish maw" Monday night at the welcoming celebration for Delta Air Lines' inaugural non-stop flight from Atlanta.
A blues band belted out "Georgia on My Mind" at a 10-course banquet to celebrate Delta Flight 19, which touched down at 2:09 p.m. local time -- the middle of the night back in Atlanta.
John Glenn/Special
(ENLARGE)
Gov. Sonny Perdue and wife Mary were among the first to board Delta's inaugural flight to Shanghai.
Georgia/China
Photos:
• Aboard Flight 19
• Inaugural flight set for takeoff
• Shanghai beckons travelers
Latest Headlines:
UGA expands ties with China research institute
Dry Perdue makes do in wet China
Coke-funded school in China welcomes Georgia delegation
Perdue: Georgia may open second trade office in Shanghai
Delegation wows Chinese kids with doggy snapshot
• More Delta News
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"This flight fills a critical void for the 65 million people in the Southeast," Kenneth Garrett, U.S. consul general for Shanghai, told a crowd of about 200 people at the 88-story Grand Hyatt of Shanghai.
Celebrants included veteran Delta employees on the maiden flight, Chinese officials and about 40 members of a Georgia trade delegation who made the trip. Gov. Sonny Perdue and his wife, Mary, were among them.
Delta's Atlanta-to-Shanghai run became the first non-stop daily flight to the People's Republic of China from an air hub in the Southeast, and one of only a handful from anywhere in the nation. Business leaders hope it opens the door to more Chinese investment in metro Atlanta and Georgia.
Perdue later this week will open a state economic development office in Beijing to promote trade between China and Georgia.
Delta Capt. Marc Holmquist, a 32-year veteran of the carrier, gently banked the 777-200ER over Shanghai's smog-filled skies before bringing the craft in for a smooth touch down to the applause of the 268 passengers aboard. The flight took more than 15 hours and covered 7,659 miles.
Two hours later, the plane had been cleaned and refueled and was back in the air, bound for Atlanta.
The daily flight caps a decade of work by Delta and two earlier failed efforts to secure coveted route rights to China.
Shanghai, with a skyline that equals New York's, is the bustling financial center of the nation of 1.3 billion people. Much of the metro area of 18 million people has been built in the last two decades.
There was an official airport welcoming ceremony for Perdue and state business leaders, but Chinese officials would not permit journalists traveling with the delegation to photograph the arrival.
BY THE NUMBERS:
7,659: Miles between Atlanta and Shanghai
15.4: Hours of flying time between the two cities
34,000: Gallons of fuel consumed by the flight
656,000: How many pound the full loaded Shanghai-bound Delta 777-200ER will weight on takeoff
268: Number of passengers the plane will carry
218: How many of those seat will be in the economy section
11: Number of direct frlights from anywhere in the U.S. to China
1: Number of direct flights from the Southeast to China (this is it)
Just guessing that the average Singaporean (dive lover88) has a little more insight into Chinese customs than the average New Jersey-ite. Now that I am in Hong Kong, and for the 8 years I lived in Singapore, I politely refused to eat it. My refusal often led to constructive discussion on the topic.
Don't worry in another hundred years or so, no one will be eating shark fin soup.
Sadly, I fear you are more right than not on that count ...because everyone thinks sharks are: That's why I want to get my dives in with them now...before there aren't any more to see...or their numbers are so low that you are really lucky to see them!
Sad. I just hope they don't serve spotted owl on their flights to the Pacific Northwest.
I once had a "spirited" debate with a dive buddy originally from mainland China who defended shark fin soup on the basis that now a larger part of the Chinese population could enjoy what was once restricted to the Emperor's court.
...because everyone thinks sharks are: 
That's why I want to get my dives in with them now...before there aren't any more to see...or their numbers are so low that you are really lucky to see them!
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