CMEF opens with a traditional Chinese ceremony involving costumed drummers, men dressed as dragons and an endless parade of introductions of honored guests. Despite the fact that I have a front row seat for the festivities, my view is completely blocked by press and camera crews. Each honored guest is introduced twice, I guess to reinforce the fact that they are VIPs.
But I’m told that the opening ceremony is actually abbreviated, due to a gentle rain that lingers throughout the morning.
Still, the lesson learned is when it comes to ribbon-cutting, the Chinese seem to have cornered the market on ceremony.
Once inside the show, I’m struck by its enormity. Thousands upon thousands of people crowd the aisles, leading into the nine venues that make up the show. Inside one of these airplane-hangar-sized exhibit halls, the din is nearly deafening as the hordes plow their way past loud displays to collect the seemingly endless amounts of collateral materials being handed out.
The goal of the show’s presenters is to meet medical device distributors from China, the EU, South America, North America and the rest of Asia. Solicitors from the device companies crowd the aisles looking to attract your attention; some displays resemble the type of pageantry seen at the big auto shows. I’m amazed by one display that’s set up like a fashion show runway, with a spanking-new ultrasound machine perched on stage as the guest of honor.
When I take its picture a sales rep from the manufacturer, Landwind Medical, quickly offers me a factory tour and hands me her business card, asking over and over what kind of medical equipment I buy. After five minutes of trying to explain who I am, I show her my media badge and she quickly walks off.
In the international hall, the American contingent makes up one of the larger international presences at the show. The Bay State is well-represented, with the only state- sponsored group at the show.
Xylina Wu, director of business development for the Mass. Office of International Trade & Investment (MOITI) tells me that her office works closely with the Commonwealth’s medical device industry to help create business relationships with China.
Having an official state ally is advantageous for companies wishing to do business in China, Wu says, because the culture is what she calls “a top-down society” that places great emphasis on the power of government officials. Wu spends a great deal of her time working to link Massachusetts companies with their appropriate Chinese counterparts. The MOITI office also has a staff director in Beijing.
At CMEF, MOITI’s booth is staffed by Chinese workers who collect information on Asian distributors, which the agency will then do some due diligence on before passing along the information to companies that are members of the Mass. Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC), which is also presenting at the show.
Toward the end of the day I watch the floods of people come streaming out of the convention center. It’s a river of thousands upon thousands of visitors emptying out onto the Shenzhen streets. It reminds me of the emptying out of a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, times two — or two hundred. There’s almost no way to describe the sheer volume of the crowd.
