A quartet of Scotland County residents are expected home from China today.

The Far East travelers included Laurinburg-Scotland County Chamber of Commerce President Theresa Lamson, county Economic Developer Greg Icard, County Commissioner Betty Gholston and Desiree Block.

While the group will probably have plenty of stories to tell from their eight-day adventure, the trip was no junket. Gholston and Block, who paid for the trip out of their own pockets, did go along as tourists.

But the real purpose of the trip — sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce Commerce Executives, or ACCE — was to provide Scotland leaders with an opportunity to learn about Chinese culture, build relationships, and make new contacts with industry overseas.

China has certainly been an important business partner with both the U.S. and in North Carolina.

Governor Perdue’s recent visit led to meetings with senior-level officials in the central government, who expressed support for building a North Carolina-China science and technology gateway starting with bioscience and expanding to other fields such as clean energy.

This trip’s itinerary included meetings with the U.S. and Chinese political and business leaders, touring an Economic Development Zone and various business dinners and excursions.

Icard said he was most interested in seeing how the Chinese do business.

"I want to focus more on that than trying to recruit business," he said. "I want to learn how they do things and see if we can't use that to our advantage."

Icard could be right. China is the world's most populous nation, with the fastest-growing economy.

"It is a rare opportunity to come back with a broader perspective on how business is done," said Lamson, who was among those who received the special invitation for the Laurinburg chamber to tour China.

Lamson said the trip also gave her a chance to spend a week with other chamber members from all across the country. The delegation included about 50 people in all.

"Chambers from different regions are all going," she said. "It is always a big plus when you can see other chambers and get an idea about how they are doing things. Anytime you have the opportunity to meet and learn from people from diverse areas, it makes us better at what we do."