Armed with a Chinese speakerâ€Â¦ Metafocus embarks on yet another groundbreaking trip to the land of chopsticks, what rewards await our intrepid explorers?

(Chinese New Year and Olympic Celebrations in Chengdu)

Metafocus have just returned from another successful 10 day trip to the East with very exciting prospects for the future of Global Internet Marketing. We visited two southwestern provinces in China - Chengdu "Home of the Pandas" and Chongqing (formerly Chungking), one the most populated municipalities in the world with 31 million residents!

We met with many companies both in Chengdu and Chongqing with the aim to find suitable companies to help with developing Chinese websites for western companies who want a presence in China. As globalisation continues to affect companies all over the world, the demand for websites in Chinese will only continue to grow. Together with our partner, a well known advertising company, Metafocus can help to design and develop your website in Chinese and search engine optimise it for the Chinese market.

As a result of discussions with a number of companies, Metafocus has learnt a lot about the differences of SEO between the west and in China. We are confident we will be able to provide your company with a website in Chinese to target the booming Chinese market as well as make it searchable so that your potential clients will be able to find your Chinese website.

We began our trip in Chengdu with a hotpot dinner, a speciality of the Sichuan province. This would prove to be almost a staple for the rest of the trip with many opportunities to try the different degree of spiciness of Sichuanese food! Alan very quickly learnt to pick out the fiery and tongue numbing hua jiao pepper, translated as a type of "Chinese prickly ash", which is mixed into breakfast, lunch and dinner foods! In Chengdu, we had the opportunity to meet with various small and large businesses with varying demands, including a Chinese travel company who wanted to improve their Chinese website for the west in order to attract more enquiries and orders. There was also a meeting with a professional software company that could help us to outsource software and the development of complex technical websites. We also had the opportunity to visit the EU Project Incubation Centre at Chengdu's new Hi-tech Business Centre, a sprawling and new technology park dedicated entirely to helping up and coming IT and software companies.

A birds eye view of Chongqing's very own "Times Square" lit up at night

There was an immediate contrast to the laid-back atmosphere of Chengdu as we arrived to the spectacular neon light extravaganza that lit up the Chongqing nightline. We spent the weekend in Chongqing sightseeing, which brought us to the thousand-year-old rock carvings of Dazu county, 3 hours drive out of Chongqing city. Although the weather was permanently foggy upon our arrival, we also managed to enjoy the ancient town of Ciqikou, a former harbour where people would trade China and also hot springs on the outskirts of Chongqing, in beiwenquan which seemed a world away from the hectic and bustling city centre.

Reclining Buddha, Dazu Ancient Rock Carvings, Chongqing

Vendor selling Chinese calligraphy in Ciqikou Ancient Town, Chongqing, China

After three days of meetings with potential clients, government agencies and business partners, Metafocus 2nd China adventure sadly had to come to an end. Before we left China though, Metafocus and our Chinese online marketing partner decided to hold a seminar on the 14th of March in Chongqing. The seminar will be titled "How the Internet Can Change Foreign Trade" and will reveal the power of Global Internet Marketing.

Click here for Part Three of Metafocus China Diary.