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4204 13th Street Court West, Palmetto, Florida 34221 • Ph. 941-729-3370 • FAX 941-729-4955 • 1-800-362-2657 • e-mail sales@marlowmarine.com |
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Chi Hu village is where the Norsemen Marlow VIP visitors center is located while the physical manufacturing plant is eight kilometers south on the coast of the China Sea next to an aboriginal fishing village. When Norsemen Marlow first came to the area, Chi Hu was a very small, quiet village in a predominately agricultural valley. One could find the bare necessities, but had to travel much farther to acquire anything beyond food for the day or a few very basic clothing items. The number of businesses in the village has increased by five fold with the village and surrounding local area population increasing from around 3,000 inhabitants to over 40,000.
Only five years ago, it required more than one hour to travel from our newly
constructed VIP Center along the Chi Hu Village River to the front gates of our
factory. In the monsoon season, it sometimes required heroics to successfully
make the trip. Today, in a brilliant public-private partnership led by Marlow-Norsemen, we have a three lane smooth concrete ribbon allowing ten minute
transit from the factory gates to the lovely wrought iron entry to the VIP
Gardens. Along the way, where no buildings other than a large old Emperor era
farmhouse stood only six years ago, There are now more than fifty large
factories, with many more under construction. Scattered between are perfect and
stark contrasts
David Marlow commented, "I have been told by villagers that I am the first white
man to visit Chi Hu since Marco Polo came to see the Yellow I can still perfectly remember the day I found a life sized carved granite horse, a dog and a lion down an alley barely large enough for a bicycle and pedestrian to pass. Though worn by time, the carvers intricate detail still remains, including the fancy carving for the stirrups and other tack the famous rider had selected. It is the horse of Marco Polo, said to be carved in the year after his visit to honor him, local lore tells that he came with a horse, a dog and a lion, though western history makes no mention of a lion. The current owner is a prototypical example of old China, living just next to the carvings in the alleyway in a small and ancient stucco and red tile home perhaps large enough to park a compact car inside were it a garage. The lady of the house is near the century mark, perhaps a few years past and born in the house. Though I originally considered buying this historic object to bring to my home in Florida, it is now my intention to see that it never leaves the place it has stood for hundreds of years, a part of village life. Though life in the village has changed, the face of ancient China is everywhere, and we hope that it remains to link yesterday with tomorrow."
It is an aboriginal fishing village
that lies immediately east of our factory and little has changed in how life is
carried out for perhaps one thousand years. The drying of small fish for later
usage in a variety of recipes is still done by the sun, though at times our new
concrete roadway is used as the drying platform. Seaweed is still grown and
harvested as it has been for a thousand years, on small pieces of wood, usually
bamboo, that is placed in the ocean to attract the basic “seed” elements passing
in the China Sea current. Today these ladder-like racks are tied together with
string or rope, stretching for hundreds of meters across the surface. When
loaded with the algae like seaweed, they are pulled from the sea onto Norsemen
Beach and harvested before placing them back in the sea for the next crop. Each
day young Chinese, often children
Most of the Chinese villagers are unfamiliar with ovens, cooking almost exclusively in woks on a wood or propane fire. Only recently have ovens began to appear in homes. At Norsemen we have introduced wood fired ovens but the cooking staff still prefer the time honored and proven way of life. No western style of cooking can match a hot wok in sealing flavor in or speed of meal preparation. This method of cooking is very healthy, saving the moisture and full flavor contained in the vegetable or other dish while providing the health benefits of cooking with little or no oils.
The location of Marlow-Norsemen provides perfect opportunity and access for delicious and healthy organic fish, seafood of all types along with fresh fruit and vegetables locally grown or provided by our own gardens. At the same time, Marlow-Norsemen provide over 500 jobs and significant financial benefits to the local economy. We support local efforts and are regular contributors to improvements in local life, education and infrastructure. All in all, it is a textbook example of how communities and companies can cooperate for the good of all and detriment of no one.
It is proper and deserved to give thanks to all the local, county, provincial and national government workers who have provided assistance whenever we asked, making this grand adventure in International business viable, respected and a source of pride for all of us who had the courage to see the opportunities for all. It is with great respect that we give our appreciation to all the unnamed villagers who lent their support to us in every way.
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it, with the local county government finally giving in and turning it off. Today
it hangs unlit, in stark contrast to the way of life chosen and maintained by
the villagers. It is a reminder that sometimes practicality prevails for a time.
"Fender bender's" are rare there, despite the intersection being a beehive of
activity with typically three to five scooters crossing it at one time, along
with two or three trucks, a couple of diesel mules, passenger cars and a dozen
pedestrians, all at the same time. Though the movement is spontaneous,
without choreography before hand and no conductor waving a wand for cadence or
tempo, the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra seems a simple exercise by
contrast.
with
yesterday and today, on one hand a red water buffalo plowing a perfectly
straight row of delicious spring onions prized the world over and on the other a
glass company producing some of the worlds finest glass for variety of uses.
Sea. Though I still draw a crowd of onlookers, curious about this strange
apparition with the beard and courage to walk small alleyways, when I first got
out of a car and began to stroll through this ancient village a sea of black
heads followed, moving as an ocean wave in synchronization to my direction.
in company with their mothers, grandmothers and sometimes great grandmothers
forage along the pristine beach that curves in a crescent from a river mouth to
the granite headlands that line the eastern side of the village gathering small
shellfish from the sand and edge of the ocean. By day’s end most have a bucket
filled with fresh cockles, angel wings, clams and other shellfish to make a
delicious soup spiced with ginger and local vegetables including a local garlic
that is wonderful when roasted whole.