Gerashchenko buys gifts for a parakeet

Zhukov gapes at things, Gref does not drink to the dregs, Kozak goes on night excursions, and Gerashchenko buys parakeets gifts. Russian businessmen flew in from the Shanghai economic conference to the Beijing forum and learned a lot of new things about each other.

RBC's economic conference in Shanghai closed onboard an Emperor's boat. They even had roundtable discussion on the topic of glamour rescheduled so that it was held on that boat. Conference participants learned why Russian businessmen were so drawn to luxury and pomp while sitting on the floor of the boat's upper deck.

While business is being pulled in the direction of glamour; glamour, in turn, is drawn to serious subjects. "This was the first time that I took such great pains in preparing for the conference," singer Anita Tsoi laughed, taking the last bite of her chocolate cake. "I wrote an eight-page report. I drew parallels between China and Russia, compared the countries by cultural, socioeconomic and political criteria…" Anita is enjoying herself in China very much. Local people constantly take her for one of their own and are always very surprised when she cannot reply to them in Chinese.

The conference actually revealed a new unusual side of the Russian pop music scene - Tsoi read the notorious report on Russian-Chinese relations, while songwriter Alexander Shulgin gave Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov a hard time with his tricky questions. Zhukov also made a report of his own. Every once in a while, he allowed himself to smile appealingly and stray from the main subject line. "Every day from my office window I can see how the Federation Tower is rising, storey by storey," he said dreamily. "He sits there in his office gaping at things," a theatrical whisper spread across the audience.

The Shanghai conference gradually turned into the Beijing economic forum. A part of the delegation came to look at the exhibition, which was organized by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Before Anita Tsoi came up to the stage for her performance, German Gref went up with a large glass of white wine. He said a speech about the eternal brotherhood of nations, and concluded by saying, "And now, let's drain our glasses dry to this!" All of a sudden, Gref realized that he had put himself in an awkward situation. Now he either had to drink down or disobey his own words. The minister was reluctant for a second. Then he glanced around, took a small sip, and withdrew from the stage.

As for Dmitry Kozak, after the formal reception, he changed into casual clothes - a burgundy polo shirt and a leather jacket. He stood at the hotel's entrance and smoked relentlessly. As it turned out, he was waiting for a car to pick him up and take him on a night sightseeing tour of Beijing. Next, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov departed for dinner in another company. The following day, there were probably more Russian tourists than Chinese in the Forbidden City Gugong, in the Emperor's Summer Palace, and on Tiananmen Square.

Russian conference participants were running late for their flight back - luckily, it was delayed. Viktor Gerashchenko was one of the last to board the plane - late from last-minute shopping. "I had to get so many presents," he explained. "For my wife, grandkids, parakeet, and cat. I don't think I've forgotten anyone." The aircraft circled around Moscow for about an hour - the airport would not let it land. But part of the delegation did not even notice this. Baburin was sleeping on his wife's shoulder, smiling in his sleep. The unmarried Alexander Shulgin retreated to the back of the plane, occupied several vacant seats, and was also taking a nap. Meanwhile, Zhukov was flown out by a government jet, and now he could be staring at anything he wanted to from the airplane window without any spiteful comments from the audience.