Entrepreneur likes prospects for traveling around Russia

After the founding of New China in 1949, he says, there were very close relations between Moscow and Beijing. "And there were all sorts of exchanges — art, education, technology — everything!" The young people who participated in many of those programs are retirement age now, he says. "They have money, and they have a nostalgia for Russia － sometimes even if they never actually went there.

"Young people like me don't remember that," he says, "but our parents do. So we put together a package of things from their memories or their dreams: the great cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in between this beautiful river and scenery. And we make it a show all the way － we work with the Ministry of Culture to bring along members of two choral associations, one national and one from Beijing."

If you'd rather have a leisurely game of bridge on deck, no problem. Wang has teamed up with the Beijing Bridge Association to bring high-school players and bridge-club members aboard to act as hosts and teachers. "We're adding a Danube cruise to our lineup this year, and a Black Sea cruise in 2014," he says, with choral performances and bridge games on every nautical mile.

"Our trips are five nights and six days, with lots of time on the boat," he says, "but with a chance to get off the boat every day, too."

Wang was thrilled when President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin formally kicked off the 2013 China Year of Tourism in Russia during Xi's recent visit to Moscow. Wang, of course, has been gearing up for the occasion, taking a troupe of 110 Peking Opera singers to Russian last year, and a similar-sized group of primary-school children and 10 adults early this year.

"They are really our cultural envoys," he says of the kids, some of whom were from Beijing but many from Henan province as well.

"That's what it's all about," he adds. "That's what I'm all about."

michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn