18 October 2016, the new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, paid a state visit to China and met with President XI Jinping in Beijing. The two countries reached a number of agreements in terms of politics, trade, finance and many other fields, opening a new chapter of friendship between China and Philippines. Both sides agreed to hold a series of activities in 2017, including the visit to the tomb of Sulu King, a famous ancient Philippine king, which is located in Dezhou.

Dezhou, a city located in northwestern Shandong Province, has an ancient story about the Philippine king and indissoluble connection with this country. Back in Ming Dynasty, the Philippine king led a delegation of 340 people to visit the Chinese emperor. The Philippine king had a friendly meeting with Emperor Yongle. Unfortunately on their way back the king got seriously sick and passed away in Dezhou. He was buried there. One of the king’s wife and other ten family member of the king decided to stay and settle there to keep themselves with the king’s tomb. When Emperor Yongle heard the news, he was sad and sent over 20 servants to serve them. There are still many of their successors living in the city today.

People of Dezhou appreciate the story and value the friendship with the Philippines. The king’s tomb was protected well by local government, and became a national cultural relics preservation unit, as the witness of friendship between the two countries. In 1980, the Philippine ambassador came to Dezhou to see the tomb, and made a documentary to memorize the history. Each year it has a number of Philippine visitors who came here to worship there ancestor. Based on the historical foundation, trade between companies from Dezhou and Philippine companies have been prosperous all the time. In Dezhou, there are many programs invested by Philippine businessmen, indicating the sustained friendship. As the leading enterprise among agricultural machinery industry, FRD have always valued the great friendship between two great countries, and would look forward to broadening the market in the Philippines, providing them choices of cheaper and good-quality agricultural machines, with our sincere respect for the history, and expertise in the field that we work on and adore.