It's unlikely that many of the 60 Chinese investors who visited the U.S. in September had heard of the Wisconsin state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin Badgers before agreeing to visit the U.S. Similarly the city of Handan, the Chinese home of about a third of the tourists including the organizer, is hardly a household name in Wisconsin or for that matter to anyone outside of China's steel industry. And yet on Sept. 26, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker played host to half the group (the other half was busy wine tasting in Oregon) at a banquet in the governor's mansion, where they could get to know some local firms in need of capital.

According to Rhodium Group, which tracks Chinese investment into the U.S., over the last 13 years only two Wisconsin firms have received direct investment from China. In contrast California has seen 163 deals (both in new investment and in acquisitions), Texas 46, and North Carolina 34. Given that Wisconsin has been hardly a beacon for Chinese investment, it raises the question: How did a group of investors from a fourth-tier Chinese city