Alabama has enjoyed a robust trade relationship with China since 1979 and was the first southern state to establish friendly relations with China by establishing a sister state relationship with Hubei Province in 1985. Alabama’s rural Wilcox County is also home to the $100M U.S. factory of the Chinese company Golden Dragon Copper, the world’s largest precision copper tube manufacturer. There have been many educational exchanges between Alabama’s Universities and their counterparts in China, such as the “Auburn Garden ” jointly built by Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Auburn University in 1988.