BEIJING — One of China's most powerful politicians offered some straightforward advice Tuesday to Utah companies anxious for a share of his country's huge market: be patient.

"Don't be too hasty to sign a contract before you get to know people," Cheng Si-wei, vice chairman of the National People's Congress, said during a nearly hourlong meeting held in the imposing Great Hall of the People just west of Tiananmen Square.

Seated next to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. in the massive building's Tibetan Room and surrounded by huge murals of the disputed mountain region, Cheng said Utah businesses should not be discouraged if some of their efforts in China fail.

"You need some patience to talk to people and to look around to the whole situation," he said after focusing much of his formal presentation on the trade imbalance between China and the United States.

The setting, as well as Cheng's ranking in the communist government, clearly had an impact on representatives of the 19 businesses and institutions of higher learning participating in the governor's weeklong trade mission to China.

"That was pretty cool," Shawn Horman, vice president of Midvale-based Western Leisure, said under his breath as the group was escorted out of the Stalinist-style structure that is actually larger than the Forbidden City, home to a centuries-old imperial palace.

Horman, who hopes to attract Chinese tourists to Utah's national parks and other outdoor attractions, said later that just being able to say he spoke with the legislative leader will help. "I'm learning. There's so much importance placed on who you've met with and who you know," he said. "It goes a long way."

Zions Bank executive vice president George Hofmann said after the meeting that the Chinese "are seemingly very aggressive" about further trade with the United States. "You just feel the opportunity in this country."

Cheng, who spoke mostly through a translator, detailed the difficulties China is facing in attempting to import as much as it exports from the United States. He raised questions about how the trade imbalance is being calculated.

His bottom line, though, was that boosting trade with states like Utah is a preferable alternative to seeing the issue politicized further. "There are no winners in a trade war," Cheng said.

Cheng is the most senior Chinese official the governor will meet with on this trade mission. But several Utahns got a surprisingly close glimpse of Chinese President Hu Jintao within the walls of the Great Hall. Hu, trailed by an entourage of aides, appeared not to notice the delegation as he strode briskly by.

Even Huntsman, who met with many Chinese leaders as a U.S. trade representative for the region, seemed impressed by the invitation to the Great Hall. The governor described it as a place for "very special, high-level meetings. It's kind of like the White House."