CHINA’S growing middle class is becoming a bigger force in global tourism. For a case in point, look no further than Nebraska in the United States the week of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. annual shareholders’ meeting.

For all his fame in the United States, where some regard him as the best investor of all time, billionaire Warren Buffett on Saturday said the company’s brand carries much less weight with potential partners beyond U.S. borders.

But a clear exception is the world’s second-largest economy, where Buffett is something of a rock star: An estimate put the number of Chinese visitors for Berkshire week at 5,000.

Berkshire sent out slightly more tickets to this year’s extravaganza than in 2015, when an estimated 42,000 celebrated Buffett’s 50th year at the helm.

At one closed-door event, five groups of U.S. startup companies presented ideas to Chinese investors in a “Shark Tank”-style forum held at the Nebraska Chinese Association, according to the group’s president, Linda Steele.

“It’s not just people snapping pictures at Dairy Queen. There’s a lot going beyond the superficial. There’s real business going on here,” said Les Baquiran, founder of Pinebase, an online financial forum which sponsored several events aimed at Chinese investors in Omaha, including one that drew more than 400 people.

“It would be more intense if everyone from China who wanted to come came.”

A map of where Berkshire visitors came from, broadcast on Yahoo Finance, showed push-pins up and down China’s eastern coastline.

Buffett and his right-hand man, Charlie Munger, are relatively well known in China, where Buffett’s face appeared on cans of his beloved Cherry Coke.

Buffett took several questions from Chinese shareholders Saturday, including one that elicited Buffett’s comment that Washington and China are two superpowers who will avoid a trade war.

One young Shenzhen native, now studying in Boston, asked Buffett for advice.

“I never was any good at languages, but if I were in college today in either country I’d be learning the language of the other country because I think it’d be a great advantage over time,” Buffett told him, referring to the United States and China.

The 87-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” did show fluency with Chinese culture.

“In August, I’m going to be 88, and that will be the eighth month of the year, and it’s in a year that ends with an eight,” he said.

“As you and I both know, eight is a very lucky number in China. So if you find anything over there for me this is the time we should be acquiring something.”(SD-Agencies)