Sailing into the big league

Klaus Filter, 83, a German designer of rowing shells, helped transform a local workshop into a global company. Liu Xiangrui reports in Fuyang, Zhejiang province.

Klaus Filter's romance with China began more than two decades ago, thanks to a dispute.

In 1994, when a world rowing competition was being held in the United States, a European company that makes rowing shells accused a Chinese boat builder of copying their designs.