Sarah ,
The way I read it, saying Manchester Airport attending Asia routes conference in China.That is different from the recent World Routes Conference
Route development guys certainly eat a lot of cake , so many of these sort of events each year.
What tends to happen (so Im told by an ex BHX route guy)..its a bit like speed dating..
Each airport gets a small time slot with airlines they are interested in ,and try and sell their airport in that time frame allowed, before the next airport does the same, and so on.
A pretty tough environment , but plenty of cake at each desk
Nigel