After whirlwind trip, Schwarzenegger has much work to do at home.

Byline: Kate Folmar

HONG KONG _ Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger jetted halfway around the globe on a six-day trade mission to sell California to communist China, the world's most populous nation.

As he appeared at splashy events and in world-class hotels, the Republican governor was accompanied by dozens of staff, an 80-person business delegation, mobs of Chinese fans, a dozen journalists _ and, just below the surface, a whole lot of baggage.

The trip, in the works for months, accidentally became a chance for political redemption after Schwarzenegger's Nov. 8 special-election defeat, in which voters soundly rejected all of his ideas for government reform.

To that end, he made some progress, but he still has much work to do back home.

Schwarzenegger set out to drum up more business for California companies, build relationships with Chinese companies and government officials and cast a spotlight on intellectual property rights. On those fronts, the trip generated a lot of flash, good feelings and tantalizing nibbles _ but few concrete results.

That's how trade missions work, said millionaire San Francisco …