Antonio Broto, a Spaniard who has lived in Beijing for two and a half years, is expecting to cover the annual Chinese top legislature session which start later this week.

As a journalist at the Spanish news service, EFE, Broto will cover the upcoming annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing. This will become an unforgettable experience in Broto's career as a journalist.

"It is almost beyond expectation that I will report the top legislature convention of the world's most populous nation," said the 28-year old man.

As a well-trained journalist, Broto is fully prepared for the event and wants to report on more news beneficial to the ordinary people of China, including poverty-relief, education reform and anti-corruption.

The 42-year old American Robert Reashjr, a head chef of a Western-style restaurant "Cappuccino" in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, has shown great interest in China's currency exchange rate. His salary is paid in US dollars and the exchange rate alteration between the RMB and US dollars will directly affect his income.

"It's a practical problem, for more foreign people are now working in China," said Reachjr. The NPC and CPPCC frequently adopt suggestions from ordinary people, which will promote social development and help government to improve their work.

Having lived 16 months in China, Reachjr and his wife are very satisfied with their life and work in Henan and plan to stay longer.

Jzana Tesaic and Selena Dramlic, two young Serbian women now studying Chinese at the Yellow River Science and Technology University at Zhengzhou, are fascinated by Chinese culture. They chose to study in Henan because it is the origin of Chinese culture.

Although the two women have only lived for six months in China and have little knowledge about the upcoming NPC and CPPCC, they wish that these most important conventions of China can give priority to preserving traditional, "charming" Chinese culture.

More than 10 million foreign people come to China every year for travel and work. The social development of China has attracted more foreigners.

China set up the "Green Card" system in 2004, which is a big leap for reform on entry and residence systems of foreigners.

A well-known Canadian performer was listed one of the Ten Outstanding Youth in Beijing last year, the first time a foreign citizen has received the title since the award was launched in 1993. Mark Rowswell is known as "Dashan" to hundreds of millions of Chinese for his mastery of Chinese and great sense of humor demonstrated in his performance of cross talk, a traditional form of Chinese comic dialogue.

Dashan was very excited at the awards ceremony and thanked Beijing for its "openness to foreigners" and called it "an international metropolis."

Statistics with the Beijing taxation department show that foreign nationals have paid 5.89 billion yuan (US$710 million) of income tax in the January-November period in 2004, up 29.8 percent to that of the previous year.

Analysts note that with China's implementation of its WTO entry commitment, China is in increasing demand for foreign talents.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2005)