The fluent Japanese of a young entrepreneur almost amazed the whole audience as he was giving a speech at a recent press conference in an east China village.

Located in Jiangyin City, east China's Jiangsu Province and with a population of 1,600, Huaxi Village is known as "China's No.1 village" for its prosperous rural industry.

When the applause subsided, Sun Yunnan, general manager of the Foreign Trade Corporation of Huaxi Village, repeated his speech in standard Chinese, the Putonghua.

"We are a team of young people," he said, "Each speaks at least one foreign language."

Sun, a local farmer's son who studied in Japan for a couple of years, set up the company two years ago.

The ten-odd staff at Sun's company, at an average age of 26, can speak English, Japanese, Russian or Korean. Their business has so far expanded into the United States, European countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea and countries in the Middle East.

Through its website, the company has sold various products from 58 manufacturing enterprises based in Huaxi Village to over 30 countries in Asia, Europe and America. Foreign trade transactions are surging at an annual rate of 30 percent.

"The company's sales target for this year is 500 million yuan (US$60 million)," Sun said at the end of his speech.

"This is not a big deal," head of the village Wu Renbao told the visitors, still amazed at Sun's orating skills, "He and his colleagues have to address foreign audience, too."

According to Wu, more and more Huaxi villagers have started to learn foreign languages in recent years, particularly since China's entry to the World Trade Organization at the end of 2001.

Over 100 villagers were admitted to a three-year college English program sponsored by the village and a Nanjing-based Institute of International Relations last year, a third of the total number of applicants.

"Husbands and wives, mothers and children are often seen practicing English together," Wu said proudly, "Foreign languages and computer have become an important part of the people's life, as they are in constant touch with the outside world."

Wu Renbao, 72, is secretary of the village's Party committee, but by no means the only decision-maker. He attributed Huaxi's remarkable development to the "concerted efforts" of the hardworking villagers and a management body, the village committee of three teams.

One team brainstorms ideas and policies for local economic growth in the post-WTO scenario, the second studies WTO rules and the third screens out useful trade information for the village, Wu explained. "We will strive to meet this year's sales target of 6 billion yuan (US$723 million), said Wu.

Huaxi emerged in the 1980s as a miracle in China's rural economic growth. The village started to solicit talents in many fields and encouraged the locals to study foreign languages, finance, international trade and management to prepare themselves for the opportunities and challenges brought by the market economy.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2002)