Qiu's company was turned down a decade ago to participate in the China Export Commodity Fair, a famous national business event held in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

However, "Feiyue" sewing machines are selling well in the markets of over 100 countries and regions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has even listed the sartorius as one of the national gifts to foreign guests.

The Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) and the All-China Youth Federation (ACYF) jointly awarded the "May 4th Medal" to Qiu Jibao Thursday in recognition of his hard work in introducing hi- tech methods to resurrect the sartorius manufacturing, a traditional industry that has been sluggish for many years.

Along with Qiu, nine other people in their 30s, who have made remarkable achievements in agriculture, hi-tech research, news coverage, politics and law, army and police, also were awarded the medal, the top prize in China for young people.

Lu Ke, one of the 10 winners, won an international gold medal for his research achievements in the nanometer materials. His research team, made up of young Chinese scientists, was accredited by the world's material research circles as one of the six successful teams worldwide. Guo Liang, who survived a burn injury twice at work and a fight to save the work facilities from being damaged by a savage storm has never retreated from the harsh working environment on the Shengli Oil Field in Shandong Province, which is China's second largest oil field.

So far, his team has extracted a total of 41,800 tons of crude oil with scientific working methods, and the output value of crude oil in 2000 hit 110 million yuan (US$13.3 million).

The 10 people reaped excellent harvests during China's reform and modernization drive, and Chinese young people should learn from their example of fortitude and attitude towards troubles at work, said Zhou Qiang, first secretary of the CCYL Central Committee, at Thursday's awarding ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The May 4th Medals are given annually by CCYL and ACYF on China 's May 4th Youth Day, which was set to mark the May 4th Movement in 1919, an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, political and cultural movement led by Chinese intellectuals.

It is the fifth time that China granted the award since 1997, and a total of 42 outstanding young people have won the medals so far.

(Xinhua 05/03/2001)