Quite the luxury present, Ye Maoxi, from Pingyang County in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, bought himself a European TV Station as his 50th birthday present.

When visiting England with Premier Wen Jiabao in February this year, Ye came to know that the TV station no longer received government funding due to the financial crisis and desperately needed a strategic investor.

The station is called PROPELLER, located in England, and is very popular in several European countries. Last year in Venice, Italy, the station got the award of the Best Movie Channel in European Satellite TV Stations.

Ye was once a soldier and came to live in Beijing in 1988 and opened a printing shop. He set up Xijing Advertisement Company Limited in 1994, the company currently has been developed to Xijing Group, which deals with minerals, real estate, manufacturing, Ads printing and international trade.

It is international practice for business group following state leaders to visit other countries. And in the past, only state-owned company leaders had the opportunity in China.

In 2003, five Wenzhou private business men, including president of China Aokang Group, Wang Zhentao, visited Ethiopia for the first time following Premier Wen Jiabao. After that, Wenzhou business men often are invited to join state leaders' future visits.

"It reflects that China pays more attention to private businesses' going global. It also shows the increasing competitive power of Wenzhou private businesses. Visiting other countries with state leaders can not only strength their ability to handle international public relations but can also find new chances," said Zhan Yuanwu, an official from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Wenzhou Branch.

"The most important opportunity for businessmen to join state leaders' visits is meeting the decision-makers of other countries. We can get a thorough understanding of their economic policies and rules as well as more discourse," Ye noted.

"Like Wang Weisheng who, also from Wenzhou, bought a state-owned TV station in United Arab Emirates, Ye Maoxi targeted what the Chinese businesses urgently need for advertising overseas," said Zhou Dewen, president of the Wenzhou Council for Promotion of Small-& Middle-Enterprises.

However, some people thought that it was running the hazard to buy an English TV station because export market shares are shrinking in Europe.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, July 13, 2009)