Foreign experts who have won the Friendship Award enjoy the sun on the beach of Beidaihe, Hebei Province.

And the memberships' well-developed understanding of Chinese culture, especially their practiced usage of chopsticks, indicated that they had lived in China for years.

Their trip hailed the first time the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) organized a week-long vacation for Friendship Award winners and their families, starting on July 9 of this year.

SAFEA bestows the Friendship Award (FA) to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to Chinese society.

Since 1991, 899 experts have earned the award. Among them, 60 foreign experts are still working in the country, and some of them have been given permanent residency.

The holiday-makers hail from 16 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Palestine.

They specialize in various fields, such as the agricultural, industrial, cultural and science sectors.

In addition to providing a trip to the beach, the SAFEA arranged for them to tour nearby historical sites. And attendees would participate in a forum intended to offer them a platform from which they could raise suggestions for China's economic and social development.

"The event is aimed to let the foreign experts relax and also to provide an opportunity for them to foster friendship and enhance understanding among themselves," says SAFEA director Ji Yunshi.

He hopes the experts would help promote the country and introduce more qualified foreign experts to the idea of working in China.

According to SAFEA, in 2006, the number of foreign experts rocketed to 400,000 on the Chinese mainland.

Wilma O'Sullivan might have lived an easier and more comfortable life if she had stayed in the UK. But the 52-year-old British woman wanted to see China before it changed too much, so she took an English-teaching position in Shijiazhuang in 1994.

But she found that the realities of China were different from what she had read in guidebooks and novels about the country.

When Sullivan first saw the city, she couldn't believe it was the capital of Hebei Province. In fact, she says, it seemed more like a county town -gray and dull.

Life was so boring that she cried often. Still, Sullivan didn't want to return to England.

"What I was taught by my parents is, 'when life gets tough, you don't give up and run; just keep moving'. It builds your character," she says.

Eventually, Sullivan came to spiritually settle in the town and threw herself into her job.

After teaching at the Hebei Geology University for five years, she began working for the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School in 2000.

In addition to teaching, she has edited and published English teaching materials, including Bazy English and the Complete Collection of English Songs for Children.

She also has taken on an active role in training Chinese English teachers in her spare time.

Last October, she won the Friendship Award.

Sullivan is well aware of the cultural difference encountered in the fields of English teaching and learning.

"The (main) part of teaching in China is memorization, while my style is to give them the key of jigsaw. I prefer for them to fully understand rather than simply recite," she says.

Besides employing her sense of humor, her teaching methodology involves showing students the similarities among different cultures, which makes it easy for them to accept differences.

Sullivan says she prefers to continue living in Shijiazhuang rather than moving to Beijing or Shanghai, which are considered ideal places for foreign English teachers to work.

"If all of us flock there to teach, what about other students in other cities in China?" she says. "Yet, Shijiazhuang has developed dramatically over the past decade; it is still very much a Chinese city, which fascinates me."

American doctor Rod D. Cheeley came to China in 1992 partly because he hoped to help the poor and partly because his wife is a Chinese American.

In 1994, the 50-year-old founded a training project for village doctors in Xishuangbanna, in Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

A few years later, the general director of Bless China International started sending teams to remote villages throughout the province to meet whatever needs the people might have and, more importantly, to help them learn new ways of earning money.

Currently, there are 50 foreign and 120 Chinese volunteers participating in the program.

In addition to helping the poor, deaf and physical disabled, Cheeley works for patients of leprosy and HIV/AIDS.

"What I found to be most difficult through my work is to change the attitude of the public towards these people, as they have a large stigma against them based on misunderstanding," he says.

The American recalls that he once visited a place where an old man suffering from leprosy had lived in solitude for more then three decades after his family rejected him.

Cheeley explained that upon receiving treatment, leprosy patients are cured and are no longer contagious. However, the family never welcomed the poor man back.

The elderly villager called out when someone eventually came to him after such a long period of lonely desperation. "It is a very common case among the leprosy-affected, which accounts for tens of thousands in Yunnan Province," he says.

"Helping the public realize those people cannot give the diseases to others, and they need to be loved and cared for, is not only beneficial for them as individuals, but also, it will be a significant part of stopping the spread of the diseases," he adds.

He received the FA in 2000.

Today, Cho Sung-hye can speak fluent Mandarin, but she didn't even start studying the language until age 38.

Originally, the mother of two planned to immigrate to the US to seek better educations for her sons. However, her eldest son suggested moving to China, which, in his eyes, is a "rising sun" with great potential.

They came to China in 1996 and settled in Hefei, in East China's Anhui Province. It is hard to start a new life in any new country. And it's especially hard for someone who cannot speak the language.

Just a few months after the family's arrival, her husband Park Nam-gyu couldn't stand it anymore and left for the US, while her sons wanted to leave their Chinese school.

Cho became the only family member who insisted on staying in China. "People will face difficulties everywhere. Running away is definitely not in my dictionary," Cho says.

The 49-year-old began to teach Korean to 80 students at Hefei University in 1999. In an effort to stoke their interest in Korean culture, she invited her students to come to her house group by group. She rolled up her sleeves, and cooked for them a traditional Korean meal.

Every year, Cho uses her own money to award 10 students 2,000-yuan (US$264) scholarships.

Moved by her persistence, her husband returned to China and joined the university as a Korean tutor.

The current number of students learning Korean at the university has grown to 300, while the number of teaching faculty has grown to 12 instructors, eight of whom are Korean.

Cho described herself, half jokingly, as a "sort of Chinese matchmaker", because she has taken an active part in arranging various exchange programs between China and South Korea in the realms of education, culture and economics.

Through her efforts, more than 360 Chinese university students have studied Korean over the past few years, while more than 600 South Korean students came to Hefei.

Cho won the FA in 2002.

Last year, she and her husband were given permanent residency permits. "What I like most about China is its people -- especially Hefeinese. They are very friendly, and their hearts are not polluted by material things," she says.

Jan Wolter Post is the youngest FA winner (2006).

The 33-year-old natural gas expert came to China in 2004 and now works as a senior researcher at the China Chongqing Automobile Research Institute.

Post is fully aware of how eager China is to catch up with the latest technology, and he has every bit of confidence in his abilities to make a difference in China's development of alternative fuels.

The Dutch has successfully developed electronically controlled gaseous fuel injection systems, which use cleaner fuel and reduce emissions.

Post says he is concerned about the increasing number of vehicles on China's roads. "To improve air quality and protect the environment, it is important to start to use more and more alternative fuel in the country. Strict regulations for car emissions are required, as is making sure of their enforcement," he says.

He is proud of using chopsticks so well and loves Chinese food. "This is why I have put on a lot of weight since I came here," he jokes.

When considering how long he planned to stay in China, he reflects upon a case he heard from other experts. "Someone originally had a year-long assignment in China. However, he has lived here for 15 years, so far. We will see what happens, and surely, I will work in Chongqing for the next two years," he says.

(China Daily July 17, 2007)