To Nevenx Pierre, a French restaurant owner in Beijing, the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), due to open in March, mean bright red halls, reports and press conferences on TV.

After opening a restaurant serving Western food in Beijing three years ago, the French man is quite aware of the importance of the annual NPC and CPPCC sessions to the Chinese people.

"Every year in March, televisions in our restaurant will be fixed on the two sessions channel," he said. "It's a special service for Chinese customers."

But to more foreigners in Beijing, the political center of China, the annual NPC and CPPCC sessions are not merely the special focus of Chinese people any longer.

As an investment consultant in a foreign enterprise in Beijing, Wu Qide from Singapore sees the two sessions as a golden opportunity for him to seize investment opportunities and perceive the economic development trends in China.

"The 'Report on the Work of the Government' which will be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao is what I most care about," said Wu.

With five years of working experiences in Beijing, Wu knows "a sentence in the Premier's report may bring the opening of an industry".

Sam Goya, a lawyer from the United States, found that messages released from the annual NPC and CPPCC sessions have become very important for him, as "more and more clients will ask me how to understand information released from the two sessions."

As an analyst noted, China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) accelerates the integration of China's economy and the world economy. As a result, both China's domestic market and its export fluctuation have drawn attention from the whole world.

"For most foreign businessmen, policy messages released by the NPC and CPPCC every year may become golden opportunities," said the analyst.

For foreigners in Beijing, the attraction of the two annual sessions not only is reflected in the economic fields, but in every aspect of society.

What Prof. Michael Prosser of Beijing Language and Culture University centers on is the comprehensive development of a "XIAOKANG society," or a relatively affluent society in China.

For the 68-year-old man from the United States, China is an "amazing Oriental country" and "What China should be most proud of is that even in the process of its transition from the planned economy to the market economy, it still sees steady and rapid economic growth".

"It is different from many countries which have also experienced such a transition but with unrest or in a painful way."

What most interests Sendi from Saudi Arabia is China's reflection on the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic.

"It's a global problem," said Sendi.

Studying traditional Chinese medical sciences in Beijing, Send wonders how China, the earliest country to study human health sciences, will handle epidemics in the future after the SARS epidemic killed hundreds of lives in the world.

As a project manager in Shell's China branch, Noel Eric Ang from the Philippines would like to consider himself a Beijinger as the transportation situation in China's capital draws much of his attention.

"Everybody living in this city is talking about the traffic problem, including us foreigners," said Noel Eric Ang.

In the recently-ended second session of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, a series of city development projects were issued by the Beijing Municipal government, which satisfied Noel Eric Ang to some extent.

Living in Beijing for two years, what Noel appreciates is not only the history and culture of this city, but also "the cooperation and close relationship between the government and the local people".

As a metropolis, Beijing boasts over 50,000 resident foreigners.

(Xinhua News Agency February 29, 2004)