But what would it be like if many foreigners, or "laowai" as they are nicknamed in Mandarin, got together and chatted in idiomatic Chinese, sometimes even with a pure Beijing dialect?

On Saturday morning, a dozen people from different countries appeared at a Beijing TV Station (BTV) studio.

They were there for a dress rehearsal for the final of a competition sponsored by BTV, which is exclusively open to foreigners.

Participants need to have mastered at least one art form with distinguished Chinese characteristics, such as xiangsheng (crosstalk), martial arts, traditional Chinese operas, Chinese paintings or being able to sing Chinese songs.

Although it is not a requirement, most participants are currently staying in China, either receiving an education or working.

Nearly 1,000 people from 28 countries and regions have taken part in the preliminaries of the "Arts from Our Land" contest.

As a result, 50-odd foreigners from across the country as well as from outside China were lucky enough to qualify for the final, which is being held next week in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Besides speaking fluent Chinese, all of them have another thing in common - being accomplished in certain aspects of Chinese culture.

"Many would think that as foreigners, the contestants might perform in a somewhat inferior way than Chinese. But it is not the case," said Lu Xiaonan, general director of the contest.

"The performances of many contestants greatly exceeded our expectations towards them. At the very least, it was beyond my imagination."

Lu used the example of Denise Henry from the United States, whose item for the contest is an aria from Peking Opera "Zha Mei An (Execution of the Imperial Son-in-Law)."

Henry, who now works for the Overseas Broadcasting Department at China Radio International as a language adviser, is a loyal Peking Opera "Piaoyou" (fan).

For years, she has been practising Peking Opera and has a deep love for it.

While most young Chinese know very little about Peking Opera, Henry has formed her own understanding of the traditional art form.

She has even published an article on the future of the opera, called "China and the World Cultural Exchange."

"She is really good at Peking Opera, very professional," Lu said.

As the general director, Lu said there were many such surprises during the course of the competition.

Aly Rose from the US, who is better known as Luo Hongmei in China, is now a student at the Beijing Academy of Dance.

In 1999, she took part in the "Foreigners Singing Songs from Our Land" contest and won the best performance award and third-prize for her singing. After that, a choreographer attending the event encouraged her to look at the master's programme at the academy.

Now, Luo has become a professional Chinese folk dancer. She said she had been experimenting in how to blend Chinese traditional and modern dance forms.

Luo did not sign up for the contest this year, but will perform at the final.

"More and more professionals like Luo are moving towards the event," Lu said.

To answer the question "What do you think of China?" almost every foreign contestant in the final would have a long story to tell.

Almost everyone bears a deep love for China as their lives and fates have been so deeply integrated with the ever-changing ancient nation.

Apollo Masika from Uganda said he had been looking forward to coming to China since middle school.

By chance, he got "China Periodical," a monthly publication oriented to introducing China to foreigners.

All those beautiful photos - Tian'anmen Square, Chinese women, beautiful natural scenery - impressed him deeply. Since then he became very interested in the history and geography of the country, and set out to find any books related to China to read.

He also developed an interest for Chinese watercolour painting. He kept practising it during his spare time.

His dreams of seeing China came true in 1989. He and 10 young people were chosen among 500 to get a chance to study at Chinese universities.

After learning languages for about one year, he was admitted to the Beijing Language and Culture University.

After living in China for 13 years, 37-year-old Masika feels his life has become inseparable with China.

He married a Chinese girl in 1996.

He now teaches English at a school in Dalian, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. He also acts as interpreter for Chinese businessmen who want to do business with Uganda.

Masika took part in the "Foreigners Speaking Chinese Contest" in 1992 and won the first prize. So he was not hesitant at all in deciding to attend "Arts From Our Land."

"I saw the advertisement in an English-language publication, I felt it might be interesting and then I came. Everything was very natural," Masika said.

Masika's item is "Bai Mao Nu (White-haired Girl)," and he played the part as the white-haired girl who was driven by the cruel landlord into the mountains. Her hair turned silver after a few years.

Different from Masika, Korean girls Son Chun-hua and Kim Seung-ju did not fall in love with China because of a magazine.

The thing that got them crazy for the country was martial arts movies. Li Lianjie (Jet Li), the international martial arts superstar who made his name in "Shaolin Temple" 20 years ago, is their idol.

Son, born in 1983, came to China last year. But before her arrival, she already spoke fluent Chinese.

"My mother loves China very much. She speaks perfect Chinese and has been teaching me Chinese since I was very young," Son said.

Son's grandmother also loves China. She cannot speak much Chinese, but has been living in Northeast China's Jilin Province for many years with Chinese people of Korean nationality.

Kim, 21, came to China in 2000. She said she decided to come after failing to enter the department of Chinese language at a top university in Korea.

The two girls are now studying at the Department of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at the Renmin University of China.

When their teachers encouraged them to take part in the contest, they decided to choose crosstalk, or xiangsheng in mandarin, a verbal art form that teases audiences with words.

It is a big challenge as without professional training, it is also impossible for most Chinese.

But the two Korean girls handled it quite well.

They wrote the script, which makes fun of themselves. It is a story about two Korean girls talking about attending the "Arts From Our Land" contest.

At the dress rehearsal, the girls succeeded in making everyone laugh as they struggled with the correct pronunciation of the contest's title, "Caiyi Dasai (Contest of Talents)," which sounds quite close to "Contest of Cooking."

(China Daily January 9, 2003)