We are a New Zealand family that has traveled across the Pacific Ocean to Hubei Province in the very heart of China. Our desire is to encourage and assist young students in Zhongxiang city. In doing our best to help China, we have also gained from it invaluable experience that we will always treasure. We now feel ourselves to be true friends of this wonderful nation. It is in this spirit that I offer the following suggestions.

My students are keenly awaiting Beijing 2008, the Chinese dream. There are great expectations of China, from its own people and leaders as well as from the rest of the world, that it make the most of this opportunity.

Beijing is still in the early stages of preparing for the massive influx of predominantly English speaking foreigners in 2008. Their arrival will provide great business opportunities for English-speaking Chinese guides, and the Chinese students of English from all over China that plan to come to Beijing for this purpose. The Beijing municipal government's task will be , therefore, to control, manage and co-ordinate this combined effort, and safeguard foreign friends, so that their experience of China is a good one.

I only recently visited Beijing for the first time, and was thrilled at the chance to see its historic sites, most particularly the Great Wall. I notice that certain privately run bus tours to the Great Wall are currently under investigation by the Beijing police. This is an encouraging sign that efforts are being made to protect local and foreign tourists from unscrupulous operators, of which we had personal experience.

Amongst other places of interest I visited was the Beijing zoo, which in 2008 will undoubtedly attract large numbers of people, particularly children, wanting to see one of China's most adorable treasures: the Giant Panda. The zoo is one business opportunity that warrants immediate attention. It has fallen into a state of neglect, which is surprising when you consider the number of other well maintained places of interest throughout Beijing. It houses a number of exotic species of birds, which I found neither interested nor interesting. A few simple and relatively inexpensive changes, and a little thought, could transform bird enclosures, and overall conditions, to a point where the animals and birds would be happier. This would bring far greater enjoyment to the zoo's visitors.

I feel sure that directors of zoos throughout the world would be both willing and honored to assist the Beijing municipal government in making its zoo as well presented as all the other places of interest in the city. I say this as a foreigner who is thrilled and happy at being invited to assist the people of China.

So, I wish the Beijing government well in their endeavors and hope that they ask international zoologists for their suggestions. Beijing 2008 is a dream shared by us all.

TOM FARNDON
New Zealand