On July 13, 2001, after two bidding campaigns, Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Since the countdown clock was officially launched in front of the National Museum east of the Tian'anmen Square, increasingly more citizens are becoming involved in the nation's effort. 2005 marks the very first and critical year of the seven-year preparation period for Beijing. The municipal environment scheme and the cultural construction plan is on the table, the Olympic venue program and the slogan and logo have been identified and an Olympic cooperation partnership club has been established. And many people are very enthusiastic about learning English and relevant culture.

The Olympic activity has been well received among the public. All these efforts demonstrate the enthusiasm of municipal government, organizations and people - including officials, athletes and others. Olympic preparations have become a public campaign. Our story is about one person who is among the thousands supporting the Olympics in Beijing.

Liu Wenli is a civil policeman in Beijing and the first bilingual policeman to receive the Advanced-level Oral English Certificate. He has also been selected as one of the relay runners for the Olympic Torch Delivery. His ambition is to master varieties of foreign languages and serve visitors from all around the world in 2008.

In the Wanshan Pavilion of Beijing Jingshan Park, people often see a policeman talking with foreign visitors, providing guidance and introducing them to basic information about the park. That is Liu Wenli

An Awkward Experience

Thirty-seven-year-old Liu Wenli works in the Beihai Park Police Station, branch of the Xicheng District of Beijing Police Security Bureau. He began to learn English after an awkward experience at duty during 1995 World Women's Conference in Beijing.

An ordinary policeman responsible for logistics, Liu was singled out by the municipal Police Security Bureau to join an English training course in 1995 for the reception work of the World Women's Conference. When the conference opened, Liu was on duty at the north side of the Great Hall of the People in the Chang An Street. One day, some foreign participants wanted to enter the hall for the conference. But Liu misunderstood and said no, no, no - indicating to the foreigners that there was a meeting inside. The foreigners seemed to understand, smiling and nodding to him. But when they asked Liu why they were not allowed to visit and wanted to talk with him more, Liu couldn't speak a word and looked at them in an awkward way.

This experience taught Liu a lesson. He felt like communicating with foreigners in English. But at that time, 28-year-old Liu had forgotten almost all the English he had learned in school. For him, to pick up English was an arduous task beginning from scratch. But he didn't give up. From then on, he listened to English news everyday. That didn't work and he was still unable to talk with other English learners.

Then someone told him a simple but effective way to learn English: practice oral English at the English corner in colleges at weekend.

English Corner

The first time he went there, Liu was in uniform. People were quite surprised to see a policeman there. Some college students came to him and began to talk with him in English. Nervous, after a few sentences, Liu could come up with no more words to speak.

So Liu decided to start all over again. He forced himself to speak. Instead of focusing on remembering words and grammar like other English learners did, he only focused on oral English. After a year, when he came to the English corner again, he was able to communicate fluently with others.

Helping Others with English

Liu made friends with many foreigners after he learned English, and one particular incident especially moved him very much.

One day when Liu was on duty, a foreigner in a yellow coat approached him to ask where to eat near the Palace Museum. Liu told him that the Chinese restaurants along the Wang Fu Jing Street were good choices because the food there was delicious and the price reasonable. After that he called a taxi for the foreigner. The foreigner was moved. He said that he had been in China for two weeks and a lot of things puzzled him. Liu was the first English-speaking policeman he came across in Beijing. With these words, he suddenly took off his coat and revealed the deep-blue uniform which was very much the same as that Liu wore. He tore down the arm badge from his uniform and gave it to Liu, "We are both policeman, this is the best gift I can offer you," he said. Liu was touched.

Liu realized that learning English gave him the opportunity to have heart-to-heart communication with others. He felt that the arm badge was the best recognition to his oral English because a policeman rarely gave his own arm badge to others.

The More Languages, the Better

In 2001 when Beijing bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, language aptitude became an urgent need. In such a context, Liu was assigned to the Beihai Park Police Station to serve foreign visitors. Liu did his best. But soon he found that English alone wasn't enough.

Once, a foreigner told him, "I am French. I can speak a little Chinese but no English." Liu was caught because he didn't understand French. From then on, he learned that a little English was far from being enough to be a qualified foreign-related policeman. He began to cover other languages. He often talked with people from different countries: the U.S., Spain, especially those from France. He felt that it was necessary for him to learn something new, something like a stunt which others didn't know.

There was a restaurant on the way of Liu's daily commute. Many foreigners went there to have meals. Among them there were quite a lot of French. So Liu went there to learn French. When he spotted someone who looked like French, he would hum the Marseille and greet him or her. The French would appreciate this and would talk with him. In this way Liu learned a little French.

Now Liu is able to speak twelve or thirteen foreign languages in simple dialogues. Some visitors from Poland are quite happy to see that the policeman can speak a little Polish.

Now Liu meets more and more foreign visitors in his everyday work. He finds that what he has learned is not enough. It is necessary to learn more languages and provide better service for foreign friends.

(China Pictorial April 22, 2005)