'YOU KNOW WHAT joining the World Trade Organisation [WTO] means for China,' said Liu Qing, an ex-civil servant who went into private business a decade ago. 'The Communist Party is digging its own grave. When this is finished, the party practices we have known for so many years will disappear and it will have to re-invent itself in another form.'
Mr Liu, a man in his 40s bursting with energy and ideas, is among thousands of Chinese full of enthusiasm for the deal his Government signed in Doha on November 11 after 15 years of laborious negotiation.
'It means that private companies like mine will get a fair deal for the first time and that China will do things in the way they are done in advanced Western countries,' he said.
His enthusiasm surpasses even that of the official media, which have greeted the Doha agreement with a flood of articles and television debates presenting membership as an historic event, whose benefits will greatly outweigh its disadvantages.
Beijing shops are full of books, tapes and magazines explaining the importance of membership. A set of WTO stamps will be issued on Tuesday, the day China officially joins.
The official media present membership as opportunity and challenge. Those who will lose out, such as workers and managers of large state companies, explain in interviews that the challenge they face should stimulate them to improve their efficiency and working practices.