The program, aired daily since August 1972 on the Beijing People's Broadcast Station, won strong endorsement and a detailed instruction from late premier Zhou Enlai.

Although China was then still immersed in the chaotic "cultural revolution" (1966-76), when academic learning was downgraded, the English teaching program offered Beijingers a chance to learn a foreign language at a time when English learning was a hot subject.

The program helped a lot of people to prepare for their new career development and advancement after China began its reforms and opened to the outside world.

These are documented by more than 300 essays sent to the Beijing Education Radio Station by former fans who shared their experience of learning English via the radio program 30 years ago in an essay contest sponsored by the Beijing Education Radio Station.

Many of them have graduated from prestigious universities. Some are now working successfully as teachers, tourist guides and interpreters; others have gone abroad for advanced study and become core members of their professions after returning to their homeland, according to Jiang Gongmin, director-general of the Beijing People's Broadcast Station.

"I happened to hear a broadcaster speaking English in a sweet-sounding voice one day," recalled Zhang Li, 45, a former listener.

"The program brought me into a marvelous new world. I could not refrain from following it and speaking loudly," Zhang said.

Zhang, suffering from cerebral palsy and lying in bed all year round, has persisted in learning English since then.

In 1989, she was able to share her experience in English at the Fifth International Polio and Independent Living Conference in Louisiana, the United States.

Today, she has a personal computer, a gift from the Beijing Association for the Disabled Persons, and a cassette recorder, saying goodbye to primitive earphones.

"Now the condition is much better, and my child can learn English well with the help of teachers," Zhang said.

Zhang Guanlin, from Beijing Foreign Studies University and one of the English language professors to go on the radio to teach English 30 years ago, noted that the people who learned English via the radio program actually had a very difficult time.

"But they never gave up their pursuit of studying English, no matter how bad the condition was," he said.

With Beijing's successful Olympic bid and China's access into the World Trade Organization, learning English has become increasingly fashionable in the country.

(China Daily July 18, 2002)