At the invitation of the Australian and Fijian governments, the delegation of Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU) led by Mr. Li Guixian, President of CAFIU and Vice-Chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visited Australia and Fiji from Nov 28 to Dec 9 2005. As a member of the delegation, I would like to write down some of my impressions of the visit.AUSTRALIA It was early summer in the southern hemisphere when we were in Australia,and the Christmas was drawing near. For the first time,I truly experienced the "Summer Christmas" without snow,but withshades from green trees as well as warm sunshine and showers by turn. The dele- gation travelled up to the north along the eastern coast,and stopped at Mel- bourne, Canberra, Bris- bane and Cairns,and de- parted the country from Sydney. President Li Guix- ianmet respectively with Hon. Paul Calvert,Presi- dent of the Senate,Hon. Peter Costello,Treasurer of the Commonwealth ofAus- tralia,Hon. Judi Molyan,Chairwoman of the China Group in Australia Par- liamentary,Dr. Ken Henry,Secretary to the Trea- sury,Dr. Geoff Raby,Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade Department and Mr. Ian Macfar- lane,Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (Central Bank),etc. The Australian macro- econo- myregulatory,fiscal,monetary and trade policies were introduced during the meetings. The delega- tion also paid visits to the Australian Textile Fibre Technology and the Australian Woolshed,so as to know the technical development of the wool indus- tryof Australia and present situation and prospect of the China- Australia cooperation in wool textile technology. Australia is not only the biggest island and thesmallest continent in the world,but also reputed as "a country on the sheep's back". In Brisbane,the delegation got the first- hand knowledge of Aus- tralian Woolshed. We watch the wool shearing per- formance. The rancher briefed us on the eight nor- mal breeds of Australian sheep and the shearing history. Then he sheared sheep with both traditional scissors and the modern scissors. President Li watched the whole performance with great interest and asked questions at times,such as the feeding skills of different breeds or the annual wool yield of each breed. After that,the delegation watched how sheepdog herded sheep and sheepherder whipping performances. During the performance of whipping, no one was expecting President Li would be invited by the sheepherder. Before everyone realized what was going on,President Li already stepped into the centre of the field,holding the three- meter- long leather whip in hand. With confident smile on the face,he held on breath for a wile,then suddenly, his arm whipped,"paa- - - ",the loud sound shot into the sky. On a sudden,the slightly worried au- diences were waken up by the loud sound,and arouse to applause and cheers. The sheepherder al- soturned up the thumb and praised in simple Chi- nese,"Hao! Zhongguoren,Bang! "(Great! Chinese,thumbs up!)President Li was more en- couraged and lashed the whip for more times,"pa- pa- pa". Birds were shocked flying up into the sky. Cheers again. We were all surprised and asked him where he learned the skill. He replied with smile, "When I was a kid,I often drove the car- riage with a whip in the rural area." The atmosphere turned re- laxed and lively. Nearly all the men in the delegation tried whipping, however, only few could do. As the youngest member, I also tried with great interest and effort, but failed too. At that moment, I couldn't help thinking that I was living in a much happier life but having too lit- tle practical experience as compared with the older generation. FIJI On Dec 5,the delegation arrived in Fiji,the "South Pacific Garden". We spent most of the time in Su- va,the capital,and Nadi,the biggest city. Presi- dent Li met respectively with Hon. Laisenia Qarase, the Prime Minister, Hon. Taito Waqavakatoga,President of the Senate and Hon. Manasa Tugia,Deputy S
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