Fifty-year-old Austrian educator Barbara Rosenberg's weeklong tour of China gave her a stronger sense of the expression "seeing is believing".

"I found the previous media reports about China so superficial after I visited for the first time," Rosenberg, vice-director of the Renner Institute in Vienna, told reporters yesterday in Beijing.

"For instance," Rosenberg continued, "the Western media highlight too much the organ trade in China. But when we came here last week, we found out that China had introduced a new law to ban such trade. The visit enabled us to get first-hand information."

Rosenberg was not the only Austrian who had such opinions after visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

The six-member Austrian delegation, arriving here by invitation from the China Society for Human Rights Studies, spent the past week touring villages, communities and mosques to inquire about the life of Chinese people. They also spoke with related government departments.

"I was impressed by the wide participation of the grassroots in decision making," said delegation leader Gabriele Heinisch Hosek, referring to the immigration program that resulted from the Three Gorges Hydraulic Project.

The frankness of Chinese officials also took Hosek by surprise.

"Compared with the visit I paid to China several years ago, officials now are more open. They told our delegation directly about flaws with their work and sought suggestions for improvement," Hosek said.

Still, China's poor rural population has drawn the attention of the delegation.

"China should improve the well-being of people in rural areas to enable all Chinese to enjoy the fruits of development and prosperity," said Hosek.

She pointed out that the legal rights of rural women, especially education, should be protected.

As an expert in gender studies, Hosek said that China has made progress in gender equality considering the long male-dominated feudal system.

"I remember clearly that when a male official told me the country wants to increase the proportion of National People's Congress female deputies, he was so full of pride," Hosek said.

The Austrian delegation will deliver a formal report on their findings during the visit.

They suggested that China initiate more efforts to promote human rights awareness among its citizens.

Rosenberg said he believes the ongoing projects to train cadres in human rights protection and distribute textbooks with such information at universities, will help to achieve these goals.

(China Daily 04/11/2007 page3)