Prof. Zhang tells us how the practice base works: students split up into different groups. Each group takes care of the business of a different company. Online clients may feel that they are talking to an account number, but behind these numbers, there is the hard work of one or even dozens of students.

Today, Zhang Li is among the student salespeople. Zhang is a sophomore. She gets online, logs on to her account, and answers questions raised by potential clients, all in English.

"We usually use the English website of . The process goes like this: Everyday we publish our catalogue and potential clients make enquiries about prices. We reply. If they feel interested, they'll continue to enquire about more details and enter negotiations."

During the two months Zhang Li worked here, she signed two international orders which amount to more than 200 thousand Yuan, or some 29 thousand US dollars. Those achievements didn't come easy. Tang Zhaojun is a sophomore and a Business English major. She says that though she has learned marketing in the classroom, it's never as simple as the theories between textbooks and reality.

She says it takes perseverance to get an order.

"Sometimes when we contact the potential clients, they rarely respond. And they usually use e-mails rather than chatting on line. I send e-mails introducing our products, telling them the quality and history of our towels. Then, there is the long and hopeless waiting. The waiting kills me, but if I continue to make efforts, it usually works out."

Till today, this online business practice base has turned out to be a win-win situation. Students have gotten to know real business, and enterprises find good sales staff. Today, many enterprises from different provinces come to cooperate with the students' online business practice base.

At the start, Prof. Zhang Mingye has set a 1 million order target for the students. Many students have finished that order doubled or tripled it within 3 months. So the professor has set new targets, each student needs to finish more than 10 million yuan order to graduate.

Hu Shujin, Dean of the Business and Trade school of Hebei College of Finance says he sets high hopes for the future careers of his students.

"While students still learn knowledge in the classroom, they do real business online. This way, they will naturally hold awareness in mind, to integrate textbook knowledge with real business. That helps students to think, to question, and to prepare themselves for their future."

For Life in China, this is Chen Zhe.