"It only cost me 23 million bolivares (almost 10,000 U.S. dollars) to buy a Chinese-made small car. I think it's a good buy," Rafael Cordoba, a 34-year-old electronic engineer, told Xinhua.

    In recent years, the Chinese automobile industry has emerged in the annual Caracas "Autoshow." Chinese businesses did extremely well in the 2006 and 2007 automobile expos because the Chinese brands offer consumers economical and high quality options and Venezuelan consumers were strongly attracted by these cars.

    The Chinese-made automobiles, including Geely, Great Wall Motorand Chery, have won recognition from Venezuela and other countries.

    Chinese merchandise, from earrings to high-tech products, has further improved in quality but remained at low prices, local residents said, adding that the diversification of goods is of greater value, durability and quality.

    Alejandro Madero, 25, a university student, told reporters that the Chinese goods are very cheap, modern and abundant.

    The Chinese and Venezuelan governments have been working hard to improve their bilateral trade relations by strengthening cooperation investment, technology exchanges and high-tech production.

    Chinese entrepreneurs are exploring the Venezuelan market at national level and some of them are planning to build subsidiary companies in this South American country.

    Goods jointly produced by China and Venezuela are also on the rise, including all sorts of computers made in Venezuela's Caribbean coast Falcon state.

    A joint-venture enterprise by Venezuela's Technology Ministry and China's Langchao Group provides low price and high quality computers for schools, public offices and individuals.

    Meanwhile, Chinese telecommunications giants, including Huawei and ZTE, are investing in many projects in Venezuela.

    The ZTE plans to produce some 1 million cell phones in 2008, granting Venezuela the potential to export the cell phones jointly produced by the two nations to other South American countries.

    Venezuela and China are also working together in the "Simon Bolivar" satellite project, which will start operating in 2008.

    According to bilateral agreements, China is building the satellite in Chinese territory and will provide training for some 120 Venezuelans to design and build satellites.