Ping Sun currently serves only a single Chinese dish in her restaurant in Kalmar, Sweden. She's about to add many more to a menu populated with local classics such as potato pancakes, lingon berries and meat balls.

Sun and 61,000 other residents of the Baltic Sea coastal city are preparing for over 1,000 Chinese workers who will work at a new trade center selling goods ranging from textiles to electronics. Backed by Hangzhou-based Fanerdun Group and planned to open in September 2007, the 1 billion kronor ($140 million) project will also bring 750 new homes and a 285-room hotel to Kalmar.

``It will be great for the restaurant, but I also feel genuinely proud that a Chinese company is coming here with such a large project,'' said Sun, 41, who left her Chinese home 16 years ago.

Kalmar lost 10,000 jobs over the past decade as Electrolux and Bombardier shut down factories and shifted production to Asia, turning Kalmar into a ``a region in crisis'' according to a 2003 report from the Chinese government.

There has been no mention of Chinese Dragons, but this is unlikely to remain the case