Carlos Tavares, an elderly man in Brazil, said he was "a Brazilian with a Chinese heart." For more than 40 years, he has tirelessly followed and researched China, written 8 books and more than 500 articles on China, and delivered hundreds of speeches on China. Many Brazilians know and approach China because of his writing. Someone asked him what his motivation was for doing this, and he said, "I just want to introduce China and let more people know about China, and nothing else."

This touching story is just a beautiful wave in the long river of friendly exchanges between the people of China and Latin America. It is thanks to the hard work of many people from China and Latin America that China-Latin America relations are as unstoppable as the Yangtze River and the Amazon River.

-- "Promoting Tradition, Friendship and Writing a New Chapter of Cooperation: Speech at the Brazilian Congress" (July 16, 2014)

Further reading:

Many Chinese journalists who have just arrived in Brazil will be advised to ask Tavares if they don't understand Brazil's past and present. If you have any confusion about China's past and present, you can also ask this China expert.

Tavares is in his nineties and has been following and researching China for more than 40 years. In 1971, Tavares published his first full-length report on China in Brazil's Globo newspaper; In 1972, he risked his life to receive a delegation from China at a time when China and Brazil had not yet established diplomatic relations and Brazil was under the dictatorship of the military government. In 1990, the Brazilian media published an interview with him, saying that he was "a Brazilian with a Chinese heart"; In 2010, the China-Latin America Friendship Association and the Brazilian National Federal Business Association awarded him the "China-Latin America Friendship Medal", an honor that only two people in Brazil have ever received. In July 2014, he published an article in the People's Daily titled "China and Latin America are a model of mutual benefit", arguing that "China has established a close partnership with Latin America, thousands of miles away, which is of great significance for promoting world peace and balanced development."

Shortly after Mr. Xi finished telling Tavares' story, he published a new book about China, "Two Topics for Dilma: China and Ports," which showcases China's achievements in reform and development in recent years and introduces China's opening-up policy. At the launch of the book, Tavares also deliberately wore a tie with Chinese seal script written on it, and said: "China is now one of the most important economies in the world and Brazil's largest trading partner, but most Brazilians do not know or have a very one-sided understanding of China, and even have a lot of prejudices, but in fact China has been developing rapidly, and many of its experiences are worth learning from Brazil." ”

Xi Jinping's story of "Brazilians with a Chinese heart" is intended to illustrate that "China needs to know more about the world, and the world needs to know more about China." How can we really understand China? Xi Jinping believes that "it takes a lot of effort to understand China, and it is not enough to look at one or two places". An open and inclusive China needs to tell its own "China story" well, and it also needs more people to go to China, understand China, and promote China. It is necessary to "I say", but also "you say" and "he speak", so that people can take off their colored glasses and see the real China, and only then can they enhance understanding between the country and the people.