Duarte has dedicated himself to understanding more about China. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Walking into Jose Augusto Duarte's living room in Beijing is like entering an exhibition of private collections. There is everything from Chinese porcelains to sculptures, furniture and even a set of Mahjong on the table. 

Officially becoming the Portuguese Ambassador to China in December, 2017, Duarte adores China and Chinese culture. He has dedicated himself to understanding more about China and plays the role as the bridge of understanding between China and Portugal.

In recent years, the China-Portugal ties have seen conspicuous growth, with President Xi Jinping's visit to Portugal in last December and the Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's visit to China during the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in April. The investments from China to Portugal are also a strong support for Portugal's recovery from the debt crisis in 2013.

In this context, the people-to-people connections have seen a rapid rise. Now, more and more Chinese tourists choose Portugal as their destination and the Portuguese people are increasingly passionate about learning more about China.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Portugal, and the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to China. On this special occasion, the Global Times talked with Duarte, who shared with us his connections with China and Chinese people.

China is everywhere

Although the distance between China and Portugal is over 9000 kilometers, China is not a strange country to many Portuguese. 

Between 1667 and 1687, the roof of the Palacio DE Santos palace in Lisbon, one of the most famous palaces in Portugal, was inlaid with more than 250 Chinese porcelain plates, almost entirely decorated in blue and white. These ceramics arrived Portugal between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries through trade. Now the palace has become a tourist attraction to people from China and the rest of the world.

Back in the Ambassador's Residence in Beijing, one can also find a variety of Chinese elements mixed in with the Portuguese decors and designs. The Chinese porcelain particularly stands out for its quality and quantity - the ambassador has a whole shelf and walls dedicated to his collection. Most of these porcelains are over 300 years old, but are still as shiny as a brand new pieces.

"Having collections of Chinese porcelain has become a part of our identity," Duarte said. "You can go to a church or palace in Portugal and you will see the Chinese porcelain in blue and white that the Portuguese use to portray the beauty of the Chinese civilization." The ambassador said that you don't go to a single wealthy person's house in the countryside in Portugal without seeing 300-year-old Chinese porcelains. "Some Portuguese have never put their feet on Chinese soil and they image China through the porcelain and the description of those who arrived here," he said.

In addition to the Chinese porcelain, it is hard not to miss a table of delicately made mahjong in one corner of his living room. This quickly leads to the question - does he also play mahjong? "I don't know how to play it," the ambassador said. "But I like it as the traditional culture here."

Come with an eager mind

Sitting in the middle of his half-Chinese and half Portuguese home, Duarte said that he came a long way with true admiration for Chinese culture. Although his knowledge and experience in China is building up, he arrived here as a stranger with little knowledge about China.

Before he came here, he established more contacts while serving a chief diplomatic adviser for his president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Portugal. "We often talked a lot about studying China as well as kept good contacts with the Chinese Embassy in Lisbon," he said. Despite of this, Duarte said that he came as a beginner as far as knowledge of China was concerned.

Speaking in a very frankly tone, Duarte explained that he didn't come to China because he was an expert on the country, but rather because he knew nothing about China. "My first visit to China was when I became the ambassador to China. But I adore living here," he said. "So I study, I learn and I make an effort on it." Duarte takes a strikingly emotional view of it. "When you like the thing, you like to discover more about it and you are curious about it," he said.

His words are reflected in his actions. In addition to his daily work in the office and on business trip across the country, he has tried to put himself more in the local community to get a first-hand experience of living in China. Since he loves to collect Chinese gadgets, he often goes to local antique markets like Panjiayuan in Beijing, but with more than one purpose.

"When I go to the local market and speak to the people there, I try to make contact even though they don't speak English and I don't speak Chinese. But we can bargain, negotiate and understand and speak about our families and show the photos of our family to each other," he said.

"As an ambassador's job, he or she has to be a bridge between one and the other and if he doesn't like the place where he is or he doesn't understand the people, how can he be a bridge?" Duarte said. In his view, it is important for others countries to know more about China and China also needs to know more about others. This curiosity about others is a good thing for the world, he noted.

Duarte has traveled to many parts of China, and what has touched him the most are the Chinese people's hospitality, sense of humor, sense of survival and fighting for life. "When you see all the revolutionary changes of this country, certainly, the big part is the vision and capacity of the leadership of the elites, but not all - a very important part is the huge quality and tremendous hard working capacity of the people," he said.

Macao and BRI makes us closer

This year is the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to China. Duarte is very excited about the fact that Macao is a bridge connecting China and Portugal in many ways.

Duarte looks at Macao as a natural platform connecting China with all the Portuguese-speaking countries. "Macao is never a place of single conflict and never a place of colonial position and always a place of dialogue between China and Portugal and Portuguese speaking areas of the world," he said. "So we consider the knowledge that Macao has acquired for more than 500 years now, which can be useful and make the people from other Portuguese speaking countries feel like 'home.'"

China's development has brought about broader changes. The ambassador said that in the Portugual's case, they are very happy and proud of the negotiation that took place for Macao's return to China. "We were the first one to raise the question to the Chinese authorities to offer Macao back and we are very proud of the process of negotiation in the way that it was conducted by then and what it is nowadays. We have no question about this," Duarte said, adding that Macao has in the past always been a point of connection linking Portugal and China, and was never a place for disagreements or fights.

Since China and Portugal established diplomatic relations 40 years ago, the two countries have had very intensive contacts. Duarte emphasized that all Chinese presidents paid state visits to Portugal since 1979 and all the Portuguese presidents paid state visits to China. "We are very proud of that and we take our relations very dearly," he said.

Since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, more than 140 countries and international organizations including Portugal have signed documents on cooperation under the initiative, and substantial progress has been made. Last December, during Xi's visit to Portugal, both countries signed the MoU on the BRI.

Portugal sees that BRI brings about further impetus to the bilateral relations. "So if you want to talk about connectivity by air, sea and land, you cannot skip Portugal. It makes a lot sense for us if we are talking about connectivity and BRI is a good initiative of China," he said, adding that the two sides need to have more direct flights to meet the growing needs for connections.