Jocelyn Chey attends the launch of the first of six books in the Australia's China Series held at the Australian Embassy in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Courtesy of the Australian Embassy in Beijing

Graham Fletcher, Australia's ambassador to China attends the launch of the first of six books in the Australia's China Series held at the Australian Embassy in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: Courtesy of the Australian Embassy in Beijing

A media event for the launch of the first of six books in the Australia's China Series was held at the Australian Embassy in Beijing Thursday. 

The Chinese version of Lodestar China by Jocelyn Chey, Australia's first cultural counselor to China, was translated by Dai Ning, an associate professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), with support from the Australian Studies Center at BFSU. 

"This is a fascinating autobiography providing a window into the history of Australia-China diplomatic relations from its early stages until the 1990s," writes Graham Fletcher, Australia's ambassador to China, in the foreword to the book.

Besides the early history of Australia-China diplomatic relations, the autobiography also depicts Chey's interesting life stories. For instance, Chey noted in the book that she studied Chinese at college. As the curriculum focused more on ancient Chinese, she wasn't familiar with modern Chinese words and grammar when she first arrived in China. 

"I remember when I arrived in Hong Kong, I saw a sign on the street that read 'bashi zhan' (bus stop). I thought it was referring to a gentleman from Sichuan Province standing there (as seperately ba stands for Sichuan Province in Southwest China, shi refer to a gentleman and zhan can mean stand)," recalled Chey in the book. 

The book also covered the period when she took a brief break from her work for the Australian government and spent four years (1988 to 1992) working for the International Wool Secretariat (IWS) as director of the China Branch, detailing her story of taking charge of opening up China's market to Australian wool. 

At the launch ceremony, Ambassador Graham Fletcher, Chey and other guests who gave speeches expressed shared hopes for the book to deepen understanding among the people of the two countries and strengthen people-to-people ties.    

"Culture that gives you the chance to imagine what the future may be," Chey said, quoting Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma. 

"And I think by the collaborating in cultural exchanges, we can create something new and something that can benefit both of our countries," said Chey.