Qilu Network · Lightning News November 26, 2019 Between 1998 and 2019, he visited China more than 60 times, including nearly 50 visits to Shandong. This foreign friend with deep ties to Shandong is named David Valentine, and in addition to serving as the international trade ambassador of the Scottish Chamber of Commerce, he also has a special status - honorary citizen of Shandong Province. This is the highest honor awarded to foreigners by China's provincial government.
On the afternoon of November 24, Beijing time, the lightning news reporter interviewed David Valentine through video connection, and before the interview began, many "Chinese elements" behind him attracted the attention of reporters, among which the cute panda wall calendar on the left side of the video was particularly eye-catching. According to David Valentine, this was a panda given to the University of Edinburgh in Chengdu, China, in 2010, and the wall calendar was a gift from the ambassador to the UK at that time. In addition, on his back hangs a certificate that he was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Yantai in 2008, and on the right is a group photo with him and the Chinese ambassador to the UNITED Kingdom. "This was in 2007, when the ambassador to the UK was visiting Scotland, and I was responsible for hosting it." David Valentine brings together more than 20 years of engagement with China into a "China wall."
"I think the Sixi balls in Lu cuisine are the most delicious"
David Valentine, who has been dealing with China for more than 20 years, is an authentic Chinese communicator, and in his hometown, everyone calls him "Mr. China".
David Valentine has strong feelings for China and Shandong. These include traditional culture, customs and customs such as food in various parts of Shandong. In the interview, David Valentine repeatedly used ancient Chinese sayings such as "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" and "those who have lofty ideals can achieve success", which shows the foreign friend's love for traditional Chinese culture. But when it comes to speaking Chinese, he laughs and says, "Every time I come to China, my friends around me seize this opportunity to practice English with me, so I don't have much opportunity to learn Chinese." ”
Since the 1990s, he has visited Shandong nearly 50 times, visiting Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao, Qufu, Jinan and other places in Shandong, "I have been to Shandong many times, and every time I go to Shandong, I am very happy." "Every city in Shandong has impressed him.
In an interview, David Valentine shared his feelings about Qingdao, "In September 2008, I went to Qingdao with my wife and friends, and Qingdao had just hosted the sailing competition at the Beijing Olympic Games, so the whole city was in a very lively state. I think the whole city of Qingdao is very clean and tidy, and there are many European-style buildings at the same time. The seaside in Qingdao is also particularly clean and beautiful. ”
Not only that, the hospitality of Shandong people also infected him, "When I went to Yantai a few times before, Yantai people entertained me with a special variety of seafood. When it comes to Shandong cuisine, David Valentine seems a little excited, saying that Lu cuisine, as one of the eight major cuisines in China, has too many foods to choose from. Among them, there are his favorite fried foods, such as crispy chicken, as well as sweet and sour foods, but the most attractive thing for him is the Four Joy Balls in Lu cuisine, which symbolizes the four happy events of Fu, Lu, Shou and Xi, "I think the Sixi Balls are the most delicious." ”
"Shandong people are straightforward, humorous, love life, work and are very serious"
In the process of exchanges and cooperation with Shandong, the personality of Shandong people impressed David Valentine, in his view, Shandong people are straightforward, very humorous, love life, positive, "but at the same time, in the business exchanges, they can be very serious, especially when jointly promoting the results of our cooperation, this is the most profound point I feel." ”
He believes that the reason why Scotland has been able to form a deep friendship with Shandong for so many years is because Shandong and Scots have many similarities, "We are very straightforward, very willing to cooperate, and we can have common topics in work and life." "This has also become the driving force for David Valentine to promote exchanges and cooperation between Shandong and Scotland." I know that I am not wasting my time in contacting and interacting with Shandong, and I am very happy every time I come to Shandong. ”
"The changes in Shandong are miraculous"
As a "China Pass" who has visited Shandong nearly 50 times, David Valentine, 69, has witnessed the vicissitudes of Shandong for more than 20 years, and in the interview, he used the word "miracle" to describe the changes in Shandong in recent years.
He recalls that when he first came to China in 1998, the infrastructure was not particularly perfect, "At that time, for example, some roads, there were often some potholes and uneven places, which were more dangerous for driving, and there were relatively few modern new cars on the road." ”
But soon, during the next few years of David Valentine's visit, he felt China's rapid development, and one of the most shocking to him was China's high-speed rail:
"I felt very deeply in 2017, when I led our British delegation to Shandong, and we wanted to book a flight from Jinan to Beijing, but we found that there were only 2 or 3 flights a day. But booking high-speed rail is particularly easy, basically a high-speed train to Beijing every 20 minutes, and it only takes 1 hour and 40 minutes to arrive. So I think this shift is something we haven't seen in the UK, and we haven't seen that in the world. ”
At the same time, he felt that the green development concept and a series of policies to combat climate change in China were quite effective.
"Many people only see China as a big coal consumer, but they don't see the green technology development concept that China is now promoting, such as a company in Yantai that uses the latest zero-carbon heating technology." I think examples like this are something we should be more publicizing to the whole world, and we should let the Western media see some of our achievements. ”
"I will continue to work on the development of friendly relations between Scotland and Shandong"
In 1998, David Valentine came to Yantai for the first time and was deeply attracted by Yantai's new economic development. After this, through David's promotion, the British city of Angus became the first sister city of Yantai in Europe. Over the next 20 years, he contributed to friendly exchanges between Scotland and Shandong, establishing strong trade and cultural ties.
In November 2021, he was officially awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Shandong Province", the highest honor awarded to foreigners by the Chinese provincial government, in recognition of his long-term and unremitting efforts in promoting education, business and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between China and the United Kingdom.
In the interview, David Valentine mentioned the exchange and cooperation between Scotland and Shandong more than once, and he said that he was very optimistic about the future development between Scotland and Shandong:
"We have a lot of common advantages in the industry, such as manufacturing, processing, agriculture, food industry, marine engineering and science and technology industry, etc., in addition to schools, for example, in schools we can carry out scientific and engineering cooperation, in the field of aviation, health have a strong space for cooperation."
According to his understanding, there are currently more than 5,000 enterprises producing beverages and alcoholic beverages in Shandong, and Scotland is the hometown of whisky, on this basis, Shandong can expand the scope of production by cooperating with Scottish enterprises to meet the consumption needs of the young generation of Shandong and even the whole country for alcoholic beverages. At the same time, he believes that Shandong's seafood market space is very large, and Scotland can also provide Shandong with unique Seafood and Seafood Processing Foods.
"The Shandong Chamber of Commerce is an integral part of the entire Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Similarly, the Scottish Chamber of Commerce is also part of the British Chamber of Commerce network, so that the two sides can become a window into each other's respective countries, in fact, now the Scottish Chamber of Commerce in addition to its own 12,000 member enterprises, other 370,000 businesses in Scotland can also contact the Scottish Chamber of Commerce through the Scottish government to cooperate with Shandong, so I think the cooperation opportunities between us are very many. David Valentine told reporters.
In addition to serving as the Scottish Chamber of Commerce's International Trade Ambassador, David Valentine is a member of the Advisory Board of the Scottish Confucius Institute for Primary and Secondary Schools, during which time he actively enlisted the support of the College to establish the "Shandong Centre" at the Scottish Confucius Institute Centre for Primary and Secondary Schools in Glasgow. In this sense, David Valentine built a bridge of cultural exchange between Shandong and Scotland and became a veritable "Shandong Promotion Ambassador".
"I personally came into contact with a lot of young people in Scotland through my capacity as a Committee of Confucius Institutes, and I told them some of my experiences in Shandong, told me my Chinese story, and let them understand the truest side of China, which I think is the most influential thing I can do now, and I will continue to do it in the future."
David Valentine said his goal is to make Shandong the focus of positive news reports, to introduce shandong's beautiful environment, historic tourist attractions and Shandong's efforts in the development of green industries to the UK, highlighting Shandong's cooperation in various fields and Scotland, "Of course, this is also a two-way process, the best way is to let our British media report on some win-win projects, so that the UK can know more about Shandong and show Shandong with a positive image." ”
David Valentine believes that the exchange between countries is essentially a person-to-people exchange, and in his view, the sincere exchange between Shandong people and Scots is the fundamental place for the two countries to maintain long-term friendly relations.
"Continuing to develop people-to-people interactions is a long-term development goal, and in the long run, it is one of the most important influencing factors that can lead to more development results." So one of my personal plans for the future is that I want to connect some of my contacts in Scotland, including some people I know in various fields, with people in the corresponding fields in Shandong, so that they can communicate and cooperate with each other. David Valentine told reporters.
Lightning News reporter Feng Shihui reported