As a boy he had a penchant for current events, and his grandfather sailed on the high seas. so it is little surprise that Friis arne petersen is an envoy.

Friis Arne Petersen has long had wanderlust. As a child he was fascinated by international news and tales of his grandfather's global journeys, as a student he traveled across Europe and in North Africa, and today his desire to see the world is satisfied by his job, as Denmark's ambassador to China.

It is a position that has allowed him to witness first-hand the rapid changes China has experienced in recent years.

"The world has changed dramatically. Twenty years ago, you could not imagine having a Danish university in China, but now we have one," he says, referring to an agreement between the Danish government and the Chinese Academy of Science to establish a joint university in Beijing by the end of this year. About 400 students from both Denmark and China will be recruited for the university.

"This will not only train more elites in the field of biology, but will also enhance the relationship between Denmark and China," Petersen says.

Denmark has a history of strong relations with China. It was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with China in the 1950s and its largest embassy is in Beijing. More recently, last year, Denmark brought The Little Mermaid, the iconic statue that usually sits in Copenhagen's harbor, to Shanghai for the World Expo.

"China is one of the most important friends and partners for Denmark, and as an ambassador to China, I feel there is a lot of responsibility to maintain the relationship well," Petersen says.

During his tenure in China, since 2010, he has been impressed by the country's work ethic and desire for progress.

"Nothing comes of nothing. If you need something, you need to create it by yourself and the Chinese are full of initiative, as well as being hard-working."

By contrast, he believes Denmark's generous welfare system has diminished some people's desire to work.

"There is a reversed situation in Denmark nowadays because people who have a job need to pay tax which is really high," he says. "Some of them have started to think about giving up their jobs and being fed by the government. Every coin has two sides. Although people of other countries may admire the welfare system in Denmark, there are a lot of things that need to be balanced in the Danish welfare system."

Like many expatriates in China, Petersen has struggled with the language. It took him four years to learn French and German but Chinese has proved more difficult and after three years he still cannot speak fluently.

"My colleagues help me a lot in my daily work. I have to say Chinese is a quite difficult language to learn."

While Petersen's time as ambassador to China is relatively short, his association with the country stretches back to 1986, when he visited as secretary at the Danish foreign minister.

During that trip he met China's foreign minister in Beijing and has since visited China almost every year.

"Each year I can see there are changes happening in China, especially nowadays," he says. "When I give lectures at universities in China, I find students here are just as open-minded as students from the US."

Petersen was Denmark's ambassador to the US from 2005 to 2010 and gave numerous lectures there at universities including Columbia in New York and Harvard in Boston.

"I like communicating with young people. As an ambassador, one of the most important things is to talk with people, as that can help you to understand the local society better."

Petersen lives with his wife, who was a schoolteacher in Denmark, and two of his three children in Beijing. His eldest son is 21 years old and works in Copenhagen.

His eldest daughter, who is 19, has developed a talent for painting and hopes to study at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China's most prestigious art academy.

"She likes painting and she is the person who can speak the best Chinese in our family," Petersen says.

The family owes its current location largely to Petersen's grandfather. Petersen was born into a fishing village a long way from Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, and was told tales of his grandfather who, in search of opportunities beyond the village, would sail the seas to the US and China.

"My grandpa was having a hard time during that period and went to California for the goldrush. He later came back and bought a farm in our village.

"He kind of influenced me and made me want to have a look at the world. He made me realize that the village I was born in is quite small, and there are a lot of things to be experienced and learned all over the world."

Watching international news on television also drove his desire to travel.

"I could not understand what they were saying on the news, and that aroused my curiosity and made me interested in getting to know more about the world."

That desire to understand the world pushed him to study macro economics at university, and armed with his grandfather's wanderlust, he used vacations to travel across Europe and in Morocco with his brother.

"It was quite cheap and convenient to travel on the European railway. It only cost you 500 yuan for a whole journey in Europe."

Now, as ambassador to China, Petersen is seeing a different part of the world closely.

"China is becoming an important player on the world stage, and my role is like a small wheel in a global society.

"I will try my best to find more exchanges and make openings happen between the two countries, making me feel my job is more rewarding and that I am paying back to society."

(China Daily 03/08/2013 page28)