Earlier this month, when Peng Xiancheng, chairman of privately owned Decision Chemical from Sichuan province, visited the headquarters of Germany's BASF, his raw material supplier and the global chemical industry giant, he took photos of everything possible, even its gate, before wrapping up his half-day tour.

He thought every aspect of the multinational, with 140 years of corporate history, could offer lessons for his own business, which has been expanding at a dazzling rate in tandem with China's economy.

Peng's mentality is quite popular among Chinese executives dreaming of using modern management skills to run their businesses. They usually say they can either learn from Japan "nearby" or from Germany "faraway."

Partly to help forge closer economic and trade ties with Germany for Chinese entrepreneurs such as Peng, Premier Wen Jiabao, accompanied by 16 ministers, and his good friend German Chancellor Angela Merkel, held the first round of large-scale "government consultations" on Tuesday in Berlin.

Wen said that these consultations will help further boost bilateral political trust, promote trade and economic relations and at the same time deeply involve Germany, the economic engine of the European Union, into promoting China-EU relations.

High on the agenda for the consultations is how the two countries can coordinate with each other in the international arena to tackle global financial, climate and nuclear challenges.

Concerns and misconceptions about China are widespread among some EU politicians and member states and closer relations between China and Germany can help remind other EU member countries not to miss the opportunities provided by China's growth.

Certainly these diplomatic arrangements are vital due to China's rising global presence and Germany's existing influence both in Europe and worldwide.

However, China should maximize the benefits of these high-level exchanges and reach greater consensus beyond cooperation and coordination, as these occasions offer China the opportunity to learn from Germany.

In addition to Chinese businesses, China's leadership and government should also be itching to learn from Germany's success story.

Premier Wen has visited Germany five times and held meetings with Merkel no less than 10 times. He is well versed in the factors behind Germany's economic competitiveness and social vigor, compared with other Western countries such as the US and UK.

Therefore, in addition to the scheduled political and business sessions, the visitors should begin discussions on what China can learn from Germany from strategic, social and economic perspectives.

Germany, with a population of 80 million, is still the world's second biggest exporter after China. While unemployment in the United States rose during the recent economic recession, from 4.6 percent in 2007 to 9.0 percent in 2011 (seasonally adjusted), in Germany, it fell, from 8.5 percent to 7.1 percent.

This achievement offers China a golden rule of development: To become an exporter of niche goods and take a sensible policy approach to encourage real growth and job creation.

In a sense, Germany has offered a development paradigm both for industrial countries such as the US, which has been relying excessively on financial innovations, and emerging countries such as China, which needs a clear roadmap for its post-urbanization and industrialization era.

Even though China has been restructuring its economy by expanding imports and consumption, it cannot neglect the importance of producing quality exports.

Listening to their counterparts' decoding of Germany's success is important for the visitors.

China faces a number of big challenges in the coming two decades: to urbanize its millions of farmers and internationalize its currency. In addition, it must deal with its growing environmental woes and energy shortages.

Part of Wen's initiative of Sino-German "government consultations" could be studying the German success case in dealing with similar issues.

China again is picking up the habit of learning. And the content is how to follow Germany's success.

The author is chief Europe correspondent for China Daily.