Mandarin makes Canadian diplomat's China journey easy

This confirmed the success of the economic reform that has led to the unleashing of the potential of entrepreneurs and helped to lift China and its people's living standards, he says.

"There are no other examples in the world."

To him, Beijing has become a very modern city with visible creativity and openness. The Chinese middle class has more money and is becoming more sophisticated in taste.

Saint-Jacques has witnessed and experienced the deepening of ties between his country and China that are not just close trade partners. They celebrated the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations last year.

He estimates that 500,000 Chinese visited Canada and more than 600,000 Canadians visited China in 2015.

"One of the best ways to know each other and to develop the relationship is to anchor people-to-people exchanges," he says. "Education and tourism are two main ways."

According to him, there are more than 500 academic exchange programs between universities in the two countries.

In 2014, Canada became the first Western country to offer 10-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese citizens. He says there will be more air links between the two countries and more Canadian visa centers in China.

As part of the ongoing series of events related to the China-Canada year of cultural exchanges that began in 2015, the ambassador has been to Yugong Yishan bar in Beijing, where he joined a young audience to watch a performance by Canadian singer Felix Dyotte in March.

Saint-Jacques has a preference for Chinese architecture and films. He is also a reader of classical works as well as works by Nobel winner Mo Yan and the crime novelist He Jiahong.

He also goes to the gym and enjoys sports, but hasn't fostered a taste for baijiu (white liquor) yet. "I'm convinced that baijiu is used in rockets to put satellites into orbits," he jokes.

Speaking of links between the two countries, he says there are 1.4 million Canadians of Chinese origin.

"So there are a lot of family links between the two countries."