This german walks into a bar and meets an Italian, they have a few drinks, and before you know it they're running a restaurant together.
A perception that Mandarin is difficult to learn and a shortage of Mandarin teachers in the United Kingdom has led to the language being taught at very few British schools.
Despite the language barrier, Marcello Lippi, coach of Italy's 2006 World Cup winning team, has found success in Guangzhou.
A former Gaelic football player and now Ireland's culture minister, Jimmy Deenihan switches his ambitions from scoring on the pitch to forging cultural ties.
Following a night-time arrival into the blackness of Beijing in 1976, Hans Boller has dedicated himself to telling the world about China.
From a classroom talk on China to one of Switzerland's experts on the country, Gerald Beroud's life has had an intimate connection with the Far East.
The first came about 25 years ago in 1987, when he was still a college student in Germany and had followed a woman he liked very much to China.
Liliane Fawcett says her gallery Themes & Variations has never attracted as much media coverage as in the past month, when it hosted its first exhibition of Chinese contemporary design.
From writing on T-shirts to leading one of the Britain's best-known fashion brands, Henry Holland has had a career path most young designers can only dream of. As his brand enters China, the editor-turned-fashion-designer shared the secrets of his success, and his sense of humor, with local designers and fashion students.
Charles Aznavour watched the students playing and offered a helping hand when he saw anyone in difficulty.
As the concert drew to an end, Chen Xiaoyong sighed with relief. An acclaimed composer based in Germany, his expectations back home in Beijing are unreasonably low. "I'm really delighted to have seen the audience make it to the end," he says.
Inspired by Chinese culture and their own background in France, Pierre-Yves Babin and Amelie Peraud have crossed cultural lines to create a growing business making children's clothes.