When Cameroonian President Paul Biya visited China in July 2011, he made a special trip to Tianjin, a city more than 100 km southeast of Beijing, to meet one of his best Chinese friends, Xu Mengshui.

"I am so glad that he still regarded me as one of his best Chinese friends even after I have been retired for so many years," Xu told ChinAfrica. He said the meeting brought back good memories of life as the Chinese ambassador to Cameroon.

Before retiring from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006, Xu had been engaged with Africa for nearly 30 years and spent more than 20 years working on the continent. "In the past decades, I have had opportunities to work on other continents, but I refused, because I didn't want to abandon my all my brothers on the continent."

Even after he retired, he is still engaged in promoting Sino-African relations. He has many titles, such as Council Member of Asia-Africa Development and Exchange Society of China and Executive Director of Africa Research Center of CFIS (China Foundation for International Studies). "I know a lot about Africa and have many Africa-related resources. I can continue to play my role in strengthening China-Africa relations," Xu said.

Friendly people

Xu's association with Africa came about by chance.

When he graduated from high school in 1964, he had hoped to study civil engineering at Tsinghua University, one of China's top universities. But he was chosen by the state to study history and French language at the University of Mohammed of V-Agdal in Morocco as a trainee diplomat. Later, he was designated to work in Africa.

"People of my generation were willing to do whatever the government asked us to do and we did not have our own preference," said Xu.

Despite of the backward working conditions in Africa, the warm-hearted African people soon captivated Xu. He recalled an incident that took place while he was Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon from 2000-03. Once, while on his way to a small rural village, his car sank deep into the mud and could not be moved. While Xu and his colleagues wondered how to free the car, some young men came by, dressed in their new church clothes. Without hesitation, these young men took off their new clothes, put them under the car wheels to gain traction and the driver was able to move the car. "When I proposed to compensate them, they refused and only said two words 'Chinese, friends,'" said Xu. "I was deeply moved, and decided to put my heart and soul into working hard for my African brothers."