Daniel Kirchert: An executive with keen cultural awareness

When Daniel Kirchert was a college student in Germany 20 years ago, he decided to visit China, although he was not quite sure what he was going to do in the future.

Now, as the managing director of Infiniti China, the premium automobile brand, Kirchert clearly knows his career is in China.

Born in 1973 in Munich to parents who were both college professors - his father taught old German language and his mother taught translation - not surprisingly he was interested in languages as a little boy. He was also given the free time and space to develop his interests.

An adventure book about China he read in his teen aroused his fascination about this mysterious country in the Far East.

Kirchert's parents also had keen interest in China, although they rarely visited the country.

They even cooked Chinese dishes by following a recipe when Kirchert was a child.

Kirchert came to China for the first time after graduation in 1998 to study Chinese in Nanjing.

When he arrived he had already studied the language for nearly five years in Germany.

"I was living in the city center of Nanjing," he recalled. "It was a very nice and historic city, and I could find books to read here and there."

"In the 1990s, China was a kingdom of bicycles," he said. "I love riding a bicycle."

Kirchert wrote diaries and told China stories to his friends by e-mail.

He quickly established his circle of friends among Chinese, attended their weddings, and traveled across the country, visiting Yunnan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Chengde in Hebei province. He even stayed in Tibet for a month.

And most importantly, he found his love and tied the knot in China. Now he and his Chinese wife enjoy a happy and fulfilling family life, raising two kids.

Kirchert likes drinking Chinese tea because it is also "a symbol of a culture".

"Many people who have never come to China consider it a very backward country, but in fact many Chinese cities are more advanced than German cities," he said.

"For example, Chengdu is such a city of fashion."

Talking about his German traits, he mentioned curiosity, saying he is still curious about many things and many places he has not visited in China.

"Actually the Germans like to study something unique with character," he said. "Understanding a nation's culture will help us know the country in an all-round way."

The robust growth of China's economy led to new things and new challenges, both attractive to him, said Kirchert.

"From whatever point of view, we need a long-term plan to do many jobs," he said. "For example, a company must adjust its strategies according to the changing business environment."