Heads Up – Embassy 1 – October 2007

China – China fever

Born in the remote wilderness of Inner Mongolia, Fu Ying, China's Ambassador to London, yearned to discover the wider world.

But when she was 13, the Cultural Revolution swept across the country: schools were closed and she was set to work in the countryside under very harsh conditions.

Then she found an escape: literature.

The libraries were sealed off but Fu would secretly sneak in and carry away bags of books. The young labourer ploughed through Balzac and the Russian novelists.

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina  made an impression. It taught her that a woman must forge her own path.

And what a path it's been. A linguist, Fu rose through the ranks, with ambassadorial postings in Australia and The Philippines, as well as heading the Department of Asian Affairs.

The Ambassdor arrives as London is in the grips of "China fever". There is the hugely popular Terracotta Army Exhibition, as well as the festivities planned in the run-up to the Olympics.

No stranger to the UK – she studied at Kent University in the mid-1980s – the Ambassador wants to go further: there is scope to improve business ties and transfer technology, particulary on green issues.

Britain wants China to use its stature to help thorny issues in North Korea, Iran and Burma.

It's a huge task on the shoulders of such a delicate frame, but make no mistake: Ambassador Fu Ying is tough.