What fascinates Irish ambassador to China, Eoin O'Leary, most in Chinese culture is the language. "The Chinese culture is very much reflected in this beautiful language, which is so nuanced and so ancient. That is the highlight for me."

As he is still wading through Chinese literature classics such as A Dream of Red Mansions, the ambassador encounters a lot of Chinese idioms. "Like, 'Early to bed, early to rise, good for health,'" he said, "Many of which we also have equivalences for in Irish and English."

He said that this travel around China has been "a tremendous education", which has revealed different aspects of Chinese culture. "Every region has its own cuisine and customs. So everywhere you go, you get new tastes, new practices," he said.