Ante Simonic enjoys tracing Croatia's history to Roman times. That cultural legacy and a long Adriatic coastline of natural beauty attract plenty of tourists. Mike Peters / China Daily

The ambassador greets China's Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying (second from right) at a recent reception celebrating the 20th anniversary of modern Croatia. Amanda Reiter / China Daily

Active from his youth, Ante Simonic brings a rich career of experience to his post in Beijing. Mike Peters sits down for a chat about the ambassador's two favorite countries.

You can't make much money or become famous by rowing, no matter how good you are at it," says Ante Simonic with a bit of regret in his voice.

The lifelong athlete should know. Always active in sports, Croatia's ambassador to China was part of a championship national team in the former Yugoslavia. "It's a hard sport," he says, but one that gave him both self-confidence and the social skills that a team effort demands.

But while his career took him in other directions - physician, scientist, legislator, deputy prime minister - sport has always been a part of his life. He took up skiing and soccer as a young man, and years later after Croatia became independent, he combined two of his passions when he became the team physician for a soccer team that became national champion.

As ambassador and sportsman, he takes pride in an ongoing relationship between his country and Beijing Sports University. ("The university produced 13 gold medals at the last Olympic Games, while Croatia produced one," he jokes.)

When he took charge at the embassy two-and-a-half years ago, there was a slight change in the duties of the military attaches there. Now, they regularly play soccer with the boss.

"My wife, Visnja, and I came to China the year before the Olympics," he says. He had been to the country many times, but it was her first visit. After seeing Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai at that time, they were consumed by the energy around them.

"I have a friend from Hungary, a professor who now recruits music students from China to study in Texas," Simonic says. "He is fascinated by the young people here and says, 'You can't find young people in the US willing to work that hard.' It's rather neo-Darwinistic, here people have to fight for their place in society.

"One sign of that is right in the street: new cars, old bicycles."

When the couple returned home, Simonic "went to see my president, who had been trying to get me to take a diplomatic post. And I said: 'OK, I am ready. But I want China.'"

He got his wish, and his fascination has only increased.

A lifelong student of history and culture, Simonic office features replicas of artifacts found in his country that date from Roman times. He is impressed with the way Chinese people embrace their 5,000 years of traditions.

"The Chinese know who they are," he says. "They connect with their history but they look to the future with equal confidence. Many in Europe do not find that so easy. There if you speak of something that happened 1,000 years ago, you may be considered backward-looking."

That's partly because the past is easy to idealize in a way that makes it unreal.

"There is often this idea that Michelangelo and da Vinci were typical of their times," he says, "but there was only one Michelangelo, one da Vinci."

But in China, with its immense scope, you can play the reverse game with statistics.

"Maybe there are 47 million scientists and 47 million people who play the piano," he says. "If one person per 1,000 is extraordinary, that is a powerful pool of resources."

Modern China's rapid growth, of course, gives it a lot to look forward to, he says. "It's a new world order. It's a privilege to be here to witness the change here and in the world."

Coming from a country as small as Croatia, the numbers never cease to amaze him.

"China is the biggest car producer in the world - Beijing has more cars that the population of my country," he says, chuckling. "At Rijeka, our biggest port in Croatia, we handle about 150,000 containers per year, while at Dalian they process 10 million. There are, what? 400 million-plus people using the Internet here? There is a magnificent system of modern highways.

"China is a mixture, like a symphony," he says. "And all of the figures are enormous. At the end of my time here, I will understand only a little. But through that understanding, I will know more about myself, my family, my universe."

This month, Simonic has taken that quest to his island home for a few weeks of reflection and writing for his third book.

"My own plans are always bigger than my capacity, my gifts" he says. "I am not sure if the book is work or pleasure." While his first two volumes embrace the broad sweep of civilization, the one he's eager to finish now is a history of the region he comes from.

"Marco Polo was born on an island that is now Croatia - there was no 'Italy' then, either," he says. "The necktie - the cravata - comes from Croatia, and so does the torpedo. So I want to tell the story of all that we are proud of."

That, of course, is his job as ambassador, too. He recently asked Chinese photographer Rita Zhao to take her camera to Croatia, and in June a colorful exhibition of her images celebrated the country's famous natural beauty and other highlights that attract a growing number of Chinese tourists. Zhao's photos will be shown in Zagreb in early September, and perhaps a show in Qingdao later .

After the war that saw the old Yugoslavia break apart two decades ago, he says, "we saw the chance to make a beautiful small country". That motivated him to participate in government, and as deputy prime minister he assumed the portfolios that he felt mattered most: health, culture and social affairs.

"That's typical Peasant Party," he says, "conservative, traditional values, not aggressive." It's a reflection of the country, too, in which traders, seafarers and shipbuilders shaped a society that was outward-looking and tolerant of others.

You can contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 07/31/2011 page5)