Video: Exclusive interview with Mexican expert

"The original piece was completed by David Alfaro Siqueiros, considered one of the three greatest exponents of Mexican murals," he says proudly, adding that this mural symbolizes the pursuit of knowledge by college students.

It is made of Venetian glass mosaics in a brown and claret-red palette and shows five students climbing the stairs of knowledge.

Although the center was officially launched in November 2012, Pulido and his colleagues started their work long before that, including inviting Mexican scholars to give speeches and to hold exhibitions.

There is also an annual student exchange program that started in August 2011, which provides scholarships to six students from the Beijing Foreign Studies University to study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico for six months.

"It is an opportunity for students to learn Spanish through immersion and to know more about Mexican culture from literature, history and many other aspects," he says, adding that they are looking to enlarge it to benefit more students.

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Liu Shiyang, a student staff member at the Mexican center, spent six months in Mexico sponsored by a program through the Mexico embassy in 2010.

"He is a very kind person and a knowledgeable scholar. Dr. Pulido always brings up some wonderful thoughts and ideas," she says. "He loves to talk about Mexican life with me. Thanks to my experience in Mexico, we have a great deal to talk about, including food, weather and tourism."

Pulido had the chance to become cultural counselor for Mexico in several countries in 2008.

"I chose China without a second thought," he says.

His love of China was seeded as a young man when he read books about ancient China at school in Mexico. He became helplessly curious, especially about the ancient philosophies of Confucius and Lao Tzu.

His father, a physician, introduced Chinese medicine to him, igniting a spark in the young boy's heart with dreams of exploring the mysterious land.

"We have a lot of similarities, the Chinese and Mexican people. We both value families. I see my grandmother and grandfather every day, and my uncles, my aunts, as well as my cousins. Our big families live together. So do the Chinese.

"When I talk to Chinese people, they always talk about families, and particularly at this time, with the Lunar New Year approaching, everybody wants to go home and share time with their families. It is the family happy hour."

Liu Jian, dean of the Spanish and Portuguese department at Beijing Foreign Studies University, is an old friend.

"I met him when he was the cultural counselor at the embassy, and we mooted the idea of a Mexican studies center together," Liu says. To him, Pulido is a true scholar with a deep, lifelong affection for China and Chinese culture.

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn