Three image ambassadors from Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia were unveiled on May 27, as part of the upcoming China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo. The ambassadors, all of whom are overseas postgraduate students at Ningbo University, are to represent their countries.

Emanuel Sandu was selected as the image ambassador of Romania. Sandu often introduces himself to his Chinese friends as Luo Ning, which is composed of the initial Chinese words of his country Romania and the city Ningbo.

After finishing his bachelor degree in English and Chinese at the University of Bucharest in 2011, Sandu found that he still had a zest for Chinese civilization. He since decided to study a masters degree in contemporary Chinese linguistics at Ningbo University. As a fan of China, Sandu is interested in traditional arts and culture, such as Chigong, Taiji, Chinese painting and calligraphy. Regarded as one of the favorite students of Mr. Jiang Hongsheng, the founder of The Red Peony Association in Ningbo, he is good at painting peony.

Last year at the opening ceremony of the Week for Exchange of the Trade and Culture between Ningbo and CEE countries, Sandu was invited to give a demonstration of peony drawing. This year, he is preparing a gift for the China-CEEC Expo by drawing 17 blossoming peony flowers, which represent Ningbo and 16 other countries. Sandu hopes that Ningbo can develop sustainable relations with CEE countries.

The other image ambassadors are Linlin (Silviya Stoyanova Atanasova) from Bulgaria and Bihai (Helena Vikmane) from Latvia. Both of them are the MBA postgraduate students at Ningbo University and have a good command of languages such as Chinese, English and Russian, in exception of their mother languages.

Linlin said she had been to Ningbo occasionally for study, but fell in love with the city the moment she saw its lucid ocean, pleasant climate and friendly locals. She added that Ningbo reminds her of Bulgaria. Linlin introduced attendees of the event to the yogurt from Bulgaria and said, "I am surprised to see there [more than a few] supermarkets in Ningbo selling my favorite yogurt, which is made by a Bulgarian company stationed in Ningbo."

"Both my country and Ningbo are embraced by the sea, so I get my Chinese name Bihai which stands for the blue ocean," said Bihai in fluent Chinese. After she finished her oriental and Asian study at Latvia University, she continued her studies in Ningbo around three years ago. Bihai is now married to a local from Ningbo. Bihai enriched her vocational experience in Ningo by getting involved with foreign teaching and translation, acting and modeling. Due to her being able to speak good Chinese, she has won a number of prizes in Chinese speech contests.

"In Latvia, we have ancient wild forests and buildings. I would like to introduce our specialty, the rye bread with special favor, you can’t miss them," said Bihai.

The ambassadors said they were invited to attend the Week for Exchange of the Trade and Culture between Ningbo and CEE countries last year and that it is an honor for them to become the image ambassadors of their own countries. They will try their best to introduce Ningbo to CEE countries.

The image ambassador should obtain such qualifications as following:

i. The country represented by him or her keeps a friendly diplomatic relations with China.

ii. Talent with higher education and certain working experience in the field of foreign trade.

iii. A nice and healthy appearance.

iv. Willing to perform volunteer work during the CEEC Expo, such as the translation and publicity.