KEVIN RUDD stunned Chinese President Hu Jintao in September at an APEC lunch in Sydney with a two-minute recounting of his personal history in Mandarin.

Rudd spoke of his life as a diplomat in China, his love for the booming country, and his family’s close ties to the region.

A former diplomat with many years’ experience in Asia, Rudd gave President Hu a personal history of his links to China, drawing on the experiences of his wife Therese, his daughter Jessica, and sons Nicholas and Marcus.

The speech began in English. Then, breaking into Mandarin, Rudd said: “Together with my wife and little daughter, I went to work in Beijing in the 1980s.

“My wife and I have a particular love for Beijing. We love the people of Beijing, and of course, its culture. The little girl that we took to Beijing this April married a young man from the Australian Chinese community.

“My son has already been to Shanghai’s Fundan University to study,” he said.

(SD-Agencies)