Barcelona-born Inmaculada González Puy, 50, is director of Instituto Cervantes in Beijing. One of the foremost Spanish experts on Chinese art and culture, she moved to the country in 1979 to study the Chinese language before working for the Spanish embassy, where she stayed for two decades. In 2006 she became chief of the Spanish cultural centre. She lives with her husband outside the Chinese capital.

My interest in China began in Spain a long time ago. I read stories about China by Pearl S Buck, books on Buddhism as well as those by the Beat generation, such as Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, which were influenced by the east. All of them shaped my childhood.

I then started learning Chinese in Barcelona, where I was born. At that time Chinese was hardly taught in Spain because it seemed so far away but I had Chinese friends and once a week I'd go to their houses and learn from them. Later they taught it at the university and I took it there.