Belgian Lao Zhu, the “old matchmaker” who has been rooted in China’s ports for ten years

“It took me 6 years to persuade the city to loan the ships to China. Since these models have been in Belgium for more than 100 years, it was far from easy. Also several of the city museums had been merged into a new modern museum under a different structure, so it was not clear whether this would fall under national, provincial or even city level jurisdiction. Over time I managed to get more support for my idea and this resulted in the first loan of 4 models for 2 years to the Maritime Museum in Shanghai.” According to Lao Zhu, under his proposal, the Shanghai China Maritime Museum and the Antwerp MAS signed a memorandum of understanding. So far, three batches of Chinese ancient ship models have been "sent home", providing important information for Chinese experts and scholars to study the history of Chinese navigation.

Ten years to witness Chinese ports’development

Lao Zhu, who came to Shanghai in 2008, likes this vibrant city. The ten years he has spent in Chinese ports is also a period in which he has built bridges between two countries and two cities. He has enjoyed this task very much and in 2014 was awarded the Shanghai Magnolia Award for his contribution to the city.

Antwerp Port Authority has a very close relation with Shanghai. As a representative, Lao Zhu is also closely connected with the city. In 2015, the Antwerp Port Authority signed a cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Maritime University to establish a scholarship for excellent theses in the maritime field. As an august professor of the university, he also participates in the thesis review and attended this year’s award ceremony recently.

“I often lead Antwerp students to Shanghai. I like to introduce China to the younger generation of students, many of whom are coming to Shanghai and China for the first time. Many Western reports about China are negative, so I want to explain to them in a gentle way what China is like," he said sincerely.

In 2013, Lao Zhu led the students of Antwerp universities to conduct academic exchanges at Shanghai Maritime University.