LA PAZ, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- In 1999, former Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni made his first trip to China to pursue his dream of becoming a Shaolin disciple.

Now a Kung Fu instructor, Huanacuni has long been captivated and inspired by Chinese culture, which strengthened his respect for his Aymara ancestors, an indigenous people in South America's Andes region.

From the Aymara culture, Huanacuni told Xinhua, he learned to trust in the Pacha -- the time-space where all beings live, while from Chinese culture, he learned discipline and patience.

"Those two lessons help me live in peace as a politician, father, teacher and inhabitant of the world," he said. Huanacuni works as a teacher at the Sariri Educational Unit, a primary and secondary school in southern La Paz city, where students can learn both Aymara and Chinese languages, as well as Wushu.

He wore a chuspa made by his grandmother, a small multicolored woolen pouch used in the Andes to carry coca leaves. "It accompanies me everywhere, it is part of the identity of the Aymara world," said Huanacuni.

Up to the age of 15, the leftist politician lived in the Bolivian highlands, in the western department of La Paz, before migrating to the capital, where he learned Spanish and English, as well as some Chinese.

At the age of 33, he went to visit the famed Shaolin Temple in China's Henan Province, which was founded in the 5th century by a Buddhist monk, and he knelt for several hours at its entrance, a ritual observed by those who want to be accepted as a student of Buddhism.

He was then accepted at the temple and ended up staying in China for almost three years, fulfilling two of his wishes: to become a Shaolin disciple; and to place an offering of flowers, fruits and aromatic plants his grandfather had entrusted to him at Mount Kangrinboqe, which is considered as a sacred site in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

When Huanacuni was appointed foreign minister in 2017, his first trip abroad was, precisely, to China.

During the visit, he returned to the Shaolin Temple, where the abbot in charge told him "if a son leaves the town and returns with honors, the honor goes to the town. You are a son of Shaolin, you came back with honors, and that honor also goes to the temple."

That recognition brought Huanacuni much joy, and helped strengthen his appreciation for Bolivian and Chinese cultures.

Through his trips to China, Huanacuni also witnessed China's vast and rapid transformation.

When he first visited Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan Province, in 1999 on his way to the Shaolin Temple, he had to take different routes and means of transportation because there was no optimal connectivity. Today, the city is expanding, but the trip takes only an hour, thanks to proper planning.

For Huanacuni, the development of China in such a short time is due to multiple factors, but fundamentally to the strength it derives from its identity and culture, which propels it to continuous growth.