Uwe Kräuter, the "Marco Polo of our times," arrived in China in 1974, when the country was a vastly different place. What was meant to be a two-year stay turned into half a century in China. In the 1980s, Kräuter organized the first overseas tour of China's classic drama Teahouse, building a cultural bridge between Germany and China. Kräuter has first-handly witnessed the country's transformation into the world's second largest economy. "Life is modernized," said Kräuter, the Chinese have "got more and more used to the presence of foreigners. We are getting more and more near to each other. I do hope this will continue strongly."