Special Report: FOCAC Beijing Summit     

    BEIJING, Nov. 6 -- The sight of the Great Wall cutting across the snow-capped mountains and disappearing into the horizon changed the life of one South African forever.

    Kobus van der Wath was inspired by the wall so much he made China his new home and has been living and working in Beijing for the past three years.

    The Great Wall made him realize China had a history of building great things.

    Van der Wath began his career at the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria, worked in London as an emerging market strategist and later moved to Asia with the Standard Chartered Bank.

    The 37-year-old businessman now runs Beijing Axis, a consultancy that helps southern African businesses enter the Chinese market and vice versa.

    "The Great Wall made me realized the scale and significance (of what) the Chinese people have made in history, and the greatness of this ancient civilization that underpins modern China," said Van der Wath, business director of the South Africa China Business Association (SACBA) and author of "Doing Business in China."

    "The wall is symbolic of the determination and tenacity of the Chinese people and their deeply ingrained ability to organize, mobilize resources, commit themselves to an objective. Above all it seemed to reveal their inherent inclination to strategize, from the earliest times, in their quest to prevail."

    South Africa has a long history with China, marked by a special document housed at the South African Parliament's Millennium Project.

    The priceless piece of paper is the world's oldest map of Africa. The 1389 map charts the coastline and rivers of South Africa and was discovered in a Beijing archive, evidence that Chinese adventurers had visited Africa more than 600 years ago.

    In recent times, South African political and economic connections with China have leapt forward faster than a springbok on the open plains.