Anti-apartheid hero and South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela thought his success had much to do with China's wisdom.
Today marks the centenary of the birth of the revered figure who died on December 5, 2013.
Mandela, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his efforts in ending the decades-long apartheid regime in South Africa, considered China's successful revolution as an inspiration for him and his compatriots.
"If you know the ways Chinese people chose to carry out their revolution, you will believe that anything is possible," said Mandela in a dialogue with his old friend Richard Stengel, who contributed to his 1994 autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.
Mandela also praised the military tactics of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China.
"In Edgar Snow's brilliant Red Star Over China I saw that it was Mao's determination and non-traditional thinking that led him to victory," wrote Mandela in his autobiography.
The book is reported to be the first one about China's revolution that Mandela read. It is through this book that the freedom fighter got a deep understanding of China's revolution, the Long March, the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong.
"China is the spiritual pillar, which helps me survive the days in Robben Island prison off Cape Town," said Mandela, who read the English version of Selected Works of Mao Zedong at the prison and compared the Chinese revolution with the national liberation movement in South Africa.
The Art of War, by ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, was another book favored by Mandela. Completed during the late Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC), the book focusing on theories of war remains one of the leading military books in the world.
During his early life in Cape Town, Mandela practiced law by day and was an amateur boxer at night. Despite the busy schedule, he managed to keep reading The Art of War.
Mandela believed in one proverb introduced in the military book, "Knowing the enemy and yourself, you can fight a hundred battles and win them all."
He agreed that only when you know your enemies, can you defeat them.
When he was released after 27 years in prison, one of the countries he visited was China, which was among the countries that sent protest notes and sought the release of Mandela and his compatriots when they were sentenced life imprisonment in 1964.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner visited China twice. The first was in 1992 when he met Chinese leaders and went to the Great Wall. Besides this, Mandela also received an honorary doctorate from Peking University.
And seven years later, he became the first South Africa president to visit China. During the visit, Mandela recalled that he and his inmates used to celebrate China's national day by a unique handshake on each October 1, because they believed China to be a symbol of revolution and independence, and the Long March and Chinese people's struggle for national independence greatly encouraged the South African people in fighting against apartheid.
Mandela's heroic fight for freedom has won praise from Chinese people. For example, Hong Kong-based pop group Beyond won many Chinese people's hearts with their song Glorious Years, which pays tribute to Mandela's life.
