Finnish Scholar: President Xi's visit will help the Finns understand China better

A Finnish scholar has said that President Xi Jinping's visit to Finland will improve mutual understanding between China and Finland.

"President Xi Jinping’s visit to Finland is important to Finland and important for our relations with China," said Jyrki Kallio, a senior research fellow at the Helsinki-based Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

He hoped that the visit will further encourage more Chinese investment in Finland and media coverage of Xi’s visit will make Chinese tourists more inclined to visit..

"More tourists from China are certainly welcome to visit Finland. Also, we hope that this state visit will further enhance the relations between the people of Finland and China," he said.

As a fluent Chinese-speaking scholar, Kallio believes that it is important for him to help Finnish people to understand China better.

"And one way of understanding China better is through Chinese traditional culture," he said, adding that he had translated some traditional literature and philosophy books into Finnish language

For example, he has translated "古文觀止(Gu Wen Guan Zhi)"，an anthology of classical prose, and also "論語(yǔ) (Lun Yu)"，the Analects by Confucius, into Finnish.

"I hope that through this kind of texts, the Finish people will have a better understanding of how the Chinese think, and what Chinese culture is like," said Kallio.