It all started when Zhang, who was born into a teaching family in 1968, bought a picture book at the age of 9 with the money he earned by collecting and selling recyclable waste

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The book was The Travel of A Tiny Willow Seed, which tells the story of how a seemingly insignificant seed manages to float around the world.

"It opened up the world to me. It made me want to visit every corner of the world," he says. And that's exactly what he did.

Thanks to his hard work, he moved from remote Heilongjiang to study at Shanghai International Studies University, before later enrolling at the Chinese Foreign Ministry after his graduation.

"This experience helped me in my job in an international organization," he says.

He later started up a company organizing international cultural exchanges before he became manager of the international copyright section of the China Children's Press and Publication Group.

"I fell in love immediately with the IBBY when I attended its Basel Congress in 2002, especially after learning that its mission was to promote international understanding through children's books," Zhang says.

"I was really thrilled by the idea that a book can offer a life-changing opportunity to financially restricted children like myself," he adds.

Zhang became an active and creative force on the world stage that the IBBY provided.

In 2006, the organization's congress met in Macao. As one of the organizers, Zhang invited children from different countries to visit and talk at the conferences and forums aimed at adults.

While serving on the IBBY executive committee for four terms from 2008, his foreign colleagues constantly encouraged him to run for president.

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