Clinton Dines came to China in 1979 to teach English and dug in to eventually head one of the world's biggest miner's local operations.

Clinton Dines at work as BHP Billiton China President.

When the 20-year-old Australian staggered through customs into Shenzhen in February 1979, it would have been impossible to predict the path his life would take in China over the next 30 years, ultimately rising to become China president of the global mining giant BHP Billiton.

Clinton Dines became interested in Asian history and focused on Chinese economics at university in Brisbane.

The opportunity to visit China came after his graduation from Griffith University through a postgraduate program which brought 12 people to China for two years teaching in local colleges. "More than 60 students applied and handed in their essays. The Zhuanjia Ju (literally meaning the bureau in charge of foreign experts) approved 12 of us and that's how I came to China," he said.

Two of them were allocated to Nanjing Teacher's College and, as unqualified teachers, they had to teach 28 contact hours per week. Foreign language teaching material was hard to find so they resorted to books by the likes of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain from the college's library.

Food variety and quantity was still extremely limited by quota at the end of 1970s - there were no aerated soft drinks, beef was not obtainable for several months and coffee only came from visiting friends.

For most students and teachers at the college, Dines was the first foreigner they had encountered.

"My Chinese friends were chatting one day and said 'jian ding' (literally meaning hard and firm) was exactly the term that described my character and it has become a part of me since then," he recalled.

He has spent most of the ensuing years based in Shanghai and working in China, mainly engaged in business negotiations with all kinds of customers and government officials through roles at Jardine Matheson, Santa Fe Transport Group, and a venture capital company. He spent nearly 20 years with BHP Billiton and was instrumental in establishing the Australian Chamber of Commerce in China.

BHP Billiton's sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics raised his public profile as head of the mining company as well as promoter of the big sponsorship deal.

High-profile Australian businessman Clinton Dines has been living and working in China for about 30 years and has always tried to make a contribution to help ordinary people. [Shanghai Daily]

Dines' China story can be traced back to when the country first initiated its reform and opening-up policy.

"Every foreigner transposed into an alien environment has a period of adjustment, a period of dislocation and then a crisis of some description, varying from mild depression to full-blown nervous breakdown. This is still the case with many newly arrived expats, in the relative comfort of Shanghai," he wrote in a recent collection of anecdotes about China.

An English publisher asked Dines to write the story of his life in China in the past 30 years. "It (2008) has been a big year," he wrote. His article, together with 12 other chapters of memories and insights from foreign business people in China in the past decades, appeared in the book "My Thirty Years in China."

"What I wanted readers to know was how I reflected on my early years in China, instead of complaining about my very beginning in the country," he said.

Writing the chapter gave Dines another chance to tell a story about his experiences and also to organize his thoughts about what they meant to him.

"I don't want to be another foreigner complaining," he said. "I don't want to make strong judgements. What I want to do is to contribute to China.

"I can have many things to complain about if I compare China to Australia." But he doesn't. Instead his experiences in China have provided him with opportunities to understand the country.