A group picture that Dines (second from left in the front row) posed for with friends during teaching in Nanjing in 1979. [Shanghai Daily]

When Dines and his wife chatted with foreigners who had just arrived in China, they found they were always complaining about what was unavailable. "Instead we always tell our friends: Hey! You know what they have got now?" he said. "Each time we get something we think that's great!"

He believes he is lucky to be a foreigner able to observe China, to witness the changes through a privileged perspective.

"You don't have to take part in things that ordinary Chinese people are doing, you can participate a little bit, but most of the time, remain a privileged observer," he said, attributing his understanding of Chinese society to this perspective.

"To judge something as not satisfactory and complain is easy, but to push forward and change something is difficult," he said.

He chose to stay on, first in Nanjing, then in Beijing and other cities including Shanghai. He talked to Shanghai Daily at his office in One Corp Avenue in Xintiandi.

Given his corporate experience in China, he finds it easy to understand the thinking and actions of government officials who are his contemporaries around the late 1950s and early 1960s age group. He knows their priorities and how to work out problems with them.