"I wanted to stay in China because I saw opportunities here, because I really enjoyed the people here," Balloch, 58, recalled why he made the decision in a recent phone interview with Xinhua from his Beijing office.

Balloch's first knowledge of China came from a few photographs and drawings collected by his tea-trader grandfather who once lived in Southern China in the last part of 19th century.

He became so interested in the Asian country that he wrote his master thesis on China when he was studying international relations in McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"I think what is happening in China is changing the world, but more importantly it is changing China, and I think this is a very exciting story to be part of," he said.

Balloch called it "amazing" that China has grown on an average of 10 percent a year for 30 years. As a result, changes in the country are "enormous."

"The majority of the Chinese population, that is everybody under 40 has lived a life that is changing constantly for the better, unlike their parents who lived in more difficult times," he said.

When he first visited Dalian, a seaport city in Northern China, in early 1980s, Balloch took away with a memory of one color, that was "grey" -- the hotel was grey, the street was grey, people were grey, everyone's clothes were grey.

"Now I go to Dalian, and my image of Dalian is blue, orange and red ... it has gone from grey to multi-color ... Maybe that is a metaphor for all the China."

More importantly, Chinese people enjoy much more freedoms than before and their rights are being better protected by law, he said. And the country is opening up for business, the practices become "freer and more open."

"IT MAKES NO SENSE NOT TO HAVE STRONG RELATIONS WITH CHINA"

Balloch said he is an outspoken proponent of more involvement and more engagement in the relations between the West and China.

"People have to understand the enormous change that is taking place in China." he said. "In every society there are unbuilt buildings, there are improvements that can be made ... but it is a long road, you can't change these things overnight.

"I think the most important thing is to focus on those improvements, and figure out what we can help that improvement as opposed to criticizing things that hasn't yet changed."

As to the Canada-China relations, he said his years as Canadian ambassador were the "very best years" for the bilateral ties and it is "regrettable" there is a "cooling off" in the relations recently.

"I foresee a return to a better relations, because it makes no sense not to have a strong and multi-faceted relations with such an important partner," he said.

"I AM CONFIDENT ABOUT CHINA'S FUTURE"

"There are many changes in China, changes inside people's heads are probably the biggest change," Balloch said.

Two great forces were unleashed in China when the government started the policy of reform and opening up in late 1970s, he said.

One was the latent demand of the Chinese people, effectively the Chinese people wanted to live better than they were living before. They wanted to have more comfortable homes, they wanted to have washing machines and air conditioners, and they wanted to have good jobs, they wanted a little money to spend.

The other was the entrepreneurial energy of the Chinese people, that is the optimism and determination to build a better world for themselves, and their children and their society. Since then, most Chinese wake up in the morning, believing today would be better than yesterday, tomorrow would be so better than today.

"I am very confident about China's future. I believe Chinese people want a better, more harmonious life and society," Balloch said.

He said that China's development will not be without great challenges in terms of imbalanced development, poverty and environmental degradation.

"While a developed China is emerging, there was still a very very poor and developing China. This was one of the great challenges of China."

However, he said, "when Chinese people put their mind on the relevant things, they generally succeed."

The success of his own company also footnoted China's fast-paced development.

There were only two staff including Balloch in the TBG when it was launched in 2001. Now the company got quite a team of 50 people, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and New York.

The TBG was ranked as the number one boutique investment bank in China by China Venture in 2008.

"I feel way younger than my almost 58 years, because I am here, because I started a young business, and I am surrounded by great young people here," Balloch said.

"Of course there have been frustrations in some of the businesses we have done. All roads have their portals and their bumps," he said. "It is a very big and very turbulent market, (however) the underlying trends remain positive."