It's the photo that became an Internet sensation in China:
a typical American traveler buying a Starbuck's coffee at the Seattle airport.
But this is Gary Locke, the new U.S. Ambassador to China, on his way to present his credentials in Beijing.
For a Chinese public not used to such easy access to officialdom,
it was a unique insight into the low-key approach of the new U.S. envoy.
When the photo was posted by a fellow traveler on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, it was reposted more than 40,000 times in two days.
But Gary Locke's laid-back approach to officialdom was not all that caught the interest of the Chinese public.
The former U.S. Commerce Secretary is also the first Chinese-American to take the job.
I'm deeply humbled and honored to be chosen as your next ambassador to China.
Mr. Ambassador, welcome to Talk Asia.
Well, it's my pleasure to be on your show.
Now, 100 years ago, your grandfather left China on a steamboat to go to the United States and he worked as a domestic servant there.
One century on, you have returned to China as America's top diplomat. Have you reflected on this achievement?
Well, actually, all through the years, I've been able to reflect on it, and it's really hard to believe.
I mean, my grandfather worked as a houseboy for a family in the state capital washing dishes, sweeping floors in exchange for English lessons.
He went back to China, had a family, where my father was born along with aunts and uncles.
Grandfather came back to the United States to support the family, eventually, went back to China, brought the whole family over.
And a hundred years later, actually, I was sworn in as the governor of the state of Washington, literally one mile from the house where my grandfather worked.
And we kind of joked, and I kind of threw out a line at the inaugural speech, that it took our family 100 years to travel one mile.
And then, of course, I became commerce secretary, and my dad was so proud to be there at the swearing-in ceremony, presided over by President Obama.
But I think he would have been more proud to know that his son was returning to the ancestral homeland,
where he was born and where our ancestors were born, representing the United States as the U.S. Ambassador to China.
What are your top priorities?
Well, we have a lot. Obviously, because of the tough economy in the United States, job creation is number one.
And, of course, we care about things like intellectual property rights,
making sure that the hard-won gains, innovations, of Americans are not ripped off without proper compensation.
We also care about human rights, making sure that American values of freedom -- universal human rights,
which even China has written into their constitution and has signed on to -- are observed here.
And, of course, we want to promote people-to-people exchanges so that China and the United States can really join together, not just to solve the problems of China or the United States,
but, indeed, some of the big problems facing the entire world, from climate change to famine to even terrorism.
Now, in September, you gave a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce here in Beijing.
And in it, you criticized China's pace of market reforms in lifting restrictions on foreign investment.
And that generated some pretty harsh reaction[s] from people inside China.
Some Chinese nationals called you a traitor to your own race. Were you prepared for that kind of thinking?
I knew that people would have certain expectations of me, certainly within China.
I was reading some of the Internet chatter about their perceptions of me and saying, you know, some of the comments were, "If he's really Chinese, why does he live in America?"
And... or "Maybe he's just a banana -- yellow on the outside, but white on the inside."
And, again, I'm so proud of my Chinese ancestry,
but I was born and raised in America, and I really believe in American values, our American system, our freedom, our liberties.