Editor's note: Many people from overseas have made a contribution to China's development over the years. As China celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, China Daily looks at the lives and contributions of these friends from afar, who've not only witnessed, but also participated in, the country's transformation over the years.

American Mark Levine wears many hats in China－educator, author, volunteer, musician, sociologist, cross-cultural communicator, winner of the Chinese government's Friendship Award, and, most noticeably, wide-brimmed.

The bushy-bearded 73-year-old is perhaps best known among the Chinese public for writing American country music-style songs about China that he performs in full cowboy regalia. He often sings and plays his guitar to the accompaniment of the erhu (two-stringed Chinese fiddle) played by his friend, Fu Han, in their musical duo, In Side Out.

Levine has staged hundreds of performances in 15 provinces, including on TV, on the Great Wall and in celebration of such events as the 115th birth anniversary of New China's first premier, Zhou Enlai, at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts.

In fact, he chose to live in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, when he first came to China in 2005 because it was Zhou's hometown, he says.

Three of his performances were attended by over 40,000 people, and one had an audience exceeding 50,000, he says.

His songs expound upon such themes as China's trains, ethnic legends and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Several focus on such disasters as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, devastating blizzards, floods and COVID-19.

"These songs not only tell about the problems but also speak to the response－a unified response from the government, the People's Liberation Army and, most importantly, the Chinese people, who helped in the recovery from the consequences of these problems," he says.

Fu says: "If people can listen to these songs, they will better understand China and be more willing to visit."

That's why she helped him record a CD for his 60th birthday and presented him 60 copies as a gift.

"That's how his music career in China began," she says.

She also became his agent. Fu recalls he once performed in a well-known bar in Beijing's Houhai area, and she joined him onstage with her erhu.

"A group of tourists from northern Europe came up and watched and filmed us, and started singing with us. I realized a Chinese instrument and face can help better tell China's stories to foreigners."

So, they officially became band mates.

"I'm the 'in' and he's the 'out' in In Side Out," she explains.

Some songs are in English, while others are in Chinese－a language Levine doesn't speak but "sings very well", he says.

His latest song, The Future Is Very Bright Ahead Led by the CPC, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

"It talks about the history and the progress in China that has been made under the leadership of the CPC," he says.

"I also point out that the principles on which the Party was formed must continue to be adhered to so that progress can continue."

The lyrics are mostly in English, while the chorus was sung by a number of people alternately in Chinese, French, Japanese, German and Russian when it was filmed at a Spring Festival event hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

"China helped Mark, and Mark also helped China. He tells stories with his songs and sings them with his heart," Fu says.

"I hope he can sing China's stories to the world."

Levine also plans to release a song book when he reaches 100 songs.

He has so far written over 70 tunes that he calls "musical stories from my Chinese journey" since he moved to Beijing in 2007 to take a job at Minzu University of China, where he still works.

"He is a celebrity (at MUC)," says David Bartosch, a Beijing Foreign Studies University professor of classical Chinese and European philosophy who often engages in intellectual exchanges with Levine.

"Everyone knows him. Everyone greets him, and the students love him."

Levine has also spoken at more than 60 universities throughout the country.

"Among my presentations on China, the ones that I am most proud of have focused on the contributions made by foreigners who came to China from many countries during the mid-19th century to aid in the War of Resistance and the building of the People's Republic of China," he says.

"Frankly, few Chinese people are aware of these friends, and it is these stories that must be told."

He received 18 teaching offers nationwide in 2007, and decided on MUC in Beijing.

He says he's glad he chose the school, largely because of its ethnic diversity.

"For many in the US, there's little understanding of China as a multiethnic society," he explains.

"And, usually, when ethnic diversity is mentioned, the image that is hammered away at is only about conflict. My work and life at MUC has helped to expose the misrepresentation in this portrayal."

Levine says two highlights during his time in the country have been winning the Friendship Award－the highest honor China bestows on foreign experts for their contributions to the country's social and economic development－in 2014 and receiving his Chinese "green card "in 2016.

He has compiled many of his experiences in his 2014 book, Stories from My Chinese Journey, and his new book, Singing My China Stories to the World, scheduled to be published in April.

"Books like his are hugely important in portraying the reality of us living here to people outside of China," Bartosch says.

"It's written by a real China expert."

Levine hopes it increases cross-cultural understanding.

"I sincerely hope that those of us who have worked and lived here will be able to break through the cacophony of misinformation and disinformation that appears daily in Western media so that China's goal of building a community of shared future for mankind will become a common goal for the world," he says.

Bartosch says Levine is particularly apt for the task.

"Mark is a perfect ambassador for humanity, so to speak, who has found his ideal place here," he says.