When people come to China, see it firsthand, and experience it for themselves, they will come to understand the real China, American writer Erik Robert Nilsson said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday.

Nilsson is among the 16 foreign authors, translators and publishers who were honored Tuesday with the Special Book Awards of China, the highest accolade in the country's publishing industry for foreign contributors.

Nilsson, who has lived in China for two decades, focuses on the country's contemporary development and transformation. He has co-authored, compiled or edited nearly 20 English-language books covering topics such as poverty alleviation, disaster relief and government policies.

His work "Closer to Heaven: A Global Nomad's Journey Through China's Poverty Alleviation" was published in both Chinese and English in 2021, offering readers a firsthand account of China's poverty alleviation efforts.

"The scale, speed and scope of China's poverty alleviation are unprecedented in human history and were considered unimaginable until it became reality," he said.

What China has done not only improves the quality of life for its 1.4 billion people, but ultimately has improved the quality of life for almost one in six humans on the planet, he added.

Even the harshest critics of China, despite holding some unfortunately misguided views about the country, don't criticize its poverty alleviation efforts, cultural heritage, or the development of its transportation infrastructure, Nilsson noted.

He described China's infrastructure development as "miraculous," not only due to the extensive high-speed rail network spanning the country, but also because many of these projects were completed under seemingly impossible conditions, such as the bridges in Guizhou and the railways in Xizang.

For quite some time, live-streaming travel experiences in China has remained popular among foreign tourists, while Chinese toys have garnered a large following overseas. "China's visa-free entry actually is one of the most brilliant moves that I've ever seen in my 20 years in China," Nilsson said.

Acknowledging that there are many misunderstandings about China's realities, Nilsson said that when people come here, they experience it for themselves, see it firsthand and live it firsthand, then they will come to understand a true China and share these experiences with others through word of mouth, with social media and other such means.