Wandering China

“The cultural exchange between China and Africa enjoys a long history that can be traced back to the 13th century when many ancient Chinese ships visited the eastern coast of Africa, while the Sino-African official cultural exchange has only started in May 1955…”

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Cultural exchange beefs up mutual understanding between China, Africa
by Li Nu’er
Source – Xinhua, published May 20, 2010

HARARE, May 20 (Xinhua) — The upcoming “Africa Focus on cultural exchange” activities, which will take place in Beijing soon and extend to the major cities throughout China, will be an event of historical significance expected to further promote the mutual understanding between the Chinese and African people.

The activities on African art performances, colorful exhibitions, book fairs and film shows, etc. will help the Chinese people to know better about Africa and to strengthen the cultural ties between the two peoples.

The cultural exchange between China and Africa enjoys a long history that can be traced back to the 13th century when many ancient Chinese ships visited the eastern coast of Africa, while the Sino-African official cultural exchange has only started in May 1955 when the Chinese and Egyptian government signed the cultural cooperation agreement in Beijing, the first of its kind between China and African countries in the history.

Since then, the cultural exchange between the two has flourished, and the continental dialogues between the different civilizations have been frequent so that the cultural exchange becomes a key link for the mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and African people.

Entering the new century, there have been new breakthroughs in the scale and frequency of the cultural exchange between China and Africa, especially after the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Co- Operation Forum in 2006, where the Beijing Action Program (2007- 2009) on Sino-African cultural exchange was formed to enhance the bilateral cooperation. Later on, in 2009 new measures were put forward for China and African countries to join hands to build up the name-brand “China-Africa Focus” activities on cultural exchange.

China has, so far, signed inter-governmental agreements on cultural exchange with all African countries which have diplomatic relations. With the painstaking efforts made by the Chinese and African governments, folk exchange between the two has gained momentum in recent years.

Statistics show that 33 large-scale folk and business-purposed exchange activities have taken place on arts performances, exhibitions, cultural festivals and personnel exchange between China and Africa since 2007. The Chinese art troupes have visited more than 30 African countries, offering African people valuable opportunities to know the ancient and modern Chinese culture.

Meanwhile, at least 25 African countries have so far sent their artists and officials to visit China and staged their unique performances in the oriental country, which are very conducive to the Chinese people to know the African culture.

Today, one can easily see the T-shirts printed with the Chinese characters “friends, partners and brothers” in throughout the vast African continent, while the African stone and wooden sculptures are very popular in many Chinese cities.

Through the varieties of cultural exchange, the Chinese have learnt a lot from African people, and vice versa. African people enjoy the harmony between people and nature while the Chinese are always hard-working.

It has been proved that the Chinese and African peoples have benefited a lot from the ever-increasingly intensive cultural exchange. The political mutual understanding and economic cooperation can not be realized without a deep-going cultural exchange.

Filed under: Africa, Charm Offensive, Culture, International Relations, Public Diplomacy, xinhua