Francis Tchiegue

Francis Tchiegue (Cameroon)

Cross-talk comedian

China and Africa have enjoyed long-standing friendship that has made a profound impact on the lives of young people from both sides. The close relationship has also enabled an increasing number of Africans to pay much attention to learning Chinese and discover that Chinese is one of the hardest languages in the world. Chinese is similar to some African languages so that it attracts the attention of Africans.

Africa and China share many cultural similarities. Both hold similar views on family values. For example, young people should show unconditional respect to the elders or generations of a family live under one roof. My hope would be that more and more African youths would come to China to study, work or travel to better enhance the mutual understanding.

Eneji Mathias

Eneji Mathias (Nigeria)

Lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Jos

China-Africa education cooperation has witnessed significant improvements over the years, especially in terms of the increasing number of African students coming to China for study. Most African countries have Chinese language as part of their school curriculum now. The African students integrate into the local communities by making Chinese friends of all ages. Some of them have even got married to Chinese at the end of their studies. They are living, working, and making their contributions to China. Marriage, language, foods, and lifestyles are all part of culture, and culture is a part of education. However, Chinese young people haven't understood enough of the rich African culture and history. More efforts should be made in Sino-African youth culture exchanges to make the youth know more about themselves and also deepen our friendship.