The Chinese Embassy in South Africa held a send-off ceremony for 26 South African students awarded Chinese Government Scholarships for the 2014/2015 Academic Year on September 10, 2014.
Counsellor Wang Qiang, Acting Chief of the Mission at the Embassy, welcomed the students and briefed them about the current relations between the two countries on behalf of Ambassador Tian Xuejun.
Wang said that he hopes the students will study hard for the future development of South Africa and the all-round cooperation between the two countries. He also hoped the students will make good use of the weekends and vacation time and travel around China to meet the people, so as to understand more about the country and share that knowledge with other South Africans. He encouraged students to become envoys of the two countries and work for a better future in the bilateral relationship.
Mduduzi Manana, South Africa's Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, expressed his appreciation for China's generous scholarship offer, which he said reflected the strength of the relations and manifested the friendship and wide-range cooperation between the two countries. The Deputy Minister urged the scholarship recipients to cherish the privilege, study hard and contribute to the amity between the two peoples.
Elton, a scholarship recipient who has been studying in China for three years, shared his experiences in fluent Chinese. He said that he felt honored to study in China and thanked the Chinese Government for offering him the precious opportunity. He said that he is confident that students like himself can be bridges and envoys for the exchanges between China and South Africa.
The Chinese Government provides about 50 scholarships to the South African government annually. The 26 students selected by the Department of Higher Education and Training of South Africa for the project in 2014 will take one-year Chinese language courses and then go to respective Chinese universities to further their studies.
In addition, 11 South African students enrolled earlier by Chinese universities are also covered by the Chinese Government Scholarship project.
