SHARING: Chinese and African singers find the same note

Here's a new way to get African television watchers to stop changing the channel: show Chinese actors speaking Swahili. The popular Chinese soap opera A Beautiful Daughter-in-Law Era, which has been dubbed for African telecast, may achieve just that.

"This is the first time in history a [Chinese] TV series will be dubbed and broadcast in Africa. We're looking forward to it," says Yu Peng of Era's inclusion in the programming for Chinese Culture in Focus 2011. Yu is the deputy director general of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations at the Ministry of Culture (MOC). This year's showcase features nearly 130 exchange programs.

Unlike the first Chinese Culture in Focus held two years ago, 2011's iteration has many high-ranking officials both Chinese and African participating in activities.

On May 20, Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), attended Chinese martial arts performances during his official visit to Namibia. In April, Li Changchun, Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony for Exhibition of China in African Painters' Eyes in Nairobi, Kenya. And Chen Zhili, NPC Standing Committee Vice Chairwoman, celebrated the newly completed Senegal National Grand Theater alongside Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Mali's President Amadou Toumani Touré. Live performances by the China Disabled People's Performing Arts Troupe and Senegalese and Malian arts troupes completed the springtime ceremony.