Watching the performances during the Chinese Bridge Competitions in Kenya leaves no doubt about the desire of young Kenyans to sharpen their Chinese language and culture skills.
The annual event has become a major attraction for Kenyan college students who have leveraged the existing platforms to immerse themselves in Mandarin Chinese, currently the most spoken language, according to Unesco.
A number of factors have led to this. One, competency in Chinese language opens a wide array of economic and employment opportunities. The fluency in spoken and written Mandarin has also opened avenues for young Kenyans to access scholarship opportunities in China.
Through the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi (UoN), more than 400 young Kenyans have secured opportunities to study in Chinese universities.
Furthermore, Chinese language capability has become an important ingredient in trade and entrepreneurship exchanges among African and Chinese counterparts.
In Kenya, the four Confucius Institutes—at the UoN, Moi University, Kenyatta University and Egerton University—are driving a new wave of Chinese language and culture exchanges. Additionally, some leading high schools—such as Starehe Boys Centre and State House Girls—are providing enabling spaces for young learners to acquire language skills, becoming critical culture ambassadors.
The UoN also offers a degree course in Chinese language and culture, further opening up the arena for those keen on a better understanding of China.
Cultural contacts
Although separated by vast seas and landmasses spanning over 8,000 kilometres, African countries and China are increasingly leveraging innovative ways and platforms to forge closer cultural contacts. As the way of life of a people, culture encompasses language, customs, beliefs, food and social behaviour.
It also covers political philosophies and institutions of governance embraced by different civilisations. Building cultural bridges is, therefore, a foundational endeavour in fostering amity among civilisations.
The over 67 Confucius Institutes and Classrooms have, therefore, provided a golden opportunity for young Africans to acquire Chinese language and cultural competency. In 2023, over 230,000 African students benefited from various such programmes.
China has also rolled out initiatives aimed at improving the skills and technical knowledge of African youth beyond language and cultural competency. Among the new avenues are the Luban Workshops, so named after the revered Chinese carpenter and engineer Lu Ban. Kenya has to two Luban Workshops, at Machakos University and Meru University of Science and Technology.
Through the Luban Workshops, young Kenyans are now able to learn new technologies in consequential areas such as cloud computing, big data analytics and internet of things (IoT). Equipped with advanced tools and buttressed with regular exchanges between Kenyan and Chinese academic institutions, the workshops are emerging as incubation centres of excellence, where theoretical ideas are transformed into business concepts.
Leading Chinese technology companies, such as Huawei, have also been mainstreamed into the collaborations, providing the important interactions between the industry and academia.
Education and cultural exchanges between China and Africa have been elevated under the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (Focac) mechanism. Young Africans should, therefore, take advantage of these opportunities and acquire not just technical skills but also cultural competences that can transform them into veritable actors within the Africa-China space today and in the decades to come.
Dr Adhere, PhD, is a scholar of international relations with a focus on China-Africa development cooperation. @Cavinceworld
