in his eight years in china, this young african man visited 50 chinese villages
2024-09-01
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zhou yefan and mendu
at the end of 2015, inspired by the chinese infrastructure projects that can be seen everywhere in his hometown, cameroonian youth mendu came to china to study and enrolled in peking university. last year, mendu graduated from the school of international relations of peking university with a doctorate degree. he has served as the head of the african youth delegation in china and has served in social organizations jointly initiated by china and foreign countries. he is committed to china-africa cooperation and youth exchanges, and has become an outstanding representative of african youth in china.
before coming to china, mendu, who had studied in europe, took the initiative to learn chinese at the confucius institute in cameroon. after eight years of studying and living in china, it is difficult to tell whether he is chinese or a foreigner just by listening to him speak chinese.
mendu in shahao village, xing county, shanxi
in mendu's view, only by being in china can one gain a deep understanding of all aspects of china. in the school curriculum, mendu is most interested in the content related to the joint construction of the "belt and road" initiative. in the past few years in china, he has actively participated in various social practices and research activities, and investigated many companies involved in the construction of the "belt and road". mendu said that the "belt and road" has changed the face of africa and brought good development opportunities to african society. many african youths have mastered technology and management experience through the training provided by china and realized their life dreams.
"in china, it is very interesting to go to the grassroots level, because you can understand the source of china at the grassroots level." mendu said that he has visited a total of 50 grassroots villages in china over the years. while understanding the local customs and poverty alleviation experience, he also understood and learned china's grassroots governance concepts and methods. he found that many grassroots village cadres in china are young people of the same age as himself, which is rare in africa. "these chinese youths have just graduated from graduate school and choose to be the first secretaries in remote villages. for us, this is very worth learning. it was inspired by their spirit that i decided to visit so many chinese villages."
in july 2021, in shahao village, xing county, shanxi province, young people from 13 african countries, including mendu, went deep into the fields to interact with villagers and learn about grassroots governance experiences such as poverty alleviation through activities such as being the "first secretary". mendu said that during the in-depth exchanges, he found that the local villagers had an unswerving belief, that is, to develop. the first secretary brought the party's policies and ideas, as well as advanced concepts and technologies, and proposed targeted solutions according to local conditions.
like mendu, more and more african youths are coming to china with their dreams, and china has become the second largest destination for studying abroad in africa. in 2019, mendu, as a co-founder, co-founded the china-africa youth federation with chinese friends, aiming to make more contributions to china-africa cooperation with the power of youth.
at present, the china-africa youth federation has established three branches in rwanda, burkina faso and kenya in africa, and has established the beijing headquarters and branches in shanghai, guangdong and hunan in china. the federation has established good connections with enterprises and universities, and actively cooperates with local governments to create opportunities for african youth to gain a deeper understanding of the social and economic conditions in various parts of china, as well as the grassroots governance system with chinese characteristics.
zhou yefan, co-founder of the china-africa youth federation, said that more than 60% of the population in african countries are young people, and this proportion is expected to increase. young people are the future of the country. in the deeper and more sustainable cooperation and development between china and africa, and in the vision of building a community with a shared future for china and africa, young people from both sides will play a vital role. the friendship and people-to-people diplomacy foundation established in youth will also have an important impact on generations of chinese and african youth.
mendu is full of expectations for the upcoming 2024 forum on china-africa cooperation summit. "this is a grand event and an important opportunity for china and africa. i hope that more mechanisms and policies that are conducive to exchanges between chinese and african youth will be introduced after the forum. our federation will focus on topics such as the popularization of basic education for young people and children in african countries, as well as vocational education and training for young people and women."
why do african youth in china generally have a good level of fluency in chinese? zhou yefan also gave his insights based on his many years of experience in participating in exchanges between chinese and african youth: "one of the main purposes of african youth coming to china is to learn china's advanced ideas and excellent culture. it is very important to have a good understanding of the culture and ideas of a place and master the local language. after mastering chinese well, they can fully and deeply learn china's ideas and culture, so that they can bring these advanced experiences back to africa to the greatest extent, organically combine them with the local culture and current situation of africa, and benefit the african people in practical application."
