China’s cultural interest in Sino-African cultural exchanges

In the debates about China-Africa relations, the issue of cultural exchanges seems to be of less importance compared to questions about economics, trade, investment, aid, and exploitation of natural resources. Despite this, cultural exchanges have played a significant role in Sino-African relations, especially since the 1950s. As much as African countries have benefited from these exchanges, China has been a major beneficiary in two significant ways: 1) increasing investment and resources in these exchanges, and 2) through the active promotion of newly established Confucius Institutes across the continent. Yet the same cannot be said of the promotion of, African culture in China, which is largely absent.

Therefore, the question that arises about Sino-Africa relations is that, after more than half of a century of friendship and cooperation, how much do Africans and Chinese know about each other’s culture? And, what has been done to promote a mutual cultural understanding between them?

How do Chinese see Africa?

Against the backdrop of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing in November, 2006, China Youth Daily conducted an online survey on the theme: “Do you know Africa?” More than 5,100 Chinese respondents took part in the poll, of which 71.65% said they knew “a little bit” about Africa, 18.34 “knew Africa very well” and 10% “didn’t know anything” about Africa. More than 60% knew about Africa through reading newspapers and the Internet while 53.57% learned about Africa from their middle school textbooks. Asked about words associated with Africa, 79.78% selected “hunger”, 77.03% “primitive”, 70.91% “war”, 65.48% “developing”, and 33.11% “friendly”.

The survey results cannot be said to fully represent the Chinese public’s understanding of Africa, but it does broadly show how the Chinese people perceive and think about Africa. A similar survey on China within Africa would probably not reflect a nuanced understanding of China – that is why there needs to be greater cultural exchanges between China and African nations so that a better understanding is cultivated..

Some of the structures to do this are already in place. From the 1950s, China signed agreements including cultural exchange deals with newly independent African countries.. Traditionally, these cultural programmes focused on the exchange of Chinese and African artistic troupes, although the latter was not with the same frequency or scale as the Chinese groups.

Prior to the economic reform and opening-up policy, the introduction of Chinese culture to Africa was basically confined to works dominated by socialist and communist cultural ideologies. As a result, the African counterparts in this cultural interaction only learned about the Chinese political culture but not the traditional Chinese cultural values. In fact, during the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese fought to root out those traditions perceived to be feudalistic and backward. Yet, the process of opening up to the world gave birth to reflection on traditional cultural values and its introduction to other parts of the globe. The very first Chinese Cultural Centres were established in 1988 against this background in The Republic of Mauritius and in The Republic of Benin. Another followed in Egypt and together these centers have from their creation to the present been playing active roles in the cultural exchanges between China and Africa. That role includes presenting lectures on Chinese culture, artistic exhibitions, concerts, Chinese kungfu courses, and information about China in host countries.

China considers culture as a key interest

In the 1990s, the end of the cold war cleared the way for a re-thinking of the elements of the new world order. American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington argued in his seminal book, the Clash of Civilizations, that “people’s cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-cold war world”. This theory was not endorsed by many Chinese academics, and in 2001 former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami responded with his idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations. Whether it is because of these theories or a natural growing Chinese awareness or both, the Chinese have become more concerned about the value of traditional culture and its promotion, rather than simply stressing political ideology.

Many Chinese think that, from the opening-up in the late 1970s to the present, China has been suffering from an invasion of western culture, a process some Chinese scholars have called the “westification” of Chinese society.

Structuring Chinese cultural promotion

This cultural awareness inside China gave birth to the “guoxue (国学运动) movement” (hot waves of the Chinese cultural values studies). Domestically, the “guoxue movement” was manifested in the creation of the Chinese Cultural Values Schools and Institutes (guoxuexi / guoxueyuan), the very first one established at the Renmin University of China on May 25, 2005. The same year, four other renowned Chinese universities including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Hunan University and Xiangtan University established similar schools.

Outside China, such cultural awareness was promoted through Confucius Institutes, which carefully elaborated on Chinese cultural policy. The Confucius Institutes are based on the Western concepts of the “Alliance Francaise”, “the Goethe Institute” and the British Council that emphasis specific and important roles in cultural promotion between France, German and United Kingdom and the countries where the institutions are established.
Following this lead, China set up its first Confucius Institute in Seoul, South Korea, in 2004 and that was rapidly followed by 190 Confucius Institutes in different countries. China’s plan is to have 500 institutes worldwide by 2010.

In Africa, according to the Confucius institute official website, there are presently 15 Confucius Institutes and 4 Confucius classrooms located in African universities. These are South Africa, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Ghana, Madagascar, Liberia, Sudan, Rwanda, Morocco, and Botswana.

China’s State Council also underlines its commitment to the introduction of the Chinese language in cultural exchanges around the world by authorising the Hanban(汉办), the Office of Chinese Language Council International, to manage and develop the Confucius Institutes. According to the project’s official website, Confucius Institutes are “non-profit institutes with the purpose of enhancing intercultural understanding in the world by sponsoring courses in Chinese language and culture, so as to promote a better understanding of the Chinese language and culture among people of the world. The goal is also to “develop friendly relationships between China and other countries; accelerate the development of multiculturalism at international level; help bring about global peace and harmony”. Many government-sponsored Chinese volunteers go to Africa to serve, including in the Confucius Institutes. Although these volunteers teach in hard conditions with poor facilities, they are rewarded when their African students can express a “Wo ai Zhongguo” (I love China).

China’s interest in educational exchanges

Another key component of Sino-Africa cultural exchanges is in educational cooperation. This interaction started earlier than the first diplomatic relations between China and African countries. Egypt did not officially establish ties with China until October 1956, but in January of that year, 4 Egyptian students and 4 professors were sent to China to study while 7 Chinese students and a professor went to Egypt for Arabic language and culture studies. The number of African students studying in China increased until the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution set back the cause. But from the early 1980s, educational cooperation resumed and more and more African students came to China on study scholarships provided by the Chinese government. However, only a very few Chinese students were interested in going to Africa to study. In 1998, the total number of Chinese government scholarships awarded to African students surpassed 1000, and is expected to reach 4000 in 2010, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education.

All of these African students studying in China are expected to be future ambassadors of Chinese culture not only in Africa, but also in the international arena.

Apart from the above cultural exchanges, by 2005, China and African countries had signed 65 cultural agreements and 150 cultural agreement plans were executed. In all, 50 Chinese cultural delegations went to Africa while 160 African cultural delegations visited China, and 170 Chinese artistic groups have been to Africa while China has received 100 African artistic groups. Apart from performing, the African groups have made appearances in the media, publishing, advertising, and movies, and worked with people in relics and museum management.

Conclusion
In conclusion, cultural exchanges have been one of the earliest areas of cooperation between China and African nations. Along with the development of its domestic policy, China has gone beyond the confines of socialist and the Marxist ideology in its attempts to introduce Chinese culture to Africa. Its focus has shifted to promoting its traditional values in Africa and in the world in general. The increasing number of Confucius Institutes in the world but particularly in Africa is evidence of this commitment.

A broad assessment shows that, compared to its African counterparts, China has invested more human and financial resources in the promotion of the cultural exchanges between the two continents, and has gained more from them. But, China’s cultural presence in Africa is still weak and China needs to strengthen efforts to ensure its culture is better publicised across the continent.

The African nations are even further behind in promoting their cultural exchanges with China, not least because of the lack of financial resources and political will to do so. After more than 50 years of cooperation with China, Chinese people cannot see any symbols of African culture inside China. The continent is culturally absent in China. Therefore the establishment of an African Cultural Center in China is a necessary project, which will not only, improve the visibility of African culture in China, but also to satisfy the desire of Chinese people to learn more about the African continent.

* Maurice Gountin holds a PhD in China’s Contemporary Diplomacy from Renmin University of China

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.