China-Africa Ties: Scholars and diplomats visit rural China, hold talks on modernization

Published: May 25,2023

The 2nd Conference on Dialogue Between Chinese and African Civilizations is underway in the northern Chinese province of Hebei. As part of the five-day event, the delegates, including diplomats and scholars from African countries, visited the ancient city of Zheng Ding. 

Under the theme of China-style modernization and African development path, the delegates engaged in extensive exchanges on mutual learning between Chinese and African civilizations and friendly relations between China and Africa.

PETER KAGWANJA Director, Africa Policy Institute “It’s a privilege to visit Ta Yuan village in Zheng Ding County of China. It’s my first time to be in any Chinese village and I’ve seen the transformation that has happened from the 1950s all the way up to today. It’s amazing and it’s a wonderful feeling that a country that is underdeveloped, a 3rd world country can become a superpower.

It’s also very inspiring for those of us who are coming from Africa who are born and brought up in villages like those ones we’ve seen the 1960s and 70s and now you can live in better villages, you know, settlement like we have. So it’s such a privilege for me and a great feeling that anybody can make it. 

We have toured the village and what has come out very clearly is the role of leadership in transforming societies and I think in this Ta Yuan Village and the Zheng Ding County as a whole, President Xi Jinping, you can see his footprints in terms of a transforming one by one by villages, touring all the villages in Zheng Ding County. I thought that’s really a sign of good leadership and therefore the rest we are taking home back to Africa is that leadership matters, and committed leadership is important in transformation.”

cgtn.com