This year – or the next – China will become Africa’s Number One trading partner. The value of their business will exceed US$100 billion. But Sino-African relations are not just about money. Culture and language are now an integral part of the equation, as Dr Chris Alden explains. He is an expert on China and Africa.

By Bram Posthumus

“China is a major power with long-term aspirations of engagement with Africa, so increasing cultural ties makes perfect sense. It is all part of a strategy to position China in more complete and complex way in the global sphere.” And for China, Africa sits right at the centre of that global sphere.

Confucius Institute
Like Britain, France and Germany, China has set up a dedicated organisation to make contact with cultures worldwide: the Confucius Institute. There are 282 of them across the planet, 21 in Africa. Li Haiwen is a Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He has just finished teaching a three month course. Who are his students?

“I have had students who work for the university library, the information centre and the linguistic department. There are a lot of Chinese living in Nigeria now, and so Nigerians want to learn the language. It’s either that – or they want to go to China to further their education.”

Chinese gives you an edge
Across the African continent, students are keen to take up the language. Chris Alden thinks they have good reason:

“It gives them an edge. They realise that the dynamics of trade are changing across their continent. It’s no longer North-South. So an African who knows the Chinese language will trump the competition.”

It is not only language that the Confucius Institutes bring to the fore. “We have brought a cultural performance troupe to the University of Lagos,” says Li Haiwen. “We also brought a youth group here. We will have other cultural activities and new courses – not only language things like Kung Fu.”

All former European colonial powers have a cultural presence in Africa, through a network of cultural centres. It is the model China has adopted, even though most Confucius Institutes do not have their own building. For now, they are housed in universities, from Cape Town to Rabat. And, of course, China likes to gain cultural currency from the fact that, unlike the Europeans, it never colonised Africa. But in these modern times, the name of the game they all play is the same: cultural diplomacy.

So be on the lookout: there may well be a Confucius centre coming soon to a place near you…