The increasing number of African students seeking to further their education in China was a clear sign of the quality of education provided in China, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said China was grateful over the appreciation of the country's education system by African countries and has promised that the country will continue providing quality education.
"The increasing number of students from Africa is a good sign on the appreciation of the people of Africa on the quality of education in China ad that is why they have decided to send their children," he told reporters during a press briefing where he unveiled an appreciation letter of 11 of the 26 Zambian students who went to China last year to study singing and dancing under a program arranged by China's First Lady Peng Liyuan and her Zambian counterpart Esther Lungu.
He also unveiled another letter in which the Chinese first lady responded to the letter written by the students.
The Chinese envoy said China has now become a prime destination not only for Zambian youth who want to study overseas but Africa as a whole and that China is second to France in attracting students from Africa.
He said promotion of people-to-people exchange was important as it affords them to learn cultures of other countries, adding that China expects to see increased students from Africa seeking to study in Chinese universities.
According to him, countries should develop their education systems as well as their people in order to see meaningful development.
And Reuben Sakala, one of the students who studied singing and dancing at Nanjing University of the Arts and Nanjing Normal University said Zambia has a lot to learn from China's development progress in the last 50 years.
He said Chinese people were committed and dedicated to their work as well as culture which has resulted in rapid development.
And in her response letter to the Zambian students, the Chinese first lady said the friendship of the two countries requires the young people to carry it forward.
She said young people were the future and hope of any nation and urged them to continue studying hard in order to make great contribution to Zambia's development.
The cooperation between the two countries in recent years have borne rich fruits, with currently over 3,500 Zambian students studying in China under various scholarships while the Chinese government has provided about 800 government scholarships to Zambia.
