China Opens Library In Tanzania To Teach “Chinese History & Reality”
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China’s State Council’s Information Office opened a “China Library” in Tanzania’s capital of Dar es Salaam on Monday, as part of a “cultural exchange” between the two nations aimed at helping “Tanzanian people to learn about Chinese history and reality.”
China’s State Council’s Information Office opened a “China Library” in Tanzania’s capital of Dar es Salaam on Monday, as part of a “cultural exchange” between the two nations aimed at helping “Tanzanian people to learn about Chinese history and reality.”
According to Zhang Yanbin, a director from the State Council’s Information Office, the library will be filled with at least 20 computers, 1,000 paper publications and DVDs and more than 100,000 digital publications related to Chinese politics, culture, history, arts and science. Chinese sponsors will pay at least $300,000 to maintain the library over the next three years, while more books, computers and media outlets may be donated in the future as well.
[quote]”To maintain long-term cooperation, the China library is collaboratively built by us and the Tanzanian cultural ministry, instead of purely with our donations… This is a creative move in China’s cultural exchanges with other countries,” Zhang told the China Daily.[/quote]Liu Youqing, China’s ambassador to Tanzania, also said at the library’s opening ceremony that the library would help Tanzanians understand China, now that “China and Tanzania are good friends, brothers and partners.”
“In recent years, cultural exchanges continue to increase with the expansion of bilateral cooperation,” Liu said. “I hope the China library can become a new window for the Tanzanian people to learn about Chinese history and reality, and a new bridge of our deepening traditional friendship as well.”
In addition to establishing the library, other Chinese media outlets are set to visit Tanzania, including film and television programs, this year to educate Tanzanian people on modern China.
Last month, the China Africa Development Fund and the China Development Bank had pledged close to $1 billion to develop the widespread usage of digital TVs across Africa. Today, African TV viewers can watch up to 140 digital TV channels, with many of the programs being produced in China.
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Still some have questioned China’s motives in the region. Last year, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, warned oil executives in Nigeria that “China is not in Africa for altruistic reasons.”
[quote]Carson, as revealed by Wikileaks, also described China as a “very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor with no morals” – only trying to “secure votes in the United Nations from African countries” by providing aid.[/quote]
