South African students write about China in their eyes

Johannesburg, Oct.30 (People’s Daily Online) - Over 300 South African learners from 24 Gauteng Department of Education schools submitted their articles on China in the "China in My Eyes" Essay Contest. And over 100 of them claimed prizes on Tuesday, at Sci-Bono Discovery Center in Johannesburg.

The contest was co-hosted by Gauteng Department of Education and Chinese Culture and International Education Exchange Center of South Africa, under the framework of the Year of China in South Africa.

As Albert Chanee, the Deputy Director General of GDE indicated, the department developed a close relationship with China, strengthening language education, promoting culture exchange of teachers and learners, as well as enhancing education on Maths and Science.

Earlier this year, South African government rolled out plans to introduce Mandarin to public schools as second language next year. And around 14 GDE schools, collaborating with Chinese Culture and International Education Exchange Center, have already started teaching the Chinese language to their learners. As Dr. Lu Zhilei from the Center revealed, the schools in which they taught Chinese, achieved excellent results in this contest.

China has 1.3 billion people, 56 ethnic groups and over 5000 years of history. Some of the learners wrote about China’s history and customs, some introduced China’s development today and some wrote about the stories of the communication between people from the two countries.

Not all of the learners had been to China, but they came up with their articles through reading and observation. Some also expressed their willingness to visit China in the near future and witness what a beautiful country it is.