Editor's Note:
With the onset of the cold winter weather, the "warm economy" in Yiwu is thriving. There has been a significant rise in demand for winter products from both domestic and international buyers, resulting in a surge of orders for gloves, hats, scarves, and other winter accessories. Photos: Li Hao/GT
"I am so happy to announce that I will be representing China at the World Cup. I'm really proud and honored to wear the Team China jersey," Minnesota Timberwolves forward/guard Kyle Anderson, also known by his Chinese name Li Kai'er, said in a video on Chinese social media on Monday after he officially obtained Chinese nationality.
The 29-year-old, 2.06-meter-tall basketball elite from New York has been competing in the US National Basketball Association (NBA) ever since joining the league as a first-round pick in 2014. Li has now become the first player to have ever been naturalized in China's basketball history, making him now eligible to join Team China at the upcoming FIBA World Cup that tips off on August 25.
According to an official release from the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), Yao Ming, the NBA hall of famer and incumbent CBA president, has met with Anderson to mark the milestone event.
Yao said that "the naturalization of Li Kai'er complies with Chinese laws and regulations and the relevant rules of the FIBA, and blood and cultural identity are important reasons for us to meet each other. Li will be the first naturalized player in the history of Chinese basketball. It is also an innovation for the system and exploration for us. During this process, we have received strong support from all parties. We are very grateful for that. Li is an outstanding player, and I believe him joining the team can help the Chinese men's basketball team."
Anderson has averaged 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 68 games in 2023 for Minnesota as a playmaking forward in his ninth NBA season. He was added to the talent pool list for China's national basketball team on Monday, meaning that Anderson can now suit up and play for China immediately once recruited by the national team.
To show his excitement, Anderson posted a photo on his Instagram account on Monday of himself wearing a red No.5 Team China jersey for the 2023 World Cup, with a message that said, "About damn time! Let's go!"
"With the help and support of all parties in China, today I have fulfilled my will to recognize my ancestors and the greatest wish of my family!" Anderson said in a Sina Weibo post.
Anderson's great-grandfather was from Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. In 2018, Anderson and his mother Suzanne Anderson visited Xinmu New Village in Shenzhen, to seek out their roots. Their Chinese relatives welcomed them with a firecracker show, traditional cultural experiences and a huge banquet.
In video footage of the trip, Anderson described it as "one of the best times and moments" of his life.
"It's weird to come to a place I've never been before, yet feel at home. I can't explain in words... I am so thankful and honored that these people would accept me and give me such a warm welcome," he told Shenzhen TV at the time.
During the trip, Anderson was given the Chinese name Li Kai'er by one of his elder Chinese cousins. To honor his playstyle, Chinese basketball fans have also given him the endearing nickname "Li Dachui," which means "a big hammer" that is slow in motion but effective with every strike.
According to FIBA rules, each national team can include only one naturalized player. That player must have obtained citizenship of the adopted home country after turning 16 and never have represented his or her native country internationally. Eligibility is subject to approval by FIBA's secretary-general.
Chinese basketball insiders reached by the Global Times applauded the naturalization of Anderson, saying it marks a new beginning for Chinese basketball, and adding that Anderson brings a lot including versatility and a high basketball IQ to Team China. They noted that Anderson will boost China's chances at the 2023 World Cup, where only the best-performing Asian team wins direct qualification for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
"Li Kai'er, who made his break in the NBA when he played for Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs, could be the missing piece for Team China. His ball-handling skills, game-making abilities and great understanding of team play could effectively help link Team China's strong centers and still young guards on the court," Wei Qi, a basketball commentator with the Beijing Radio and Television Network, told the Global Times on Monday.
Wei pointed out that it has been a world trend to naturalize foreign-born players, citing US-born South Korean basketball player Ra Gun-ah for Team South Korea. Team China has now joined the trend starting with Anderson.
His Chinese lineage, love for Chinese culture and willingness to contribute his basketball skills to Team China are the main factors that qualified him for the naturalization process. His participation will be an example of win-win cooperation, Wei noted.
Anderson has joined a glittering cast of naturalized athletes who have chosen to suit up for China. They include California-born Olympic champion freestyle skier Gu Ailing, Canadian-born ice hockey player Brandon Yip and, most recently, Hungarian-born short-track speed skating brothers Sandor Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang. All of them have been hailed by Chinese fans.
China’s elite diving athletes Wang Zongyuan and Chen Yuxi have secured spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after winning gold at the national diving championship on Wednesday in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province.
Over 200 divers are competing at the annual event that will last till Tuesday. An analyst told the Global Times on Thursday that the championship, which serves as one of the three-leg qualifiers for the Paris Olympic Games, will help the national team to find some new diamonds in the rough.
China’s new diving talisman, 20-year-old Wang, ranked first in each of the six rounds in the final to triumph during the 3-meter springboard while two-time Olympic medalist Chen edged out Olympic champion Quan Hongchan to win gold during the 10-meter platform.
According to the point-based qualification for the Paris Olympic Games diving events announced by the Chinese Swimming Association, there are three legs of qualifiers, namely the national diving tournament in March, the ongoing national diving championship and the World Aquatics Championships to be held in Doha, Qatar in February 2024.
The two best rankings out of the three legs of a diver are translated into points. The top four athletes with the most points in a single event will be selected into the Olympic roster.
Wang and Chen, who also won gold at the national tournament in March, have thus secured their berths for the Olympic Games.
“The victory shows that my training and hard work have paid off. I take every competition seriously, and hopefully I can do my best in every competition. However, I was not at my best during the preliminaries and made some mistakes,” said Chen, who lost to Quan in October’s Hangzhou Asian Games.
“While the top divers are vying for spots for the Olympics, the national event also provides an opportunity for younger talents to make their mark. Jiang Linjing is a big surprise in the highly competitive 10-meter platform,” Liu Yu, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Jiang Linjing, a 13-year-old diver from South China’s Guangdong Province, managed to finish third behind Olympic champions Chen and Quan.
“They [Chen and Quan] are my idols. They were consistent in their dives and rarely make mistakes. I’m doing okay in training, but I tend to get nervous in big events,” said Jiang, who tried the 307C dive, one of the most difficult dives, for the first time in the competition.
Eyes will be focused on the men’s 10-meter platform final on Saturday as this is the only event in which China failed to win gold at July’s World Aquatics Championship in Fukuoka, Japan.
China swept 11 out of 12 golds on offer at the world championship and Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau upset China’s Lian Junjie and Yang Hao in a roller-coaster 10-meter platform final.
Women’s 3-meter springboard will also take place on Saturday.
In order to inspire athletes to innovate and take on challenging dives, the event has introduced special awards recognizing both the difficulty and groundbreaking achievements.
Chinese speed skaters made some breakthroughs at the speed skating World Cup in Beijing over the weekend, as they totaled two silver and four bronze medals in the three-day competition.
Ning Zhongyan has become the marquee name for the Chinese speed skating team this year as he bagged one silver and two bronze medals in all three races he participated in. Female skater Han Mei is also a big contributor as she claimed one silver and one bronze medals.
The National Speed Skating Oval, replaced its ice for the first time after hosting the Winter Olympics last year, has been dubbed the "fastest ice" as it witnessed the breaking of 10 Olympic records last year.
"I was a bit nervous when competing at the Olympics here last year, but now I am just enjoying the race," Ning told reporters. "I think I didn't fail to live up to the fans' expectations, but I do hope I can change the color of my medal at the next World Cup event."
In the women's race, Han's result in the 1,500 meters of 1:55.92 was just 0.4 seconds short of Japanese veteran Miho Takagi, who bagged three individual medals at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Han's teammate Li Qishi finished third.
"Different from competing at the Olympics, now we have fans cheering for us, which is a booster for me," Han told reporters, noting she has set herself the goal of stepping onto the podium at the Milan 2026 Olympics.
The last time a Chinese female skater entered the top three in the 1,500 meters event was during the 1999-2000 season, when Song Li achieved third place in the Netherlands.
Li Yan, head coach of the national speed skating team, said though the team is preparing for its ultimate goal of the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, participating in the World Cup events has made the goal "clearer."
"Every four years we are preparing for one thing (the Winter Olympics), but this year our goals are clearer, which is to improve our results and rankings," she told reporters.
"Every athlete, regardless of their current level, is finding their shortcomings and areas to improve. More importantly, we are consolidating the spirit of the entire team, using the team's strength to achieve breakthroughs and support each other."
Compared to speed skating's brother, the discipline short track, which has become a popular event thanks to China's medal haul in the discipline, the oval races are relatively less influential, as it totaled only two gold medals in China's seven entries into Winter Olympics.
While in recent years China has seen success in shorter distance speed skating, particularly with Zhang Hong and Gao Tingyu winning gold in the 500 meters events at the Sochi 2014 and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, respectively, the country has struggled in mid-to-long-distance events, which makes breakthroughs like those of Ning and Han more significant.
Despite not participating in the previous season and lacking World Cup ranking points, Gao, who recently returned, finished just a place short for a podium finish in Beijing. But coach Li expressed satisfaction with his recovery.
"Gao's smooth return is the first step. The fans have high expectations for him, but after all, he hasn't participated in formal competitions for over 20 months," Li told reporters.
"Being able to move to the top group is a stable first step, and he just needs to do his best."
China once again dominated the Asian Games by bagging 201 gold, 111 silver and 71 bronze medals in Hangzhou, surpassing its record of 199 gold medals in 2010. But the harvest in Hangzhou goes beyond winning medals.
The national swimming team is the biggest contributor to the medal tally, as they took home 28 gold, 21 silver and nine bronze medals in 41 disciplines.
The leading athletes, male breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang, who won five gold and one silver medals, and female butterfly star Zhang Yufei, who collected six gold medals, were named the MVP of the Games.
But the touching moment culminating the swimming competition came when Zhang and her arch-rival but friend Rikako Ikee, who won the previous Asian Games MVP in 2018, shared a tearful embrace following the 50-meter butterfly podium.
Ikee, who won six gold and two silver medals at the Jakarta Games, was the bronze medalist in the 50 butterfly, her first international podium finish since being diagnosed with leukemia in February 2019.
Zhang said it is Ikee's story of fighting back from the disease that inspired her to continue to race after coming down sick when the competition was in full swing.
"I wasn't feeling well during the Games and would have wavered in my goal," Zhang told reporters. "But when I saw that Ikee was still competing, I felt that I mustn't give in as she is there [after overcoming the disease]."
Nineteen-year-old swimmer Pan Zhanle also made history in men's 100 meters with a sensational 46.97-second finish, becoming the first Asian athlete to clock under 47 seconds in the discipline. His result, only 0.11 seconds behind the world record, is the fifth fastest in all-time history.
Athletic breakthroughs
In athletics, veteran Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye, who leveled his personal best in the 100-meter dash at 9.97 seconds to win the gold medal, is also among the Chinese quartet who claimed the men's 4x100 meters relay final.
Xie, now 30, who was in the squad that won a silver medal at the 2015 world athletics championships, paid tribute to his younger teammates Chen Guanfeng, Yan Haibin and Chen Jiapeng, who are all under the age of 23, for the achievement made in Hangzhou.
"In the past two years, the relay team has experienced the pain of a transition between the old and the new," Xie told reporters.
"The win is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for us, giving us more confidence in our younger generation to compete in the future."
Xie also received a reallocated Tokyo Olympics bronze medal in Hangzhou with his elder sprinting quartet led by star Su Bingtian, who was sidelined in 2023 due to injury. Female veteran racewalker Qieyang Shijie was reallocated a 2012 London Olympics gold medal, making her the first ethnic Tibetan Olympic gold medalist from China.
Male tennis player Zhang Zhizhen, who is having a breakthrough season, also helped China to reclaim the gold medal in tennis men's singles since Pan Bing did so in 1994.
The win earned him a berth at the Paris Olympics, when he will play on clay court again at Roland Garros where he made history by becoming the first Chinese tennis player to make it into the last 32 at the 2023 French Open.
Warning signs
China's sports authorities have vowed to revitalize the three "major balls" - soccer, basketball and volleyball in 2023. But the result for these high-profile sports remains an ongoing project after falling short at the Asian Games.
Among the highlights, the Chinese women's basketball and volleyball teams have successfully defended their titles, the men's volleyball team made it to the finals again after 17 years and the men's soccer team also made it into the last eight again since 2006.
Zhou Jinqiang, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese delegation at the Asian Games, said on October 8 that though there are bright spots in the three major ball games, generally the performances of a number of teams were unsatisfactory.
"The men's basketball team lost the semifinals to the Philippines, whose squad is not their first team, and the women's soccer team lost the semifinals to the second-tier Japan team, there is still a gap between the overall performance of the 'three major balls' and the people's expectations," Zhou said.
He further underlined the underachievement of the men's basketball team, who suffered a defeat to the Philippines in the semifinals in which the Filipinos only led 24 seconds in the 40-minute game. The men's basketball team have already missed the Paris Olympics after a disappointing run at the FIBA World Cup in 2023.
"The men's basketball team did not withstand the pressure in the key games and key moments, and was reversed in the case of a big lead, once again exposing the problems in the management of the national team," Zhou said.
Emerging hopes
Flashback to China's very first gold medal at the Asian Games. It comes in rowing when Chinese pair Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping won the women's light-weight double sculls.
Rowing remains a new sport for the Chinese public as traditionally it is the names of shooting, weightlifting or wushu - Chinese martial arts - where the Chinese delegation have claimed gold medals at past Asian Games.
The rise of Chinese rowing could indicate that Chinese athletes are able to compete internationally in some more sports and disciplines, rather than relying only on the traditional sports where China excels, said Cao Yaqi, deputy editor-in-chief of Titan Sports newspaper.
"The Paris Olympics are less than a year away. Winning medals could make those Chinese athletes who have qualified for the Olympics prepare and compete with confidence, just like what they did in Hangzhou," Cao told the Global Times.
"Chinese athletes are starting to develop confidence when competing, which will accelerate the transition of China from a medal powerhouse to an overall sports powerhouse."
Zhu Qinan, a former Olympic champion in shooting and now a spokesperson for the Hangzhou Asian Games Sports Operations Center, believed the Hangzhou Asian Games is an opportunity to demonstrate national spirit.
"The power of sports and the Asian Games has united the spirit of our countrymen and the nation, and cultural self-confidence has been further manifested," he said, before noting his career spanned the development of sports in China.
"We have made new breakthroughs in various international competitions in competitive sports, while the grassroots sports and the sports industry in these years have also continued to grow. I believe things will get even better."
With the rise of social media networks and involvement of capital, fandom culture as a niche subculture has attracted more and more attention from the mainstream.
From an external perspective, the rapid advancement of technology and social media platforms have served as prerequisites, while investment from the capital market has fueled its development. As to the internal factors, the formation of fan communities meets people's psychological needs. For one thing, in today's fast-paced modern society, some young people have made online platforms their first choice to ease loneliness and express their feelings, while fan clubs allow people to show off their personality, achieve self-satisfaction and gain a sense of community and belonging.
Debate about fandom culture tends to focus on its potential dangers.
To begin with, the distortion of values caused by group polarization, especially for younger generations, leads to shocking incidents like pouring out drink bottles just to obtain a QR code inside the bottle cap to support an idol. Besides wasting resources and over-consumption, craze-driven irrational behavior such as stalking, doxing, fighting, and invading people's privacy have endangered public safety.
More seriously, the uneven occupation of online resources by celebrity topics or entertainment events triggered by a large amount of fan participation and capital manipulation takes atte ntion away from significant issues that involve public life. Under such circumstances, our culture, sports, education, and businesses would likely be reduced to entertainment accessories, and the final result might lead to actually "amusing" ourselves to death.
However, as some observers fret about these dystopian scenarios, others focus on the potential rewards.
First, personalized consumption in fandom culture boosts the economy. In August, a popular Chinese idol group fueled a ticket-buying binge in which the first batch of over 33,000 tickets were snapped up in a few seconds. Revenue on ticket and live-streaming platforms reached more than 100 million yuan ($13.6 million) and drove local tourism revenue up to 416 million yuan. With social media, forces converge quickly, and fans can do great things for their idols. Their desire for expression, interactivity, and participation leads to a long tail effect in the vast fan market, which contains enormous consumption potential and benefits upstream and downstream industry development.
Secondly, fandom culture alleviates the crisis of contemporary social identity and soothes our souls. As a social subculture system, fandom culture is based on seeking social interaction and identity recognition. Fans build emotional trust, form a community with common ideals, and find a new identity and a sense of belonging through communication and interaction with group members in an increasingly atomized society. For fans who have gone through their youth accompanied by some idols, nostalgia reveals their inner desire for a familiar, safe, and stable environment that serves as a spiritual sanctuary and utopia for rosy memories, helping them confront the fragmentation of the modern world and the discomfort of the rapid changes under globalization.
Fandom culture also empowers society. An idol who constantly contributes positive energy is an essential source of cohesion in society. Fans' heartfelt wishes to become better people alongside their idols have led them to ask idols to behave with higher standards and set good examples.
For instance, some celebrities encourage fans to develop good reading habits, promote Chinese traditional culture, which is increasingly favored by young people, and participate in activities such as environmental protection and poverty alleviation. Several public benefit activities have benefited from the tremendous force and passion of fan communities, which are mainly composed of the Post-1990 and Post-2000 generations, who possess a higher level of education and more self-discipline.
A fan may be a company staff, a professional photographer, or an illustrator and designer. They all have proficiency in a particular line. Thus, their efforts not only bring more energy and sunshine to society but also enrich the cultural ecology.
So, fan culture is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, based on similar interests or shared memory, it allows fans to build social networks to find a new identity, accumulate real or virtual resources both online and offline, and form informal organizations. On the other hand, it also causes the group to get stuck in information cocoons and possibly tend to behave irrationally due to the existence of the "echo chamber effect." Fans are easily reduced to digital laborers and "one-dimensional people."
Fan culture, driven by technology and capital, alters what we think and how we behave without us realizing it, making a difference in the overall cyberculture and even society as a whole. Whether it is a bane or boon depends on how we lead and guide.
Accordingly, we should, above all, realize the pros and cons brought about by the development of fan culture and strengthen top-level design to shape a comprehensive paradigm featuring multi-party collaboration, namely government, platform, and fan groups, which will promote economic development, generate positive energy and minimize adverse effects.
In celebration of its 90th anniversary, the Nanjing Museum in East China's Jiangsu Province has opened a jade-themed exhibition with more than 600 exhibits exploring the country's 10,000 years of jade culture.
Held by the Nanjing Museum and drawing on collections from 40 archaeological and cultural institutions across China, the exhibition showcases a diverse array of jade artifacts, spanning a period of nearly 10,000 years.
"Among the more than 600 exhibits, at least one-third are national-level cultural relics, and more than half are treasured pieces at various museums," said Gao Bo, a staff member of the museum.
The exhibition is divided into three sections, each exploring a different facet of the relationship between jade and Chinese civilization. The first section mainly revolves around the cultural landscape of prehistoric jade, telling how jade artifacts helped integrate and promote China's prehistoric civilization.
Among the highlights of the first section is a jade ring unearthed from the Xiaonanshan Ruins in Raohe county, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Dating back around 9,000 years, this ancient piece of jade is believed to be one of the earliest known examples of the usage of jade in China.
The second section of the exhibition centers on the participation of jade rituals in the formation of the state, the establishment of community spirit, and the development of jade as a metaphor for virtue, highlighting the significance of jade in the state system and individual spirituality.
One remarkable artifact on display in this section is a C-shaped jade dragon, unearthed from a Hongshan Neolithic culture site dating back 5,000 years, the dragon has a long cylindrical bent into a C-shaped rainbow curve.
According to Zuo Jun, a staff member of the museum, it was a ritual jade and is considered to be the original model for the dragon totem in China. It is one of the earliest jade dragons found in China and also the largest C-shaped jade dragon ever found.
This section also showcases a range of jade artifacts from the 5,000-year-old Liangzhu culture, including representations of deities and symbols of authority, such as scepters. These objects offer insight into the social status, political organization, and religious beliefs of ancient Chinese communities.
"During the Liangzhu period, jade was transformed from an object of beauty to being a socialized, ritualized and religious product," Zuo said.
The third section examines the development of jade from the Three Kingdoms period (220-280) to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, presenting the peak of the development of Chinese jade civilization in terms of materials, craftsmanship, cultural meaning and other aspects.
An exquisite jadeite carving of a bunch of grape displayed in the third section shows the delicate and fine jade grinding skills of the Qing Dynasty. The curator introduced that in the Qing Dynasty, jade carving reached its peak, thereby occupying a pivotal position in the history of ancient Chinese jade.
Jade culture is a witness to the continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness and gentleness of Chinese civilization, showing the internal drive and profound meaning of today's Chinese path to modernization, Gao said.
Editor's Note:
Over the last decade, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has yield fruitful achievements and greatly enriched China-Africa relations. As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of BRI, Global Times reporters Liu Xin and Xing Xiaojing (GT) interviewed Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Zhou Pingjian (Zhou) and Chinese Ambassador to Madagascar Guo Xiaomei (Guo), to learn about their views on the BRI's achievements in the two African countries and their expectations for future cooperation.
GT: Over the last decade, China and Kenya have achieved fruitful results in their cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative (BRI). What do you see as the biggest highlight?
Zhou: The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a landmark project by China and Kenya under the BRI, and it is also an exemplar of many fruitful results. In Kenya, the railway is affectionately called the SGR, and is well-known to almost every single Kenyan. As Kenyan President William Ruto said, the railway has completely changed the national landscape of Kenya.
The BRI has transformed Kenya's dreams into a reality. The narrow-gauge railway in Kenya was built in 1895 and has long been in disrepair. The country has always wanted to build a standard-gauge railway, which is also a key project in its Vision 2030 plan formulated in 2007.
Since the inauguration of the SGR, it has transported about 11 million passengers and about 28 million tons of cargo. It is worth mentioning that the official name of the railway in Kenya is "Madaraka Express" - "madaraka" means independence in the local Swahili language. Therefore, the most important significance of the railway is to enhance the confidence of the Kenyan people in their own development and make them proud.
GT: How do cooperation projects under the BRI, represented by the SGR, promote the development of other sectors by supporting infrastructure construction in Africa?
Zhou: Infrastructure construction is one of the key focuses of comprehensive cooperation under the BRI, and has unique significance for Kenya.
Kenya itself does not have abundant mineral resources, but its geographical location and regional centrality are very important. Without necessary infrastructure, it cannot consolidate this advantage. That is why Kenya attaches great importance to cooperation with China in building railways, roads, airports, and other forms of infrastructure.
In the construction of these projects, China and Kenya adhere to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and implement the concepts proposed by the BRI. Each project effectively addresses Kenya's development concerns and brings significant benefits, such as creating job opportunities, consolidating regional centrality, and enhancing the confidence of the Kenyan people. No one agrees with the smear of the so-called debt trap.
GT: Based on your understanding, how do people from all walks of life in Kenya respond to the BRI? What role does the initiative play in communicating with the local people?
Zhou: The BRI has an excellent reputation in Kenya, and local friends highly praise the practical changes brought about by China-Kenya cooperation under the initiative.
In 2013, China and Kenya established a comprehensive cooperative partnership of equality, mutual trust, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation. In 2017, China-Kenya relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. In the last 10 years, the exchanges between China and Kenya at the head-of-state level have provided strong strategic guidance for the joint construction of the BRI.
In addition to the connectivity of facilities such as the SGR, "soft connectivity" in terms of standard rules and regulations has also been well-coordinated, ensuring smooth trade. A decade ago, the bilateral trade volume between China and Kenya was about $2.8 billion, and in 2022 it reached about $8.5 billion, growing rapidly. The cooperation between the two countries in financial connectivity over the last 10 years has also made great progress.
In the process of jointly building the BRI between China and Kenya, due to the high visibility of projects such as the SGR, the Lamu port, and the Thwake Dam, some people may think that the joint construction mainly focuses on infrastructure.
In fact, the achievements in people-to-people connectivity and cultural exchanges between the two countries are also very prominent. Kenya currently has four Confucius Institutes, the most in any African country. There are also scientific research institutions such as the Sino-Africa Joint Research Center and the Kenya-China Joint Laboratory for Crop Molecular Biology at Egerton University. The embassy staffers always feel enthusiasm when communicating with local people.
GT: We have noticed that many elites in Kenya have a Western education background, but in recent years, more and more young people have tended to opt to study in China. How do you view this change?
Zhou: In Kenya, we hardly hear any negative comments about China. The local people have confidence in China's development prospects, and naturally want their own future development to be related to China.
Officials from the Kenyan Ministry of Education have expressed that many Kenyan students want to study in China, which also reflects the increasing importance of cooperation with China in Kenya's consideration of future development. Before visiting China, a high-ranking Kenyan official told me that he needed to bring his 15-year-old son along to let him understand that the world is not only about Europe and America, but also about rapidly developing China.
Kenya is an open country, and both in the business and academic fields, more people are indeed turning their attention to China. The people-to-people exchanges between China and Kenya have laid a solid foundation since the time of Zheng He's voyages to the coast of East Africa. With the strong driving force of jointly building the BRI, the friendly exchanges between the two countries are expected to deepen further.
GT: While achieving fruitful cooperation with mutual benefits, Western media outlets have intensified their attacks using the so-called debt trap. How do you view this?
Zhou: There are always people who can't stand others' success. During our exchanges with local friends in Kenya, no one has agreed with the so-called debt trap insinuation. Even if some people are influenced by such rhetoric, misunderstandings can be eliminated as long as there is clear communication.
A country needs capital for development. If it lacks domestic capital, it needs to find ways to utilize external capital appropriately. Many Kenyans believe that it is good to borrow money to help in development.
As far as I know, the smear of the so-called debt trap lacks credibility in Kenya. China's financing in Kenya is based on the development projects in the Kenya Vision 2030 plan. Before these projects started, China was not the only country Kenya had contact with. After analyzing different options, Kenya independently chose China. The reason behind this is that Chinese financing brings project implementation and provides Kenya with the fairest and most reasonable financing arrangements within its capacity.
Other speculations such as "neocolonialism" have no standing in Kenya either. My feeling is that when certain media outlets hype such topics, the local media in Kenya reacts minimally because the people here have benefited from pragmatic cooperation under the BRI.
GT: What is the current status of the focus to align the BRI with Kenya's Vision 2030?
Zhou: The development of each country has different stages, and the demands at each stage are not the same. Any cooperation between China and other countries is based on the needs and absorptive capacity of the partners, as well as the assistance that China can provide, striving for win-win outcomes.
Infrastructure construction remains a priority for Kenya's national development, and China and Kenya will continue to promote cooperation in this area through innovative approaches. In addition, based on its own development needs, Kenya has a growing desire to cooperate with China in other fields.
For example, the Kenyan government has proposed a bottom-up economic transformation agenda with agriculture at the core, covering areas such as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, affordable housing, universal healthcare, and the digital and creative economy. There are broad prospects and ample space for cooperation between Kenya and China in these areas.
Taking the digital and creative economy as an example, China and Kenya have a good foundation for cooperation. Both countries have good cooperation in building 4G and 5G base stations, national fiber optic networks, and national data centers. How to improve and make better use of the infrastructure in these areas is a topic that can be further explored in the future.
There is even greater potential for cooperation between China and Kenya in the tourism industry. More and more Kenyans now recognize that China represents a huge opportunity. They say that China has over 100 million outbound tourists each year, and if even a small fraction of them could come to Kenya, the country's tourism industry would develop well. Additionally, there is also great potential for cooperation between China and Kenya in the film and television production industry, including animation.
GT: What are your expectations for the development prospects of the high-quality BRI in Kenya?
Zhou: The prospects are very broad. Kenya has its own advantages, and the two countries have gradually explored good methods of cooperation. The most important thing is that both sides adhere to the principles of consultation, joint construction, and shared benefits, aiming for win-win cooperation and promoting their respective development.
Kenya's leaders, government officials, and ordinary people from all walks of life have highly praised the joint construction of the BRI between China and Kenya.
When the former Kenyan Minister of Transport participated in a live broadcast on a local TV station and was asked why many projects were cooperating with China, he used the example of the SGR to explain how Kenya's century-old dream became a reality through cooperation with China. He mentioned that they had been talking about building an expressway to the airport for 20 years, and China helped them achieve it within one or two years.
His argument was simple: The projects carried out in cooperation with China are of good quality, cost-effective, and are completed quickly. What's wrong with that? It also explains, to some extent, why the BRI has borne fruitful results in Kenya. It is because of China's sincerity and correct concept of righteousness and interests in practical operations, which have helped Kenya achieve its own development.
At the same time, China has also enhanced its own experience, technology, and equipment through cooperation with Kenya, expanding the market for Chinese companies. From August 2008 to July 2011, I served as a counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Kenya. At the time, there was only one Chinese community here, but now there are 18. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Kenya was very small at that time, but before the pandemic, this number had exceeded 80,000.
Looking ahead, I believe that China and Kenya will achieve new breakthroughs in jointly building the BRI and implementing global development initiatives.
Thousands of Cambodians on Wednesday evening celebrated the inscription of the country's Koh Ker archaeological site on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s World Heritage List.
Built in the 10th century by Jayavarman IV, the Koh Ker archaeological site was listed as a world heritage site during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
It became Cambodia's fourth tangible cultural property that has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. "This archaeological marvel offers a profound insight into its era's well-organized projects of regional, social, economic, and architectural development, town planning, and rural infrastructure," the UN cultural agency said.
Speaking to the revelers at the event held at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said it was a new historic event for Cambodia in safeguarding, preserving and developing cultural properties.
Koh Ker had suffered widespread looting during civil conflicts between the 1960s and 1990s, and the Cambodian government has since sought to repatriate stolen antiquities exhibited or sold on the international market.
"As a Cambodian citizen, I'm thrilled to hear that the Koh Ker temple has been included in the world heritage list," Em Sreysros, a 55-year-old reveler, told Xinhua.
She said the inscription truly reflected the government's strong efforts to protect and conserve the country's cultural heritage sites.
"I would like to urge international tourists and overseas Cambodians to come and visit Cambodia, and please come to see our ancient Koh Ker temple," Sreysros said.
Located in Preah Vihear province's Kulen district, roughly 370 km northwest of the capital Phnom Penh, Koh Ker was the capital of the Khmer Empire for a brief period between 928-941 C.E., according to UNESCO.
The 87.8-square-km ancient site boasts several archaeological remains, including unique-in-style temples, sculptures, inscriptions, wall paintings, and impressive Shiva-lingas sanctuaries, as well as civil structures, ponds, dykes, reservoirs, and ancient roads that reflect the influence and grandeur of the Khmer Empire.
To date, four tangible cultural properties in the Southeast Asian country have been placed on the world heritage list. The first three listed properties are the Angkor Archaeological Park inscribed in 1992, the Temple of Preah Vihear in 2008, and the Temple Zone of Sambor Prei Kuk in 2017.
The Indonesia-China Business Forum and Indonesia Night were successfully held in Beijing to promote Indonesian culture and seek economic cooperation between the two countries.
A total of 250 people from the Chinese business community and various business sectors in Indonesia attended the event.
Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun presided over the forum and stated that on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between Indonesia and China this year, the business forum has built a platform for potential cooperation between the two countries.
During the event, China and Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding on strengthening mutual cooperation.
In order to promote Indonesian culture and traditional textile fabrics (Batik), more than 200 entrepreneurs, scholars, and officials from China, Indonesia, and other countries, as well as media professionals, attended the banquet.
In his speech, Oratmangun noted that, "this is the first Indonesian night to be held in China since the start of the epidemic. This Indonesian night will showcase Indonesia's rich and colorful culture, music, traditional dance, coffee, and traditional textile fabrics."
The governor of the Bank Indonesian also presented traditional Indonesian clothing to 16 individuals who have contributed to the promotion of relations between Indonesia and China, including the Indonesian Ambassador to China and his wife, as well as the Indonesian Consul General in Guangzhou.