By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson I
The total of 131 students of various public universities across Liberia, on Tuesday, November 27, 2023 were awarded the Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship of excellence.
The ambassadorial scholarship which was awarded through the University of Liberia and the Confucius Institute, seeks to provide academic empowerment for excellent students from the University of Liberia, Tubman University, Cuttington University, and Bomi Community College.
The Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship was established in 2011. since its establishment, more than 1,000 outstanding Liberian students have been awarded this honor.
It is believed that the scholarship has encouraged the students to work hard and helped them realize their dreams, increased their interests in learning Chinese, understanding China and have sown the seeds of friendship between China and Liberia.
Chinese ambassador to Liberia, Yin Chengwu asserted that education is the best way for any country to cultivate good culture and customs amongst it’s citizenry.
Therefore, it is the fundamentals of the country’s culture and society.
“Education relates to the fundamentals of a country, a culture, and a society. Since ancient times, the Chinese people have attached great importance to education. More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese sages said that if a country wants to cultivate good customs, it must start with education.”
Since the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Liberia in 2003, more than 800 Liberian students have been sponsored by the Chinese side to pursue degree programs through various scholarships and other programs in China, while 2,000 plus participating in short-term training programs.
Ambassador Yin Chengwu recorded that in 2008, China’s Changsha University of Science & Technology, in cooperation with the University of Liberia, established the Confucius Institute at UL, which has become another signature program of China-Liberia educational cooperation.
The Confucius Institute at UL has not only attracted many students to learn Chinese and Chinese culture, but also recommended hundreds of students to local Chinese enterprises, and China-Liberia educational cooperation has enabled many Liberians to get more knowledge and skills, and opened a window of opportunity of changing their lives; as China continues to pursue high-level opening-up, China-Liberia cooperation in the education area will be more promising.
The Chinese diplomat further added that in March of 2023, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Civilization Initiative, which advocates respecting the diversity of civilizations, upholding the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations, promoting mutual understanding and friendship among the people of all countriesand jointly advancing the progress of human civilizations, which provides strategic guidance for cultural exchanges and mutual learning among countries including China-Liberia educational exchanges and cooperation.
Ambassador Yin Chengwu further maintained that China and Liberia have unique and diverse cultures, and the prospects for cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Liberia are broad, something he believes that is deepening the China-Liberia cultural exchanges and will promote the friendships that are mutually beneficial to cooperation.
“I believe that the deepening of China-Liberia cultural exchanges will promote friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation, and further our bilateral relations. I sincerely hope that more and more young people from China and Liberia will get to know each other, learn and understand each other’s languages and cultures, and become a new generation of envoys of friendship between the two countries.”
At the same time, the Chinese diplomat in his deliberation added that in modern times, the Chinese government has also made great efforts to develop education. Especially in recent years, President Xi Jinping o
