A language flower blossoms in the desert

In Sudan, some who want to learn Chinese are being turned away due to a shortage of facilities

As I walked toward the small gate, the faint tones of Chinese being read aloud wafted through Khartoum's hot air. After a few more steps I was in a small compound, separated from a noisy street by a low, yellow wall, and before me were a dozen or so Sudanese youths standing in a small circle.

The youths, students of Chinese at the University of Khartoum, were enthusiastically reading in unison from the 1953 novel Long Live Youth by Wang Meng.