Education officials from South Africa and Angola, attending the 2026 World Chinese Language Conference in Beijing, described learning Chinese as something more than the acquisition of new skills. It's a bridge for cultural understanding, international cooperation and tangible opportunities for young people.
The conference was held from Friday to Sunday, with around 5,000 representatives from more than 160 countries and regions in attendance.
Siviwe Gwarube, South Africa's minister of basic education, said language carries history, preserves culture, communicates values and enables the exchange of ideas, while also carrying an important economic dimension.
"A language is not just words; it is also about culture, about people," she said, noting that as China promotes its language, it also reveals its people and culture to the world. Language is an important window through which the international community can see the human dimension behind the country's innovation and development.
Gwarube said that by 2063 Africa will be home to the world's largest working-age population, and that young people need to equip themselves with multiple languages to work and contribute in economies around the world. In her view, learning Chinese offers young Africans cross-border economic opportunities and a window for understanding that reaches far beyond the surface.
Albano Vicente Lopes Ferreira, Angola's minister of higher education, science, technology and innovation, called learning Chinese "a strategic opportunity to acquire knowledge, receive education and find employment".
More than 400 Chinese companies operate in Angola in sectors from infrastructure and energy to telecommunications and industry. Young professionals with Chinese language skills can communicate directly with Chinese partners and take part in technical exchanges. As bilateral cooperation expands into engineering, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, modern agriculture, renewable energy and biotechnology, proficiency in the language is creating more space in which local youth can engage in scientific cooperation and industrial development.
Ferreira praised China for opening up international access to its development achievements, and for seeking to grow with other countries and contribute to global development.
Zhong Yinghua, president of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, said language educators are no longer confined to teaching but are working to build a more three-dimensional, open and collaborative educational ecosystem oriented to the practical needs of students.
So far, 92 countries have incorporated Chinese language into their national education systems. About 210 million people overseas are learning or using the language.
Yang Xiangyu and Liang Shan contributed to this story.
