Eleanor Roosevelt, America's longest-serving First Lady once said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Nearly a century later, it is safe to surmise that the future belongs to the Chinese people, guided as they are by their national dream.
Much has been written about the Chinese Dream and what it means for the rest of the world and Africa. But from an African perspective while it stands for harmonious and peaceful development, it also offers valuable lessons on how the continent can chart its own destiny.
When we think of the Chinese Dream and the African dream there is something that immediately comes to the mind. Both the dreams focus on the economic and social betterment of people.
A new wave of Africans returning home after studying in China is bringing with them the skills and know-how to help fuel the continent's most important partnership of the modern era.
More than 1,000 years after his death the philosophies of Confucius still guide the lives of many Chinese.
Young professionals educated in China are set to fuel the workforce of the most progressive companies in Africa, says Norbert Haguma, founder of the Young African Professionals and Students and the chief executive of Kiziga.com.
More African students are now studying in China, thanks to the development of economic and trade relations between the two sides and China's growing economic stature.
During a recent visit to Cairo and Maputo, I heard frequently nihao or xieixie (meaning "how are you" and "thank you" in Chinese) in the street. More surprisingly, when I was giving a speech at the Confucius Institute at Cairo University, students asked me questions in Mandarin that sounded far better than my own Hunan-accented Mandarin.
Taking Libreville's main coastal road with palm trees swaying in the Atlantic breeze, one could easily imagine it being an upmarket French resort.
There is a common perception that all the sub-Saharan African nations are "least developed countries", but there are some exceptions such as Gabon that are prompting Chinese companies to chalk out new business strategies to stay ahead.
Sydoine Moudouma says it can be difficult for the Chinese as relative outsiders to operate in Gabon when the country retains such close links to the French.
While more people are realizing that China and Africa enjoy an important relationship, some people may think that the same does not apply to the continent's former French colonies, where France's interests tend to be more entrenched.
Copyright 1995 - 2010 . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 20100000002731 
