More than 600 years ago, famous Chinese navigator Zheng He and his fleet arrived in Africa. However, it was not until the 1950s, when China and Africa were both shaking off the shackles of foreign domination, that Chinese people began paying attention to Africa.

"There are still a lot of things that China and Africa should know about each other," said Zhong Jianhua, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa. He said China should not only shoulder more responsibility in Africa, but also learn more about this continent.

Building mutual understanding

During the past three decades, China did paid more attention to its own development and economic construction, said Ambassador Zhong. As a result, China focused more on developed countries and knew better about them.

But China has always been maintaining close ties with African countries.

"Improving mutual understanding is a two-way thing. It is not fair to only require African people know more about China. We also should know more about Africa, its culture, its history and its admiration of nature," said Zhong. "African people are worth expecting. Being a diplomat, I have been in many countries in the world. But I have experienced more kindness, friendliness and warmth here in Africa than in developed countries."

In the first 10 years of the 21st century, China and African countries jointly established many Confucius Institutes in Africa to help local residents know more about Chinese language, culture and history. "This serves as a good bridge of China-Africa cultural exchange. But 10 years are not enough for the two sides to know each other well. Both sides need to make more efforts," Zhong said.

Zhong said compared with the United States and European countries, Africa is less influential in terms of culture. China must respect African people's wishes of protecting their native culture instead of forcing cultural exports.

"We should not force them to accept something they don't want," Zhong said.

In the meantime, Zhong suggests China strengthen communication with African countries and find a way to enlarge Africa's influences in China. "We must not act like the arrogant nouveau riche and despise less developed countries. Actually, there is still a lot of stuff we need to learn from them," he said.

The ambassador encourages Chinese researchers to deepen exchanges with people from all walks of life in African society, saying some Western scholars of African studies reportedly stay at least seven to eight months every year in the continent.