By Lincoln G. Peters
The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Liberia through its Ambassador Scholarship has awarded 131 scholarships to young Liberian university students.ย
The Chinese Ambassadorโs Scholarship was awarded to the beneficiaries on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 on the University of Liberia Capitol Hill campus.
The beneficiaries included students from the Confucious Institute at the University of Liberia, Tubman University, Cuttington University and Bomi Community College.
The Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship was established in 2011 with the aim to provide academic empowerment for excellent students in Liberia.
Since its establishment, more than 1,000 outstanding Liberian students have been awarded this Honor.
Remarking at the program, Chinese Ambassador to Liberia Mr. Yin Chengwu disclosed that the scholarship has encouraged the students to work hard and helped them realize their dreams.
He added that it has increased their interests in learning Chinese, understanding China, and has sown the seeds of friendship between China and Liberia.
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Ambassador Yin stated that education is the best way for any country to cultivate good culture and customs among its citizenry, adding that 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,โ said Amb. Yin.
โMore than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese sages said that if a country wants to cultivate good customs, it must start with education,” the Chinese Envoy noted.
Since the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Liberia in 2003, he said 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 have participated in short-term training programs.
Ambassador Yin recalled 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 furthered 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 countries.
And 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 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.
“I believe that the deepening of China-Liberia cultural exchanges will promote friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation, and further our bilateral relations.โ
โI 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.”
The Chinese diplomat noted that in modern times, the Chinese government has also made great efforts to develop education.
