The Center for West African Studies held its 8^thLecture Series with the theme African Civilization and its Relation with China on Thursday 21 November, 2019. The lecture series took place at the UESTC Qingshuihe Campus SMEB C101and was organized by the School of Management and Economics (SME) and the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) sponsored by the School of International Education of UESTC and the Center for West African Studies of UESTC.

To start of this event, the Director of CWAS on behalf of SPAA gave awards with honorary certificates to exceptional SPAA students who won and participated in the 2019 Essay Writing Competition titled Red Trip to Hometown of Deng Xiaoping. Special Awards were also given to the students who also wrote essays on the Chinese Culture Experience “Panda Trip” which took place in December 2018.

The Deputy Director of the School of International Education of UESTC, who was the moderator for the lecture series, introduced the guest speaker Professor Li Anshan. He is a Professor of School of International Studies at Peking University and also a visiting professor of CWAS of UESTC. Professor Li Anshan is a renounced researcher with vast experience in African Studies and has numerous publications on African Studies and China-African Studies. His work has been recognized and celebrated worldwide which has given him opportunities to be chosen as a distinguished guest at very important summits such as the Sino-African Education Ministers Forum and FOCAC-Beijing Summit.

The attendees of this lecture included delegates from the CWAS of UESTC and international students from Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia just to mention a few and other international students from other parts of Asia. 

Professor Li started the lecture by introducing some facts of Africa, its history and some biased views of Africa. He highlighted that some of African Civilization as known today is deduced from rock art that told stories of life during the ancient times, amazing hand craft made of stone, bronze, gold and brass and breathtaking architecture of structures that still stand today. Professor Li also highlighted and explained that in relation to history and civilization, Africa and China have a lot in common. This is seen by recordings of early life and early interactions between China and Africa through trade and the coming of the colonial rule in both regions by Europe as shown by the scramble and partition of Africa and China. There is evidence of the growth of China-Africa relations through construction of roads and other transportation infrastructure which has seen economic development for Africa as a result of such relations. In African history, China played a huge role in assisting in the fight against colonial rule leading to the independence of many African countries. The China-Africa relations have grown and have expanded to humanitarian aid, an increase of African students taking their studies in China and continuing bilateral cooperation for economic development.

The students present showed appreciation for the lecture and Professor Li and got the opportunity to ask questions on issues such as continual support of China to Africa, environmental protection and the image of China as seen through the lenses of social media. In his concluding statement, Professor Li noted that, as the relations grow, problems are bound to exist but it is very crucial for both Africa and China to find ways to tackle them for the benefit of both parties. As of today, China-Africa relations are growing and like brothers, they will continue to help each other whenever need be. 

Biography

LI Anshan （PhD. Toronto）, professor of School of International Studies at PKU and Adjunct professor of UESTC. He is Chair of Chinese Society of African Historical Studies, Vice Chair of International Scientific Committee of UNESCO General History of Africa (Vol. IX-XI), Vice Chair of Chinese Association of African Studies, member of international editorial committees of Insight on Africa in India, Legon Humanities in Ghana, Brazilian Journal of African Studies, etc. Besides publications in Chinese, he also has various publications in English, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation（Pretoria, 2013），FOCAC 2015(Pretoria, 2015), A History of Overseas Chinese in Africa to 1911 (New York, 2012) , Chinese Medical Cooperation in Africa (Uppsala, 2011), British Rule and Rural Protest in Southern Ghana (New York, 2002), etc. He gave speeches on China-African relations in various countries and lectured on African history to the top leaders of Chinese Communist Party and was commissioned to visit African countries for the assessment of FOCAC follow-up action. He was invited as distinguished guest at the first FOCAC--Beijing Ministerial Conference, Sino-African Education Ministers Forum and FOCAC-Beijing Summit.