Program improves fabric of learning

New Confucius Institute at Kenya's Moi University is the first focus on textile engineering and fashion design

Learning grammar is important for picking up a new language, but it is important to remember that language and culture are inseparable, according to Zhao Xiaolin, director of the new Confucius Institute at Moi University in Eldoret, a principal city in western Kenya.

Zhao says language carries culture, "and this is how the gap between Kenya and China will be reduced".

She was speaking at her office next to Rivatex East Africa Ltd, a research and product development department of the university that manufactures a wide range of cotton and polyester products. It is located about 1.5 kilometers from Eldoret town. The university's main campus is about 35 kilometers southeast of Eldoret.

The Confucius Institute was launched in March and is the first one focusing on textile engineering and fashion design. It is jointly operated by Moi University and Donghua University in Shanghai.

To promote the study of Chinese language and culture abroad, the Chinese government started creating and funding Confucius Institutes in partnership with institutions abroad in 2004.

The program is particularly significant given that Kenya's textile industry has slumped due to relatively high production costs. It also faces stiff competition from Chinese imports. At the same time, many Chinese companies are hoping to move excess industrial capacity to Africa.

The professor is all too aware of the institute's significance in Kenya. She says it serves as the bridge between the two countries, something that is vitally important in the textiles industry.

"Currently, Kenya is in the same position China was 20 years ago. One can clearly feel Kenya's urgency to replicate China's success. But this will only be possible when Kenyans understand Chinese culture," she says.

This starts in class, where students have an opportunity to observe their Chinese tutors. In ancient China, teachers were revered as the tools shaping the nation's future. "We are the perfect and closest examples for them to learn about characteristics of Chinese people," Zhao says.

One important lesson is in the concept of time. She is baffled by how casually time is treated by some of her students. "A teacher is supposed to arrive in class after the students and not the other way round. This wastes time, an element that can never be recovered."

She says the slow pace of decision-making also frustrates her. While agreeing that bureaucracy is present in government institutions whether in China or Kenya, the professor says rapid implementation of education programs quickens a country's development pace.

She says her students are intelligent and industrious. "China's modernization was supported by hardworking people. This is what will replicate success in Kenya - its hardworking youths."

She already has identified similarities between the two cultures. One is the eagerness to change for the better. "Kenyan students remind me of the situation in China 20 years ago, when there was a palpable atmosphere for transformation from poverty. Through interactions, Kenya can learn a lot from China's progress and even speed up advancement in a better way."

Zhao says Kenyans are also happy in daily life, something that has diminished among the Chinese. "Kenyans are optimistic and very social even to strangers. Chinese people need to recoup this," says the professor, who taught English at Donghua University for 35 years.

She strongly advocates exchange programs between Chinese and Kenyan university students. "Laxity has settled among Chinese youths and, unlike their parents, they are not as industrious, perhaps because they have found themselves in a modern China. I have also noticed this in youths during my travels across Britain and Japan between 2001 and 2008.

"But in Kenya, the youths are advocating for change and are working toward it. The program will be a good experience for Kenyans to witness the results of hard work when they visit China, and their counterparts to understand the genesis of China's development when they come to Kenya."

This is likely to trigger innovation between the two cultures, leading to closer cooperation in addressing challenges on both sides, she says.

"It touches the core of our cooperation in textile technology and apparel. I know the technology used in China is advanced, but craftsmen from both cultures can come together and launch products that will revolutionize the world," says the professor.

Zhao says fashion is a dynamic industry, and one can keep up only by keeping abreast of what's going on in other cultures.

She has plans to establish an African center of textile and fashion studies at Moi University that could enable the fusion of African and Chinese ideas, she says. It is an idea she believes experts from both cultures will be enthusiastic to discuss and implement, probably starting next year.

In the meantime, she has already noticed the absorption of Chinese culture in Eldoret. "Students want to learn Chinese cuisine, and I have already taught them how to make dumplings and pancakes," says Zhao.

She has also been invited to teach Chinese cuisine lessons at Moi University's satellite classes located in the Eldoret downtown area, which hosts hotel management and hospitality programs.

She is visibly excited at the prospect. "Personally, I love cooking and I easily source ingredients locally. Indeed this is another opportunity to pass Chinese culture," she says.

She plans to host a Chinese cooking day in September. The move would boost Kenya's tourism campaign to increase the number of Chinese visitors to the country. Although Kenya has identified China as one of its key source markets, recent figures show visitors from the Asian country have been dropping, partly due to security worries, health concerns due to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and a lack of Mandarin-speaking hospitality workers.

She says four Mandarin classes already are underway. Classes have advanced four levels, meaning that students can communicate in basic Chinese. The institute is also offering short courses targeting the local business community.

"Chinese people are not enthusiastic about places they know little about. But as more cultural programs continue, this is bound to change," she says.

Eldoret has only one Chinese restaurant. "I think we have very few Chinese here. The county needs more flights from Nairobi to improve the situation. But I think this is the best place to be because it is safer and people here are happier and friendlier."

She recalls that during the terrorism incident in April, the Confucius Institute linked the Chinese embassy and business community to the institution. The attack at Garissa University College in Kenya's northeastern town of Garissa on April 2 killed 148, including 142 students. The college is affiliated to Moi University. Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab terrorists were responsible.

"Every country has its own history but this does not define the future. We need to understand that we cannot undo the past. All we need presently is to respect each other," Zhao says.

More than 100 campus students graduated recently after completing basic classes in Chinese language. Moi University staff and workers from Rivatex also attend classes at the institute after work.

The opening of the Confucius Institute at Moi University also marks the coming of age of collaboration between the Kenyan campus and Donghua University.

lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn