Song, stance, dining tables: China and Africa share rhythm

At a copper mine in Zambia, workers are singing. On the streets of Dakar, young people are practicing tai chi. In a kitchen in Dar es Salaam, apprentices are working with a cleaver and a wok.

Across the continent, singing, dancing, and cooking in everyday life fall into the same rhythm.

This year marks the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges. Different countries, different tempos, and yet, across mountains and seas, the same beat.

Rising from the mine

The video The Song of Chambishi recently went viral across Chinese internet platforms. The voices and footwork of Zambian miners won over countless online users and turned the spotlight onto the copper mine itself.

Chambishi was discovered in the late 19th century, and its development was anything but smooth. Production only began to recover and grow after the late 1990s, when the Sino-Zambian joint venture, NFC Africa Mining Plc, took over its operation and investment.

Xu Laixiang, the company's deputy general manager who wrote both the song's words and music, says the idea came to him while preparing the launch ceremony of a tunnel-boring machine. "I wanted a song that captured a century of Chambishi's history that could lift the workers' spirits. I never expected it to take off online," he says. The company, he adds, has not only created a large number of local jobs but also helped improve infrastructure and schooling in the surrounding communities.

The chorus echoing through the mine is a small snapshot of how cultural exchange and practical cooperation between Africa and China benefit so many. Across the wider continent, melodies carrying that shared feeling are giving more young people a stage on which to shine and chase their dreams.

After winning a China-Africa co-produced singing contest called Sing for Africa in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, a vocalist known as Muluwa used the prize money to open a studio dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musical talent. In the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, Dream Show, founded by Chinese residents, has helped more than 300 young people travel to China for cultural exchange over the years, putting homegrown artists in the spotlight and giving the local creative industry a push.