Ibrahima Thiaw, Curator of IFAN Museum of African Arts in Dakar briefly discusses the museum's development in Beijing on Nov. 18.
Museum curators and cultural officials from 14 sub-Saharan countries recently visited Beijing, the capital of China, and Henan, which is believed to be the origin of Chinese civilization in order to seek further cooperation in the protection of cultural relics. The event was set against the backdrop of governmental cultural agreements achieved during the fifth Form on China-Africa Cooperation, a jointly-initiated program between China and 50 African countries, in an effort to promote mutual development which was first started in 2000.
During the delegation’s stay in China from Nov. 8 to 18, delegates visited six Chinese museums, and also attended a seminar on heritage preservation and museum service, while engaging with Chinese counterparts for future collaborations.
According to the consensus of the 2012 forum, 100 Chinese cultural institutions would establish point-to-point partnerships with African institutions.
"About 30 partnerships have been built to date, many of which are about museums," Pu Tong, Vice Director of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations, China’s Ministry of Culture, said during the event.
Tentative efforts have been underway. The National Museum of China has been in collaboration with the National Museum of Kenya on an underwater archeology program in Kenya, since 2010; five experts from the Nanjing Museum visited Nigeria this October to help restore ceramics and sculptures; specialists from the Inner Mongolia Museum will soon head for Mauritius to map out plans on museum digitalization, among many other things.
Such efforts have already been hailed by African leaders.
"We need China’s help in technology and equipment," Zagba Narh Oyortey, Executive Director of Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and a member of the delegation, said of China’s help in their heritage protection.
However, there are also expectations from both sides.
Ibrahima Thiaw, Curator of IFAN Museum of African Arts in Dakar, Senegal suggested that education should be the prerequisite for cultural cooperation.
"China or Africa still don’t know each other very well, culturally speaking; education of Chinese and African students should be the focus," Thiaw said. "Like an educational course to compare Chinese and African social development in its complexity."
Guo Xiaoling, curator of China’s Capital Museum in Beijing, hoped the Chinese central government would establish an exclusive fund to promote Sino-African museum exchanges.
According to Song Yanqun, the head of the African division of China’s Ministry of Culture, the cultural ministry and commerce ministry in China will jointly begin four large-scale training programs with African countries next year, including those about their cultural heritage protection and restoration, martial arts, capability of library presidents and the craft of stage lighting.
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