"For all his life, he had striven for the liberation of African nations, championed the dignity of the African people and endeavored to advance the unity of all African countries and move forward Africa's cooperation with the world."

Li Yuanchao, China's vice-president, said when he joined more than 90 global leaders to pay respects to Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium near Johannesburg on Dec 10.

"China has good things to offer to Africa and the Americans too have good things to offer to Africa."

Bruce Wharton, US ambassador to Zimbabwe, said the United States does not view China as a threat in Africa, but sees the work being done by the two countries on the continent as complementary.

"To promote Chinese culture, we cannot just count on experts from China; we have to foster more China experts in other countries.

Zhu Chongshi, a member of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, saying the institute hopes to expand the promotion of Chinese culture overseas by cultivating a new grade of expert. So far, 30 foreign PhD students and 40 joint PhD fellows have been given the chance to study at 14 universities in China.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 12/13/2013 page3)