Pretoria, South Africa - August 03, 2024

The Africa-China Experience 2024, an event dedicated to building bridges between African and Chinese communities by celebrating diversity and forging connections, was held on Aug 3 in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa.

Combining the essences of the two distinct cultures, artists from both sides delivered captivating performances that blended vibrant African rhythms with graceful Chinese dance steps.

Exciting internship and scholarship opportunities in China were also provided here to help African workers grow their professional skills and promote cultural exchanges.

Attendees believed events like this are of great significance as people live in a global village where cultural integration is accelerating and transcending geographical boundaries.

Under the theme "What Is in Your Hand?", the event encouraged participants to explore and harness their unique talents and resources to make changes in their community or industry. It also aimed to help bridge cultural divides in workplaces and promote better mutual understanding and collaboration.

Organizers believed that by connecting these communities, they are empowering individuals to become global citizens and catalysts for positive change.

Shotlist:
Pretoria, South Africa - Aug 3, 2024:
1. Various of dance performances at Africa-China Experience 2024;
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Chen, Managing Director, AgriPower (starting with shot 1):
"So, the Africa-China event is also more about bringing young entrepreneurs, especially people in the arts and culture space, to come together and bring them opportunities on collaborating with Chinese companies and how to enhance the China-Africa relationship, especially from a soft power perspective.";
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lebogang Rasethaba, filmmaker (ending with shot 4):
"The more we get to learn about each other through events like this, the more we realize what we have in common and where we differ, and we take those things that we have in common and build on those. And [for] where we differ, we learn each other and respect each other, and we build community.";
4. Various of costumes on display;
5. Dance performance;
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Lethiwe Maritz, director, South African BRICS Association:
"I think the first thing that we need to understand, before you can work with another person, you need to understand their culture, you need to understand their way of life. And once you get that, it's easier for you to break into working with them. If I can't even speak your language, how am I going to communicate with you? It's breaking barriers such as communication and culture.";
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Angela Yeung, jewelery designer (partially overlaid with shots 8-9/ending with shot 10):
"The mixture of African culture and also our Chinese culture is a start of the conversations of getting to know each other better and also what can we do for each other. It is so important because we have an opportunity to learn from one another and also see what we can, what is the differences and what is also the same thing that we are commonly going for, like to help with unemployment problem in South Africa. I think it's so important to actually get to understand each other's culture, so there's no misunderstanding and misinformation.";
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
8. Paintings on display;
9. Various of red lanterns
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE];
10. Poster of National Arts Council;
11. Various of men beating drums, dance performance in progress.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]