The Sino-African Higher Education and Cultural Exchange before 1911: A Historical Review

Abstract

In the last few decades, much ink has been spilt on the Sino-African relations. However, most literature concentrated on the economic, diplomatic, and political aspects of the Sino-African encounter, while few pieces of research touched upon the educational and cultural aspects of this encounter. With the increasing higher education and cultural exchange between China and the African countries in recent years, looking back at history, as a source of valuable insights to understand the present and forecast the future of this relationship, comes to the fore. This paper intends, through an analogical approach, to review and unveil the Sino-African higher education and cultural exchange before 1911. The author argues that by reviewing the educational and cultural impact of both sides’ scholars’ and travellers’ visits with their backgrounds and legacies according to the modern literature on higher education exchange goals, these scholars’ and travellers’ visits would be regarded as the earliest forms of the Sino-African higher education and cultural exchange.

Keywords: China, Africa, higher education exchange, cultural exchange, knowledge transfer

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-27-01

Publication date:September 30^th 2020