“There have been Chinese in Africa since the 1800s,” says Yoon Jung Park. However, more Chinese have been moving to Africa since the 1990s with the advent of China’s “Going Out” policy, Park continued during the “Chinese in Africa” hour-long session in Washington, DC. Park, a Georgetown University professor, primarily focuses her work on Chinese migrants in Africa.

She and the other panelists at the Wilson Center Africa Program touched on a range of issues from Chinese companies outbidding local companies to the role of Africans in the Diaspora. However, the session turned to education when US Ambassador to Zambia Eric Shulutz said that among all the American and Chinese investments, investing in education would have been better because of its lasting effects. “It’s more sustainable,” echoed panelist Emmanuel Matamba, a Zambian academic of African politics and international relations.

And while much talk has focused on Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa, in 2004 the Chinese launched Confucius Institutes to promote Chinese language and culture. Most of them are in universities. In Africa, they have established 59 Institutes.

Beginning in 2020, the Zambian government will include Mandarin Chinese in the high school curriculum wrote Matamba in The Importance of Learning Chinese in Zambia. One estimate counts 100,000 Chinese in the southern African country, with some Zambians already referring to their country as “Chambia.”

“Today, refusing to learn a language that is spoken by more than 1.3 billion people, and whose political and economic clout will only increase, is to confine oneself to the limited knowledge that the colonialists wanted for Africa. Africa would once again lag as the rest of the world marches forward,” added Matamba.

Dr. Monde Muyangwa, Wilson Center Africa Program Director, also swayed the session’s attention after Park discussed participation of Chinese who have lived in Africa for multi-generations. To the chagrin of some, Monde added, ”Africans come in all colors.”