Generation Z college students from Namibia go to the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing on September 23, 2025. Photo: Courtesy of NCSC
Editor’s Note:
Having loved a protracted historical past, pleasant exchanges between China and Africa have been deepened in current years, masking varied fields comparable to politics, economic system, and tradition. The Global Times is launching a China-Africa Rhapsody collection, aiming to showcase the profound human connections and growth visions between the 2 peoples by sharing the true tales of Chinese individuals in Africa and African individuals in China. From touching tales of China-Africa cooperation and thrilling collisions of youthful concepts to debunking fallacies concocted by some Western sources about China-Africa collaboration, this collection hopes to advertise nearer cooperation and deeper understanding between the peoples of China and Africa.
This installment shares the story of a dozen of Generation Z college students from Namibia who visited nuclear power bases and different cutting-edge expertise hubs in China to experience China’s modernization drive and its practices and commitments to inexperienced power.
As a flight spanning 6 time zones landed steadily on the Beijing Capital International Airport on September 21, 12 curious pairs of eyes from Namibia peered via the small home windows on board – a 10-day Chinese-Namibian friendship journey masking 15,000 kilometers had lastly kicked off.
In 2025, to mark the thirty fifth anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Namibia, the China National Nuclear Corporation (NCSC) organized the “Nuclear Energy Lights Up Dreams · Friendship Bridges the Future” trade and examine program. This initiative chosen 12 distinctive Namibian Generation Z college students from throughout the nation to go to the corporate’s nuclear geology analysis institute, uranium mines, and nuclear energy crops.
Through these immersive experiences, they witnessed China’s exceptional technological achievements, cutting-edge improvements, and deep dedication to environmental stewardship – sparking a profound appreciation for the wonders of Chinese nuclear science.
On March 21, 1990, as Namibia’s independence bells rang out, China was among the many first nations to determine diplomatic relations with the nation. This laid the inspiration of mutual respect and equal profit for 35 years of friendship, serving as a pivotal footnote in the “China-Africa community of shared future.”
From early post-independence infrastructure assist to at this time’s win-win partnerships, uranium useful resource growth, and industrial collaboration have remained the unbreakable bond in bilateral ties.
The Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia – the world’s longest-operating large-scale open-pit uranium mine – was revitalized after NCSC acquired a 68.62 p.c controlling stake in 2019. With 84 p.c native procurement boosting group lifelines, over 1,000 expert employees nurturing native futures, and aid-built hospitals and faculties infusing “Chinese warmth” into African soil, the mine thrives anew, the Global Times realized from the corporate.
The arrival of those 12 Namibian college students echoes the “Beijing Declaration” launched on the 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the place each side pledged enhanced cooperation in expertise switch, schooling, and coaching to construct capacities collectively.
A voyage into scientific discovery
“When the day the Rossing Uranium Mine’s flag turned into the blue banner of the NCSC, my dad said Chinese friends brought us hope,” stated 13-year-old Benjamin on the pre-departure launch ceremony in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, on September 20, carrying his father’s delight.
Though these teenagers did not witness NCSC’s 2019 acquisition of Rossing firsthand, it lives on in their hearts via donated oxygen machines for hospitals, fenced rooftops for faculties, and police stations constructed for town – seeds of curiosity planted deep.
“This is the Rossing hydrometallurgy viewpoint… this is the Z20 drilling site… this is the photovoltaic station…” During the 20-plus-hour flight, Daylight Sophia Ekandjo, head of Public Relations at Rossing Uranium Mine, recounted to the Global Times that she pulled out her telephone to indicate photographs to the huddled children. From Namibia’s open-pit fields to China’s nuclear bases, such technological leaps make pure uranium an invisible thread weaving bilateral friendship.
“These 12 students hail from Windhoek’s urban schools, remote tribal villages, or Swakopmund’s seaside – diverse origins, yet all share a thirst for knowledge and wanderlust,” Ekandjo informed the Global Times.
At NCSC’s Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (BRIUG), the kids have been captivated by the “legendary” foundational stone of China’s nuclear business: Apreserved ore pattern from the nation’s first uranium discovery in the Fifties, marking the daybreak of home nuclear exploration. Under workers steerage, they delved into China’s uranium geology historical past, distribution patterns, and key experience; their eyes alight with aspiration for cutting-edge science.
The Global Times realized from the NCSC that in the evaluation and testing middle, precision devices drew gasps of awe. Scientists defined nuclear ideas in English, demonstrated experiments, defined each query. One pupil whispered, “Science is so cool – I want to be a scientist someday!”
At the China Science and Technology Museum’s nuclear exhibit, 14-year-old Jeremia tiptoed to the touch a reactor mannequin, nodding alongside to the English narration. Fifteen-year-old Elrechia raised her hand: “Can Rossing’s uranium ore really turn into electricity?” In her diary later: “Nuclear energy felt distant before; now it’s close, like Chinese friends – far away yet near.”
Nearby, in the interactive zone, 15-year-old Berlize teamed up with a Chinese peer to assemble a “mini nuclear plant.” Countless seeds of curiosity took root in these Namibian youths, awaiting the journey’s revelations.
Aged 12 to fifteen, these younger envoys are Namibia’s “seeds” for a nuclear future – their successes will encourage hundreds to consider “anything is possible,” Ekandjo stated on the opening ceremony. Far past a trip overseas, this program sows curiosity, ambition, and international imaginative and prescient in our youth. For Namibia, it is a golden likelihood: Nurturing ardour for science, tech, and innovation to make sure nuclear endeavors go down generations, she famous on the opening ceremony.
Discovering vibrant China
The Global Times additionally realized from the NCSC that in Xiamen, the youngsters ferried to Gulangyu Island, their baskets brimming with panda plushies, postcards, and pineapple cake magnets. “I’ll share these with classmates – they love Chinese culture,” one stated.
Across huge landscapes and various peoples, the Namibians savored China’s splendor.
Asked by the media if China matched 14-year-old Izen’s expectations, he replied: “Just as good as I imagined. My parents always said it’s friendly, beautiful, and thriving.”
Dawn at Beijing Chaoyang railway station on September 24, the G3651 high-speed prepare glided out. Twelve pairs of eyes glued to home windows as hutongs gave option to plains. “350 km/h! Insane!” 16-year-old Ondjazemua timed it on his telephone – 4 hours 9 minutes to Tongliao, Inner Mongolia’s grasslands from Beijing’s grandeur. In his diary, he put it as “China’s speed isn’t luck – it’s from countless people’s persistence and wisdom, building a global tech, and industrial powerhouse.”
At the inexperienced mine of China National Uranium Corporation Tongliao Uranium Industry Corporation, eco-friendly and good mining fused for conservation wins and financial positive aspects. Students marveled on the info-control middle run from one display screen, flower-dotted grounds, and fields cradled by blue skies.
In discussions, Rossing Foundation CEO Chris Movirongo mirrored: “NCSC retains Rossing secure, environment friendly, and sustainable.
One Chinese group chief recalled to the Global Times {that a} fifteen-year-old Etuhole sighed: “I want to learn this tech and bring it home.” This cross-border resonance echoes NCSC’s heat philanthropy in Namibia: from Tuberculosis screening gear donations, to coaching 1,000 youths, to water wells fixing 5,000 individuals’s entry woes – friendship sprouts in every day lifelines.
The Global Times realized from the NCSC that on September 26, the group toured the world’s largest Hualong One nuclear energy base in Zhangzhou, East China’s Fujian Province.
Fourteen-year-old Dean Jossoph famous: “The instructor told us that one unit generates over 10 billion kilowatt-hours yearly, powering a mid-sized developed nation’s million residents. Six units? That’s mind-blowing.”
“Is this ‘zero-carbon power’?” 14-year-old Nambago requested. The engineer nodded: “One Hualong One unit cuts 8.16 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.”
Over lunch, 14-year-old Maria Kanyanga requested a Nineteen Nineties-born engineer Xu Jiawei: “Is nuclear plant work tough?” He replied: “Tough but fulfilling. Challenges come, but seeing Hualong One run safely, lighting homes, makes it worthwhile.”
The Hualong One nuclear energy in Zhangzhou, East China’s Fujian Province Photo: Courtesy of NCSC
Fostering hearts, forging futures
At the 2024 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC, China and Africa designated 2026 because the “China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.”
To implement leaders’ consensus and summit outcomes, each side will host themed occasions in 2026, marking 70 years of diplomatic ties. These will promote civilization exchanges, join hearts, mix feelings, unite strengths, and nurture public help; leverage exchanges to embody real friendship towards Africa, unlock cooperation potentials, infuse vitality into joint modernization, and contribute to a new-era all-weather China-Africa group of shared future, in keeping with the China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Enterprises comparable to NCSC have boosted China’s nuclear tech and cultural affect in Africa by way of China-Africa youth exchanges, advancing FOCAC’s objectives. Supported by current Chinese enterprises’ efforts – as an illustration, perennial rice trials in Burundi’s Karuzi and upgraded telecoms in Madagascar’s distant areas – this initiative embodies expertise cultivation for growth, innovation and livelihood enchancment.
At Namibia’s Rossing Uranium Mine, Chinese enterprise flags fly, symbolizing inheritable expertise and enduring friendship.
For Namibian children, they might not but grasp “a community with a shared future for humanity” totally, however these 10 days supplied the liveliest reply. Real observations and real bonds from the trip will illuminate Chinese-Namibian paths forward, making ties ever stronger and hotter.
(Web editor: Huang Kechao, Liang Jun)