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President William Ruto paid a successful state visit to China this April. During this visit, the two heads of state agreed to elevate the bilateral relations to China-Kenya Community with a Shared Future for the New Era and reached important consensus on deepening exchanges and cooperation across the board, among which is the decision to hold the 2025 China-Kenya Culture and Tourism Season.
This is the first time for the two countries to hold such an event. Now the two sides are stepping up discussions to implement the consensus of the two heads of state and have agreed to hold the opening ceremony of the China-Kenya Culture and Tourism Season in June. This would be a defining moment in the cultural and tourism cooperation between our two countries.
China and Kenya are both countries with diversified and colorful culture. Though separated by vast oceans and situated respectively on Asian and African continents, friendly exchanges between the two countries date back to ancient times. Over 600 years ago, the fleet of admiral Zheng He, the celebrated explorer in Ming Dynasty, visited places like Mombasa and Malindi along the East African coast, sowing seeds of China-Kenya friendship. The formal establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries in 1963 heralded a new chapter friendly exchanges between our two countries. Ever since then, bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields have deepened comprehensively in pace with the times.
In 1983, a group of Kenyan teenage students with keen hope for future travelled to China to learn acrobatics. In the subsequent two years, they studied Chinese culture in earnest, trained diligently to hone their skills and successfully accomplished the mission. Upon returning to Kenya, they dedicated themselves to innovation and breakthroughs in acrobatic art by fusing African culture with Chinese acrobatics, thus promoting cultural exchanges between China and Kenya. They are now still active on the stage. It is precisely through the endeavors of people like them generation after generation that China-Kenya relations have accomplished the remarkable achievements that we witness today.
Kenya, hailed as the “cradle of mankind,” is one of the important birthplaces of the human race. Kenya boasts rich and vibrant tribal cultures, magnificent landscapes as well as abundant wildlife. The unique Kenyan culture, the vast Great Rift Valley, the scattered lakes dotting the landscape, the tropical savannahs full of vitality as well as the annual Great Migration hold great appeal for tourists from all over the world including China. More and more Chinese are traveling to Kenya for tourism, business, and professional opportunities with the upgrading of the China-Kenya relations and the ever deepening of practical cooperation.
According to statistics, China is now Kenya’s 6th largest source country of inbound tourists. Kenya welcomed over 90,000 Chinese visitors in 2024, a record increase of 47.4% over the previous year. As a diplomat posted to Kenya and resident of Nairobi, I have visited the Nairobi National Museum, ridden a bicycle in the Karura forest and taken a walk at Oloolua Nature Trail in weekends and holidays. I look forward to more new encounters to fully experience and appreciate the cultural heritage and natural scenery of Kenya.
China is one of the four great ancient civilisations of the world, and is the sole uninterrupted civilisation that has extended from the ancient times to the present day. The profound depth and splendor Chinese civilisation are epitomized in the intricate oracle bone scripts, the lyrical beauty of Tang and Song poetry, the colorful masks of Peking Opera, the serene elegance of the traditional Chinese tea ceremony and so on.
The vast of China is never short of must-visit tour destinations, from the Three Sacred Mountains and Five Great Peaks to the underground Terracotta Warriors, from the picturesque Guilin to the majestic Great Wall stretching thousands of miles, from the ancient Forbidden City to the modern “Magic City” of Shanghai Bund, all blend and mutually enhance the beauty of natural scenery and centuries-old cultural landmarks. As Confucius said, “Isn’t it a pleasure to have friends coming from afar?” Hospitality, a traditional virtue in China since ancient times, runs deep in the DNA of the Chinese people. We are delighted to welcome friends from Kenya and across the world to visit and experience China.
“True friends always feel close to each other, no matter the distance between them.” Cultures become diverse through exchange, and civilisations become enriched through mutual learning. Tourism serves as the vital conduit for mutual enrichment of different countries and cultures as well as the bridge linking civilisations and strengthening bonds of friendship. During President Ruto’s visit to China, the two heads of state called for respect for the diversity of world civilisations, enhancing inter-civilisational and people-to-people exchanges, and advocating equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilisations to advance human progress.
It is against this backdrop that China and Kenya have decided to co-host the Culture and Tourism Season. A diverse array of events will be held after the opening ceremony, including the live broadcast of the Great Migration in Masai Mara, the Friendship Sports Games, the Chinese Cuisine competition, the Animation Film Festival, and the China TV Play Festival. These events will further invigorate the cultural and tourism cooperation between our countries, enhance mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples and inject important impetus to building an even closer China-Kenya community with a shared future for the new era.
Guo Haiyan is the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Kenya.
