David Geary, a British football instructor at Guizhou University, has found his dream job teaching football in the place where he spent a significant part of his childhood. His deep connection to Chinese culture and his passion for football have shaped his unique journey.
As the football coach of Guizhou University, Geary is responsible for teaching students who choose the optional football course and the university's football team.
For Geary, football is not only his hobby, but also his passion and lifelong career.
"It's my dream job since this is the place where I grew up. My dream has always been to come back here and help college students improve their football skills and enjoy the fun of the game. And we have trained for days preparing for friendly match of Village Super League between local and overseas students in Rongjiang County," said Geary.
The Village Super League, known as "Cun Chao" by Chinese netizens, has gone viral on China's social media platforms with its festive atmosphere and frequent surprising world-class goal-scoring performances.
Geary's connection to Guizhou began in his childhood when his parents, fascinated by China's ethnic cultures, sought out a local to teach them the Dong minority's language and culture. The family would stay in Liubaitang Village, Rongjiang County, for a month each year, immersing themselves in the local community.
As a self-proclaimed "Guizhou native", Geary can not only speak fluent Mandarin, but also the local dialects. Discussing the changes in Guizhou over the years, he was deeply moved.
"Every time I come back, I visit 'grandpa' and 'grandma.' This is the banyan tree of our village, and that is the river where I used to play with my friends. The houses have changed, since the old ones were made of wood back then. Everything has changed so much," said Geary.
"'Grandpa' was always sad every time when we were about to leave. I always knew that we had become families over the years," he said.
Geary said he did not like to travel to Rongjiang back then, because a single trip between Rongjiang and Guiyang City, where his family lived, cost 16 hours since there was no highway or high-speed train back then.
But now he travels to Rongjiang a lot to watch "Cun Chao" and support the village's football team, and thanks to the improved transportation system, it only takes about one hour and a half from Guiyang to Rongjiang now.
"Cun Chao is very special. All the villagers will be there to support the village's team. The atmosphere was amazing and pure about sports. Cun Chao is a great platform showcasing Guizhou and China to the whole world," he said.
British football coach who grew up in Guizhou shares deep bond with China
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has been foundational to successful China-Africa cooperation from trade to infrastructure and will help build genuine people-to-people friendships going forward, said Ikenna Emewu, editor-in-chief of Africa China Economy Magazine.
Emewu, together with other scholars from 50 African countries, sent a joint letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, warmly congratulating the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, highly commending the historic achievements of the FOCAC, and expressing expectations that the upcoming FOCAC summit would write a new chapter in building a China-Africa community with a shared future and the joint modernization of the Global South.
President Xi recently wrote a reply letter to the letter, saying that China and Africa have always been a community with a shared future, and in the face of a volatile and intertwined world situation, China and Africa need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation more than ever before.
During an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Emewu said Africa-China cooperation has achieved a series of outcomes since its establishment at the turn of the millennium.
"This is 24 years of the FOCAC forum on China-Africa cooperation. There have been a lot of achievements. The platform of the framework has assisted so much in bettering African infrastructure. China has done a lot of infrastructure projects in Africa over the years. China has been the major infrastructure contractor in Africa. China is Africa's number one trade partner and has provided a lot of facilities and economic enablers. It has also facilitated people-to-people partnerships and has assisted in growing Africa's education platform or education future. Because right now, apart from France, China is the most favored or preferred place for international studies for African young people," he said.
With these achievements in place, Emewu expressed confidence that the forum's role in advancing China-Africa relations will only grow, noting that its 2024 Summit of the Forum, set to be held in the Chinese capital from Sept 4 to 6, will play a major role in shaping the relationship going forward.
"It is our expectation that FOCAC will be strengthened more, FOCAC will be enlarged more, FOCAC would get better options to work better and be stronger than it has always been. I have no doubts about the resolve of President Xi Jinping to make sure that FOCAC works better than before. Before, while the FOCAC was on, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative and all the African state parties to FOCAC are also subscribed to the membership of the Belt and Road Initiative, so it's a double-barreled diplomatic framework between China and Africa, one through the FOCAC and [the other] through the Belt and Road Initiative. I know, I am convinced, persuaded that, quite right, the summit will be a very big success," said the editor-in-chief.
"[I expect] more cooperation in diplomacy to make the diplomatic relationship between China and 53 African countries who are members of the FOCAC to get better. We need better understanding on the people-to-people level. That is the most important aspect of FOCAC's objective to my mind and understanding. Because after we have done everything in leadership, the leaders agree, understand each other, we build infrastructure, we boost the economy, it's onto our people. The African people and the Chinese people come to see themselves as friends, as partners. Those things would work much benefits, so I want them to target so much on how we can build people-to-people relationships and make it better than what it is today," he added.
FOCAC's achievements form steady path forward for China-Africa relations: Nigerian journalist
