Chinese Language: A Bridge of Friendship across the Desert

In Northwest Africa, the vast desert meets the boundless ocean, creating Mauritania's unique landscape. This land is mysterious because of the desert. Today, it is brimming with vitality due to Chinese language. Here, with love and wisdom, Chinese language teachers have built a bridge of friendship across the desert for local learners, thus writing a dynamic chapter of cultural exchanges between China and Mauritania. 

Staying True to Original Aspiration

The connection between Yue Yonggang, an international Chinese teacher, and Africa began with his encounter with some Sudanese classmates during his master's degree studies. That encounter opened a new window to African culture and sparked his deep longing for Africa. "At that time, I had two classmates from Sudan. Through them, I met many African friends and came into contact with many African cultures. It was also from then that I became curious about African culture and wanted to go to Africa and have a look." In May 2021, with curiosity about Africa and enthusiasm for Chinese language education, Yue Yonggang officially joined the Confucius Institute at the University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya in Mauritania, embarking on a new journey as an international Chinese teacher in the desert country.

Li Mo arrived in Mauritania to teach Chinese language in April 2023. "Through Chinese teaching and cultural exchanges, people far away in African countries can get a more realistic view of China, and at the same time, I have gained a firsthand experience of Africa, so I think this job is very meaningful," she said. In Mauritania, daily necessities are scarce, and living conditions are harsh, but these have never deterred Li Mo from staying committed to her work. She is devoted to the Chinese language teaching in Mauritania, and has enabled more and more Mauritanian students to feel the charm of the Chinese language through her efforts. 

In Mauritania, Chinese language teachers face many challenges. Educational resources are limited, teaching facilities are relatively simple, and network signal is unstable. All this poses difficulties for the teaching of Chinese language. However, Yue Yonggang and Li Mo do not back down. They try to adapt to the environment, overcome difficulties, and make full use of the limited resources available to do their teaching work." Here, students can also feel the efforts of the Chinese teachers. When we enter the classroom, we are always greeted with smiling faces. For me, I have an increasingly strong feeling, that is, only love can get you far." Yue Yonggang said.

Lighting up Students' Journey to Mastering Chinese

In Mauritania, Chinese is a challenging new language, especially for students who start from scratch. For them, the tone of Chinese is no less than a difficult puzzle and the writing of Chinese characters is just like an intricate art. With patience and encouragement, Yue Yonggang has charted a blueprint for his students to learn Chinese. One of his students found it difficult to learn Chinese and write characters in particular. He kept encouraging him to persevere and took time to refresh his knowledge and practice writing with him. Now, the student is making rapid progress. Chinese learning is more and more relaxing and interesting to him, and his interest in the language is greater than ever.

Li Mo is constantly innovating in teaching methods. She knows that love and encouragement are the key to students' success. In class, she carefully designs teaching steps to create a good learning atmosphere for her students. "As the tone of Chinese and the writing of Chinese characters are very strange to local students, teachers need to try to create a relaxed and pleasant learning atmosphere in an easy-to-understand way, such as integrating drawing, body language, peer learning and other methods into teaching activities, so that new knowledge can be understood and accepted more easily and the pressure and burden of learning can be reduced." 

Through the patient guidance and meticulous teaching of the Chinese teachers, students have gradually mastered effective learning methods, which help to fuel their enthusiasm. As a result, the number of Chinese students has begun to multiply. Moreover, students' progress is visible: At first, they were perplexed strangers to the Chinese language, but now, they can communicate fluently in Chinese, write Chinese characters neatly, understand and use the grammatical structure of the Chinese language...With wisdom and patience, their Chinese language teachers have helped them surmount language barriers and lit up their journey to mastering Chinese. 

Sowing the Seed of Friendship 

In Mauritania, Chinese language teachers are deeply aware that language is the carrier of culture, while culture is the soul of language. Therefore, they actively organize thematic essay competitions, short video creation competitions, Chinese culture lectures and other cultural activities to open a window for students to understand Chinese culture. 

Li Mo has led her students into the world of Peking Opera. Given students' initial fear of difficulties, she allowed them to understand the historical background and the important status of Peking Opera in the first place, then asked them to appreciate the opera, and finally guided them to try performing it. For tunes that are difficult to sing, she tried to understand them and find solutions with her students. In the end, her students gave local people a wonderful performance of Peking Opera at a celebration event on their campus. The audience marveled at their performance, and Peking Opera, a quintessential part of Chinese culture, shone brightly in the desert country.

In recent years, with increasing exchanges between China and Mauritius in the fields of economy, trade, and culture, studying in China has become the dream of many Mauritanian students. They actively participate in the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, and many have got the opportunity to study in China. Student Dah Bahene is one of them. Emotionally charged, he said that "'The road is long and rugged; I will travel up and down.' Ms. Li taught me this line, and I love it most. The first Chinese song Ms. Li taught me was There's No Flame Mountain that Cannot Be Crossed. She not only imparts knowledge to me, but also gives me the courage to accept challenges and the strength to overcome difficulties." 

2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Mauritania. While teaching Chinese, Li Mo gains a deeper understanding of the friendly relations between the two countries. She has visited many projects developed in Mauritania with the assistance of China and witnessed the in-depth blending of Chinese and Mauritanian cultures in her daily life. The warmth and friendship shown by locals to Chinese people makes her feel the sincerity between the two nations. All this has become a source of motivation for her to devote herself to international Chinese language education. 

In Mauritania, international Chinese language teachers are using love and wisdom to build a strong bridge of friendship between the two peoples. They have made the Chinese language a bond connecting China and Mauritania, turned cultural exchange into a pathway that brings the two nations closer, and allowed the flower of friendship to bloom brilliantly in the desert.