From Beijing to Cairo: The flourishing bond between two ancient civilizations

by Wang Xinfang

   “Ni Hao!”
   A crisp Mandarin greeting, laced with a silvery laugh, slipped beneath the ward door.  
   Less than three months into my posting in Cairo, I was rushed to an international hospital in Maadi with acute appendicitis. For an expatriate who couldn’t speak a word of the local language, few things are more unsettling than falling ill in a foreign country.
   Lying anxiously in my bed, I caught the familiar Mandarin greeting and assumed one of my colleagues had come to see me.
   The door opened, and in walked a young Egyptian nurse: bright-eyed, lively, named Amal.
   “You speak Chinese! How did you learn it?” I asked, a little surprised.
   What surprised me even more was her answer: She had never taken a single Chinese lesson. She had learned everything from television — Chinese TV dramas in particular.
   As we talked, I began to grasp the true depth of her immersion. She had watched everything from the fantasy epics that captivate today’s Chinese youth to family sagas that dissect contemporary Chinese society.
   Amal had even watched an adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber, an 18th-century Chinese literary masterpiece so dense and complex that even advanced students of Chinese often struggle to understand it.
   In the days that followed, discussing Chinese TV dramas with Amal became one of my greatest pleasures during my treatment. Those chats didn’t just make me feel a little closer to home, but also made me realize, as a journalist, how meaningful my work can be. Media, like TV dramas, can be an invisible thread that draws people together, and through this unexpected hospital stay, I found myself on the receiving end of that very bond between China and Egypt.
   Beyond the role of media in disseminating culture and ideas, the goodwill between the peoples of the two countries and their appreciation for each other’s cultural creations rest on a far deeper foundation.
   I asked Amal what sparked her interest in Chinese TV dramas. Beyond simple curiosity about an unfamiliar world, it was the values that kept her watching: compassion for the vulnerable, a clear sense of right and wrong, ideas about what makes life fulfilling, and respect for family traditions. All of this felt deeply familiar to her, she told me.
   What Amal was really describing is the cultural affinity between China and Egypt. This affinity forms the foundation of the relationship between our two countries, with media serving as a channel through which it can be expressed and shared. It did not emerge overnight, nor from a few popular TV dramas. Instead, it is the product of millennia of interaction and exchange, slowly taking root and enduring across generations.
   The shared traits of China’s and Egypt’s ancient civilizations lie at the heart of the cultural affinity.
   Both nations are among the world’s four great ancient civilizations. Chinese civilization grew along the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, while Ancient Egypt took shape along the Nile, each rooted in irrigation-based agriculture.
   Similar origins shaped similar temperaments: a love of peace, diligence and practicality, and a spirit of unity and cooperation. Over thousands of years, these traits have become deeply ingrained in the cultural DNA of both peoples, shaping our most fundamental sense of recognition and familiarity toward each other.
   The long history of exchanges between China and Egypt has reinforced the parallels between the two civilizations. Chinese artifacts, such as glass bead jewelry, dating back more than 2,000 years, already show clear elements of Egyptian influence. Historical records indicate that more than 1,000 years ago, China and the Arab world, including Egypt, were already engaged in a thriving maritime trade.
   With the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, exchanges between China and Egypt have rapidly evolved. In 1956, Egypt became the first Arab and African nation to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. During Egypt’s struggle to nationalize the Suez Canal and reclaim it from colonial control, China offered support. The two countries’ united front in resisting colonialism and hegemony further strengthened their cultural and intellectual bonds.
   Today, that enduring connection is surging with renewed vibrancy. Just as Amal is captivated by Chinese TV dramas, young people in China are increasingly drawn to Egyptian culture.
   In 2024, which marked the 10th anniversary of the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership, the Shanghai Museum hosted the “On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt” exhibition, bringing the allure of Egyptian civilization to the Chinese public. The exhibition sparked a cultural craze for Egypt in China, attracting over 2.77 million visitors and setting a new world record for attendance at a single paid museum exhibition.
   These cultural interactions have not only helped the peoples of our two countries better understand each other, but also quietly planted the seeds for an even richer chapter in China-Egypt friendship.
   As I write these words, China and Egypt are approaching the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Heralding the start of a new stage in our long-standing ties, both countries are working hand in hand toward building a China-Egypt community with a shared future in the new era.
   Having witnessed and chronicled this friendship firsthand in Egypt, I feel a deep confidence that this vision is not just aspirational; it is entirely within reach.
   On the day I was discharged, Amal and her colleagues came to the ward to see me off.
   “I will miss you,” Amal said in Chinese. I gave her a carefully chosen postcard I had brought from home: a sunset over China’s Yangtze River, its golden light shimmering across the water, so like the sunsets I had watched above the Nile.
   On the back, I wrote in Chinese: “Looking forward to seeing you in China.”
 
Wang Xinfang is a journalist of Xinhua’s Middle East Regional Bureau and a researcherof Xinhua Institute.
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