A special cultural event was held on Sunday onboard a passenger train of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Titled “China-Africa Friendship Train: A Cultural Extravaganza”, the event featured various activities and performances showcasing both Chinese and Kenyan culture, including Chinese Kungfu, traditional Chinese dancing, local Kenyan songs and the playing of African instruments.
Dozens of Chinese and Kenyan teenagers from several cultural groups, like the China-Kenya Culture Education Center and The Creative Thespians Afrikanas, attended the event.
During the 4-hour journey from Kenya’s capital Nairobi to Voi town, these teenagers onboard the train had been provided with a platform to interact with their peers and learn more about cultures and traditions of both nations.
Liu Yun, the founder of the China-Kenya Culture Education Center hailed the special cultural event for enhancing the friendship between the Chinese and Kenyan youths. She said that the friendship between the two nations relied on the youths.
Apart from promoting friendship and cultural exchange, Sunday’s cultural carnival also aimed at celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Within the framework of BRI, both people from China and Kenya have benefited from closer trade and cultural ties, as BRI has enhanced connectivity and fostered partnership in a lot of fields. The Chinese-built Mombasa-Nairobi SGR could be seen as an early fruit of BRI.
Before the SGR project, travel between Nairobi and Kenya’s costal city Mombasa took over 12 hours by shuttles. Since the SGR’s launch on May 31, 2017, the journey has been shortened to six hours.
As of September 30, 2023, the railway line stretching from Mombasa to Naivasha had transported 2,405 million standard containers and 28.6million metric tons of goods since its reception and the number of passengers transported through the Mombasa-Nairobi-Naivasha SGR in the same period stood at 11.2 million, with an average seat occupancy rate of 95.8 percent, according to the reports of Xinhua News Agency.
