‘From Braamfontein to Beijing’: Consul General Pan bids farewell to Wits students heading to China
Chinese Consul General in Johannesburg Pan Qingjiang has urged Wits University students travelling to China to embrace the opportunity to learn about the country’s development path, telling them that “China is a place worth knowing and discovering”.
Pan addressed students and staff at the Wits University youth delegation send-off meeting, noting that this year marks the second consecutive year that the Chinese Consulate General in Johannesburg has supported the Wits Students Leadership Programme. He said the Consulate was “delighted” to have the opportunity to meet the lecturers and students in person, before they visited the People’s Republic of China.
“Are you ready? Are you excited?” Pan asked the students, saying China’s long history, splendid culture, and dynamic development would make the trip worthwhile.
China outlines development roadmap
Pan said the students’ visit comes shortly after the Communist Party of China held the Fourth Plenary Session of its 20th Central Committee, which adopted recommendations for the next Five-Year Plan — a document he described as a “clear roadmap for China’s development over the next five years”.
He highlighted China’s recent economic performance, saying the country had achieved “new historic milestones” with GDP growing at an average annual rate of 5.5%, surpassing 130 trillion yuan in 2024 and expected to reach 140 trillion yuan this year. He said China is shifting from quantitative expansion to qualitative improvement, driven by innovation in advanced manufacturing, integrated circuits, new energy batteries, and artificial intelligence.
Describing green development as “a defining feature of Chinese modernization”, Pan pointed to improved air and water quality, expanded forest coverage and China’s dominance in clean-energy production.
“China now accounts for over 80% of global photovoltaic output and over 60% of global new energy vehicle production and sales,” he said.
Pan also stressed that China “always puts its people at the center”, highlighting rising incomes, expanded education access and strengthened social protection. He said the next planning cycle aims to build “a happy China where every child is cared for, every student educated… and every vulnerable group protected”.
What the Wits students will experience in China
Over nearly two weeks, the Wits delegation will visit Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, gaining exposure to China’s universities, technology centres and cultural heritage.
In Beijing, students will explore historic sites such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and either the Summer Palace or the Chinese National Museum. They will also visit leading academic and innovation hubs, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhongguancun Hi-Tech Park or JD.com, and electric vehicle manufacturer BYD.
A visit to the China Africa Institute or the China Urban Planning Institute will cover China–Africa relations and urbanisation.
The group will then travel by high-speed train to Hangzhou, where they will tour the Alibaba campus, meet students and researchers at Zhejiang University and visit YaoLi Village in Huzhou to learn about rural cultural revitalisation. A stop at Westlake will offer cultural immersion.
In Shanghai, students will explore institutions such as Fudan University, Tongji University and Shanghai Jiaotong University. Their programme includes a meeting with the Consul General at the Consulate, a tour of the New Development Bank to learn about green financing for Africa, and visits to the Westbank Art Center regeneration project and the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Zone.
The trip will end in Shenzhen, where the delegation will tour the Huawei Innovation Center and learn about the city’s global leadership in ICT and technology innovation.
Strong and growing China–South Africa ties
Pan emphasised that China has been South Africa’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years. He highlighted October’s signing of a stone fruit protocol that opens the Chinese market to South African apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and prunes — a move he said would increase incomes for local farmers and exporters.
More than 200 Chinese companies have invested over US$11 billion in South Africa, creating over 400,000 local jobs, Pan added.
‘Travel opens up your world of possibilities’
Wits Dean of Student Affairs Jerome September told the students the tour would broaden their horizons.
“As someone who has travelled before… travel opens up your world of possibilities,” he said, recalling arriving in a highly digitised country where “I never met a customs official because everything was electronic… the gates just open, and off you go.”
He said travel “challenges what you think to be true, what you think you know, and… adds to the many layers of your understanding of the world”.
September reminded the students that the trip was a learning mission. “You are going into a society that is well established, with a very strong sense of who they are, of their culture, of their history and of their future,” he said.
With doors opened for them — including a visit to Huawei — he urged the students to “go full in. Appreciate what you see… learn as much as you possibly can, but also have fun. Ask the questions that you have always had… in a respectful way.”
Pan closed off by wishing the group “an enjoyable, fruitful and inspiring trip to China,” adding that the Consulate General looked forward to hearing their insights upon return.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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