Siyabonga C. Cwele, South African Ambassador: The living experience in Beijing is great!

Siyabonga C. Cwele

Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa

From the African continent, South Africa is the largest trading partner by far among the African countries to China. A lot of important South Africa big corporations. They have got headquarters in your districts with Old Mutual and the Axis Group. So all these companies from South Africa, and all over the world what attracts them most is the business environment in Chaoyang District. It is the innovation support. The innovation path will support the industries the growth of the industries. Those are the key important things I feel that we should deepen our cooperation.

In Beijing Chaoyang. Our tourism South Africa office, our tourism authority have got offices here, and that office act as an important source of Information to inform Chinese and Asian countries about the beauties of our landscape or heritage. We live in harmony like a rainbow colors. And South Africans also enjoy popular Chinese culture. They market your beautiful city in South Africa and the rest of the world. We have got this Beijing center for cultural exchange for diplomats. Many of our diplomats including myself, I go there to first to learn some language, to learn some of the cultures, is only when we understand each other's culture that we can further deepen our political relations.

I've been living in Beijing Chaoyang District now for 4 years. As foreigners, we never feel we're in a foreign country because of that warmth. I like Chaoyang Park. There is an important museum which holds the statue of our founding father Nelson Mandela. On the UN International Day of Mandela, we have taken a decision to visit this park to go and clean it. It's a very important site in terms of experiencing the connection between our two countries. I enjoy sports a lot for either relaxation, for jogging.So it's a very beautiful park. I love it both.

The easy access to your social facilities whether is it healthcare, education, the sports, culture. Chaoyang has got a lot of shops. We get very excited where we see South African products. We love Chinese tea, I drink a lot of Chinese tea. But the Rooibos Tea it's also good, because it's got no caffeine. It doesn't affect your sleep, so you find it here. All those things, they make our work much easier.
I can just described it as a innovative, modernizing, healthy living district. There are positive experience of living in Beijing Chaoyang!
Source: BeijingChaoyang