Kenya's principal secretary for culture and heritage hailed the significant increase in cultural exchanges between China and Kenya last year.

Since the opening of the China-Kenya Culture and Tourism Season in June of 2025, 131 Kenyan officials and industry professionals in culture, heritage, tourism, the creative economy, and sports have been trained in China through various exchange programs, Ummi Bashir said.

Bashir highlighted some exchange programs in which Kenyan officers and cultural staff traveled to China to be trained in the protection of intangible and tangible cultural heritage.

Speaking at a reception ahead of this year's Spring Festival, Bashir also praised Sino-Kenya paleolithic archaeological cooperation for its contributions to strengthening bilateral ties. She noted that the projects explored sites around Kenya's Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria to study human origins, fostering cultural exchange, and collaborative research.

Under the framework of the 2025 China-Kenya Culture and Tourism Season, the two countries have carried out a wide range of projects, including live coverage of the wildebeest migration in Maasai Mara National Reserve, the China Animated Film Festival, the Kenya Wushu National Championship, the Africa Championship of Chinese Cuisine, and the China-Kenya Friendship Games.

Guo Haiyan, Chinese ambassador to Kenya, said that 2026 will mark both the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Africa and the China–Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.

She said that China will continue to work with African countries this year to carry forward traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and open a new chapter of the partnership.

This year's Spring Festival reception featured a range of performances, including a joint wushu demonstration by Chinese and Kenyan performers, acrobatics, traditional Chinese music performances, and Kenyan folk dances. The fashion troupe of the Confucius Institute at Moi University presented outfits they had designed to blend Chinese and African styles.

Liu Haowen contributed to this story.