On October 18th, The TV drama Welcome to Milele Village, by Liang Zhenhua, a professor of the College of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University, shone at the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation-Thematic Forum on People-to-people Connectivity. More than 300 dignitaries of foreign politicians, experts and scholars, representatives of non-governmental organizations and representatives of relevant domestic departments participated the thematic forum.

The drama, directed by renowned director Zheng Xiaolong as Artistic Director, Jin Ye as Director, Liang Zhenhua as Chief Screenwriter and Chief Producer, and our alumna Hu Yating as Scriptwriter, tells the story of the medical doctors represented by Ma Jia (Jin Dong), Jiang Daqiao (Zu Feng), and Wu Mei (Zhang Yuqi), who traveled to Africa to provide medical assistance. The cast and crew traveled to Africa for a month-long filming, with a total of 170 people going to Africa for the filming, making it a rare large-scale overseas cooperative filming project in the history of Chinese TV dramas. During the shooting period, the crew received the highest courtesy from the Tanzanian government. President Mwini of Tanzania Zanzibar and President Hassan of Tanzania received the crew one after another, and President Hassan awarded the crew of Welcome to Milele Village the "Special Contribution to Promoting Sino-Tanzanian Friendship Award", and Liang Zhenhua received the honor on behalf of the crew.

During the shooting of Welcome to Milele Village, Tanzanian President Hassan received the cast and crew and presented them with an award.

Departure Ceremony of the Welcome to Milele Village Crew to Africa

The year 2023 will mark the 60th anniversary of the dispatch of China's foreign aid medical team and the 10th anniversary of the initiative of building the "Belt and Road". Welcome to Milele Village tells the story of the selfless dedication of the Chinese foreign aid doctors who are stationed in Africa far away from their homeland and families, and illustrates the spirit of the Chinese foreign aid medical team, which is "fearless of hardship, willing to dedicate themselves to saving lives and helping the wounded, and boundless in love". "Milele" means "forever" in African Swahil. In the story, the earliest group of doctors of the China Aid Medical Team named their station "Milele Village", which is a beautiful vision that the China Aid Medical Team can guard Africa forever and the friendship between China and Africa can last forever.

It is reported that Welcome to Milele Village will be launched in China at the end of 2023, and will be broadcast in Africa in the future. As a window for mutual understanding between Chinese and African civilizations and a bridge for people-to-people communication between China and Africa, the drama will also become a vivid embodiment of the fruitful results of building the "Belt and Road".

Figure 3. Photo of Zhenhua Liang at work in the Serengeti Grasslands, Africa