The ministry's statistics show that China now offers 43,000 training programs, over 20,000 governmental scholarships and more than 1,300 degree programs to students from African countries.

Sovi-guidi W. Lionnel Pyrrhus, 23, from the Republic of Benin, is pursuing his master's degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language at Beijing Language and Culture University.

Lionnel Pyrrhus started learning Chinese at the Confucius Institute at the University of Abomey-Calavi in 2014. Last year, he took part in the 16th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition where he bagged the second prize for the Africa region.

His motivation to learn Chinese came from his fascination with kung fu.

When he was young he used to watch a lot of movies and TV series featuring the Chinese martial art, and was especially impressed by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

"I have been fascinated with kung fu ever since I was little, and my father told me that if I wanted to know a country, I needed to learn its language first," he says.

He dreams of becoming a Chinese teacher in Benin.

"I want to take Chinese language and culture to Benin," Lionnel says.