MAPUTO, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- An award ceremony for a short video competition themed "United Hearts, Shared Dreams: China and Mozambique" was held Monday in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, celebrating the longstanding friendship between the two countries and encouraging people-to-people exchanges through creative storytelling.
Organized by the Confucius Institute at Eduardo Mondlane University with support from the Chinese Embassy in Mozambique, the competition was part of activities marking the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
The competition attracted more than 100 video submissions from participants of diverse backgrounds, including students, journalists, businesspeople and local employees of Chinese businesses.
The entries highlighted various aspects of China-Mozambique cooperation, including landmark projects such as the Maputo-Katembe Bridge and the Mozambique-China Cultural Center, as well as personal experiences of learning Chinese and everyday interactions between people of the two countries.
Speaking at the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Zheng Xuan congratulated the winners and praised the participants for using their cameras to build bridges of understanding between the two peoples.
"Each video, each moment, represents an encounter between civilizations and a communication between hearts," Zheng said, expressing hope that the participants would become ambassadors of China-Mozambique friendship and share stories of a real and multidimensional China.
Ten first-prize winners of the competition were invited to China for an exchange visit, during which they traveled to Beijing, Zhejiang Province and Shanghai to experience the country's development and cultural heritage firsthand.
Manuel Guilherme Junior, rector of Eduardo Mondlane University, said the videos had demonstrated the enduring friendship between Mozambique and China while highlighting the important role of young people in strengthening bilateral ties.
"With your creativity, you fought against a lack of understanding. You have transformed the official friendship between governments into a friendship between peoples," he told the participants.
Venheque Hassane Ali, a representative of the exchange delegation, shared his experiences during the visit to China, including visits to the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Yiwu International Trade Market in Zhejiang and the Bund in Shanghai.
"Before departing, most of what I knew about China came from the internet and textbooks. After arriving in China and recording what I saw with my phone, I discovered that China was even more diverse and colorful than I had imagined," he said.
Ali expressed hope that the videos would help more Mozambicans understand China and enable more Chinese people to learn about Mozambique.
He added that learning a language was about more than acquiring words, as it also served as a bridge for understanding different cultures. ■
