The BRICS mechanism has brought opportunities for economic and trade cooperation and promoted people-to-people exchanges among BRICS countries. In South Africa, through the Confucius Institute, local people learn the Chinese language and come to understand Chinese culture.

Muneiwa Magadani, a 25-year-old South African student, is in her fourth year of learning traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and acupuncture. After starting to study TCM, Muneiwa became fascinated by TCM theory and Chinese culture. She was pleasantly surprised to find that patients who failed to recover under other medical methods regained their health through acupuncture, massage, cupping and traditional Chinese medicine. By studying traditional Chinese medicine, Muneiwa learned Mandarin, tea ceremony and Tai chi, and fell in love with the richness of Chinese culture. "In fact, there are Confucius Institutes in universities of South Africa and many other countries so that we can have better access to Chinese culture and language. I think these opportunities are only available because of the BRICS mechanism," she said.