Another side to China-Africa cooperation -- sharing culture and language. CGTN's June-wei Sum reports on how people in the southeastern African country of Malawi are trying to acquire Chinese language skills in a bid to deepen exchanges.

University students in Malawi, gathered round singing in Mandarin. That's right, these are students at Malawi's first university focused on the sciences. Funded and built by the Chinese government, students at the Malawi University of Science and Technology are picking up some language skills alongside their core studies. And they're not the only ones in this small landlocked African country studying Mandarin.

The Confucius Institute in Malawi - a Chinese government-run program - has centers in four cities in the country and says more than a thousand Malawians are attending classes.

FENG JIANGUO DIRECTOR, CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE IN MALAWI "We know we have a lot of Chinese enterprises offering employment opportunities. If you know how to speak, how to read and write or you learn the Chinese language, it will be much easier for you to find a job in these Chinese enterprises as well."

Malawi's poverty levels are high at about 50 percent, and Chinese investments such as an office complex in the capital Lilongwe, and textile factories in central Malawi, can bring much needed jobs.

Visiting China is also a goal for some.

NDAZIONA MPONDE CHINESE LANGUAGE STUDENT "I want to learn Chinese for the purpose of maybe if I get a chance of going to China maybe for business or school I shouldn't find much difficulties."

And this teacher has encouraging words for would-be speakers.

"Not very difficult that depends on the purpose. If your purpose is to become a professional translator, maybe it can be quite difficult, But if you just want to know the basic communication, it is very easy. Maybe two or three months would be enough."

June-wei Sum, CGTN.