Connecting through the small screen

Popularity of Chinese shows and TV series continues to rise across Africa, Deng Zhangyu reports.

When producer Liang Zhenhua was filming a scene for the Chinese TV series Welcome to Milele in Zanzibar, Tanzania, he got help from the local actors association to assemble 1,200 extras for a key scene involving an ambulance navigating a traffic jam caused by a marathon at Zanzibar's busiest intersection.

Over the past few years, the 35-episode series about a Chinese medical team dispatched to Africa has received substantial assistance from its African counterparts. Since July, the Swahili-dubbed Chinese series has been broadcast on major TV stations, and become popular on streaming platforms in Kenya and Tanzania.

Liang, who was also the scriptwriter for the series, explains that "Milele", the name of the village where the Chinese medical team settled, means "forever" in Swahili, and symbolizes China's commitment to foreign medical aid. Liang and his team traveled to locations around Tanzania to capture scenes of beauty, including of people diving from platforms on Zanzibar Island, the great migration of wildebeests across the Serengeti Plain, and Mount Kilimanjaro.