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China-Africa Salon: A stadium in 2 years, a bond of 42 -- Chinese builders share their Kenya story_我的网站

大话西游

A | 石榴云/新疆日报讯(记者李瑞摄影报道)8月25日下午，由中央网信办网络传播局指导、新疆维吾尔自治区党委网信办主办的2026“万人说新疆”创作者分享会，在新疆国际会展中心启幕。

An aerial drone photo taken on March 19, 2025 shows the construction site of the Chinese-built Talanta Sports City in Nairobi, Kenya. (Xinhua/Han Xu)In Nairobi, a 60,000-seat football stadium is entering the final stage of construction. Built in just two years, the Talanta Stadium will serve as the main venue of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
"The schedule was extremely tight -- just two years, while comparable projects elsewhere usually take more than three," Du Xiao, project manager of the stadium for China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), told Xinhua in a recent interview. "There is a very real sense of pride."
According to Du, the stadium has no running track, bringing spectators close to the pitch. Its seats take on the green, red and black of Kenya's national flag, while the facade features the traditional shield and spear of the Maasai people.
Upon completion, the stadium is set to be renamed the Raila Odinga International Stadium, in honor of Kenya's late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The roof adopts a cable-supported grid system erected with a "cable-first, steel-after" method, which Du said is the first of its kind independently designed and built by China. Without temporary steel supports, 48 radial cables are tensioned to lift six ring cables before steel trusses are laid on top, saving at least three months of construction time, with displacement controlled to the millimeter. In 2025 alone, some 1,300 containers of materials and equipment were shipped from China to the site.
For CRBC, the stadium is only the latest chapter of a much longer story. The company built its first road in Kenya in 1984, and over 42 years, its footprint has extended from roads to bridges, ports, railways and buildings.
Du Shan, the executive general manager of CRBC Kenya office, recalled that before 2008, Nairobi was cut apart by three rivers and a cross-district trip could take more than three hours. After CRBC completed the ring roads, the journey now takes about 50 minutes. The company is also expanding the A8, a national trunk road, from two lanes to four and six, she said.
On the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, wildlife corridors were built with a clearance of more than six meters, "so that giraffes can pass with their heads held high," Du Shan said.
Workers are engaged at the construction site of the Chinese-built Talanta Sports City in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 18, 2025. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Workers are engaged at the construction site of the Chinese-built Talanta Sports City in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 18, 2025. (Xinhua/Han Xu)Du Xiao arrived in Kenya in August 2011 and has worked on the ring roads, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, the Nairobi-Malaba railway and the Nairobi Expressway before taking on the stadium project.
"Working overseas, we should not arrive thinking about changing the place. We should first adapt to and learn from the local community," he said. "What many projects truly open up is not just roads and railways, but trust between people."
The stadium sits near Kibera, Kenya's largest informal settlement. Du Xiao remembers a local young man named Sammy, who had no skills when he applied for a job but volunteered for the project's equipment training and became a pump truck operator. "I asked him why he worked so hard. He said, 'I never thought I would have the chance to touch these machines. Now I feel I can support my whole family.'"
According to Du Shan, the project recruited nearly 500 young workers from the neighborhood during construction, many of whom have qualified as assistant engineers, while about 280 local youths were mentored into technical backbones during the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway.
More than 350 CRBC employees have worked overseas for over a decade, and each year the company awards them a gold medal for long-term dedication, she said. "The medal is not only an honor, but also a kind of warmth. Because 42 years -- it has truly not been easy."
When his child was born, Du Xiao was at a critical stage of the Nairobi Expressway project and could not make it home. "People in overseas engineering live in two worlds -- the project site on one side, the family on the other. All you can do is try to do a little better on each side," he said.
"Maybe I will one day leave this country. But this stadium will remain," he said. "I came here to build projects. Then I found that this country has shaped who I am today."
。 8月25日，新疆日报社记者热依达以天山脚下多民族邻里互助的真实故事，展现各族群众朝夕相伴、守望相助的日常。　　活动汇聚知名专家学者、网络达人、本地博主、国际友人等多元嘉宾，共同解锁新时代新疆故事的对外传播密码。分享会上，来自不同领域的讲述者依次登台。有扎根边疆的基层干部，用质朴语言讲述村庄变迁；有走遍天山南北的旅行博主，用镜头记录山河壮美与人文温度；还有在新疆生活多年的国际友人，以“他者”视角娓娓道来这里的包容与活力。

B | 他们让生活在这里、来到这里、了解这里的人成为主角，用不同的语言向世界传递一个真实的新疆。 8月25日，国家高端智库理事会理事、复旦大学中国研究院院长张维为现场分享《中国模式视角下的新疆巨变》。 8月25日，自媒体博主@Jason在中国讲述重返新疆的故事。 8月25日，自媒体博主@疆南姑娘赵闫分享自己“逃离”又“归来”的经历，以及一篮子灰枣的故事。　　分享会不仅是一场故事的交汇，更是一次传播理念的碰撞。与会嘉宾围绕“如何讲好新疆故事”展开深入交流，探讨如何以更具国际化的表达、更富感染力的叙事，让新疆声音传得更远、更广。现场气氛热烈，真实的故事、真挚的情感引发强烈共鸣。

C | 　　分享会现场，第六届“万人说新疆”短视频大赛与“中国有约·相约新疆”国际媒体采访活动同步启动。多元主体共同发力，以真实故事为纽带，向世界展现一个立体、全面的新疆。 8月25日，分享会现场，第六届“万人说新疆”短视频大赛同步启动。 8月25日，分享会现场，“中国有约·相约新疆”2026国际媒体采访活动正式启动。