Capital Ethiopia published on 19 August 2025 an article titled "China-Africa Partnership Strengthens Vocational Training to Boost Africa's Workforce" by Eyasu Aklilu.
China has established 17 Luban workshops (vocational training centers) in 15 African countries with plans to establish 10 more. China hosted last month a seminar in Ethiopia highlighting the Luban workshop program.
The Libya Herald published on 11 March 2025 an article titled "Libya and China Discuss Establishment of Libyan Chinese Training Centre in Benghazi and an MOU" by Sami Zaptia.
The charge d'affaires of the Libyan embassy met with Libya's Minister of Labor and Rehabilitation in Tripoli where they discussed ways to accelerate the return of Chinese companies to Libya and resumption of development activities, including vocational training and employment and regulating the mobility of labor. They also discussed a Libyan-Chinese Centre for Vocational Training and Rehabilitation in Benghazi.
The Diplomat published on 6 September 2023 a commentary titled "The Latest China-Africa Leaders Dialogue: What has Changed?" by Ovigwe Eguegu and Hannah Ryder.
On the sidelines of the recent BRICS summit in South Africa, the focus on China-Africa dialogue was modernization underpinned by 3 new Chinese initiatives: (1) supporting Africa's industrialization, (2) supporting Africa's agricultural modernization, and (3) developing skills by increasing vocational schools.
The Washington Post published on 10 July 2023 an article titled "Winning Friends by Training Workers Is China's New Gambit" by Shibani Mahtani and Joshua Irwandi.
This is a detailed account of China's program to extend vocational education in the Global South through the establishment of Luban workshops. In preparing the article, the authors visited workshops in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Indonesia. The workshops in Africa have been billed as a key component of Sino-African cooperation and part of a broader effort to engage the region economically in exchange for diplomatic support on issues important to China.
China established Luban workshops in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mali, Morocco, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Rwanda. China says that it has 12 Luban workshops in Africa. It is possible that one or more of these workshops opened and subsequently closed.
The city of Tianjin opened the first Luban workshop in Thailand in 2016. The vocational training centers, so named after Lu Ban, a mythical figure revered as an inventor, were subsequently co-opted by the central government and have gone global, especially in Africa. China announced at the 2018 FOCAC summit in Beijing that it would set up ten Luban workshops in Africa. It opened the first one in Djibouti in 2019 with the Djiboutian president in attendance. It opened the 12th one in Africa at the end of 2021 in Morocco.
In addition to Djibouti and Morocco, China now has Luban workshops in Nigeria, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and two in Egypt. The Dekar 2022-2024 FOCAC action plan commits China to establishing more Luban workshops around Africa. They are usually housed within a local institution and focus training on skills in short supply in that country. They offer China the opportunity to encourage Chinese technical standards and eventually sell Chinese equipment in African markets.
China Brief published on 5 November 2021 an analysis titled "China's Vocational Education Workshops Seek to Strengthen Relations with Africa" by Conor McCutcheon, Savannah Billman, Johnsen Romero, and Merle Kartcher.
China established ten Luban Workshops in Africa from 2019 to 2021. The vocational and technical equivalent of Confucius Institutes, the Luban Workshops seek to train young African professionals with Chinese funding and cooperation.
