Medical series begins run on African TV

Welcome to Milele, a popular TV series following a Chinese medical team dispatched to work in Africa, began airing on Wednesday in Kenya and Tanzania in a Swahili-dubbed version.

The series serves as a tribute commemorating several significant historical milestones, including the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, the 60th anniversary since China first dispatched a medical team to a foreign country in the early 1960s, and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Tanzania.

In Kenya, the 35-episode drama starring Chinese A-list actor Jin Dong runs on Citizen TV from Wednesday to Friday each week and will also be streamed on Citizen TV's new media platform, Viusasa.

Partly filmed in Tanzania, the series will also be broadcast on the African country's local TV channel, ST Swahili, starting from Monday and is set to re-air from Aug 22. Additionally, it will be aired by Tanzania's public broadcaster, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation. Azam, a new media platform reaching multiple Swahili-speaking countries including Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe, will also stream the show.

In an effort to vividly portray the friendship between China and Africa over decades, a total of 10 main specialists behind the series traveled to Africa to conduct research, interviewing 31 Chinese doctors from three medical teams dispatched to Tanzania.

After completing filming domestically, the series organized a crew of 178 members to travel to Africa, capturing scenes in various locations, including the archipelago of Zanzibar and the city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.