"Most Nepali people believe in the Chinese people and the Chinese government," Sushil Prajapati, President of Nepal's Arniko Society, said in a recent interview with South in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. "They think China will help when we need it most. And they are very happy to cooperate with China."
Prajapati's remarks come as the Guangdong People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries marks its 70th anniversary in 2026. He said the association's long-standing partnership with the Arniko Society showed how sustained exchanges between communities could reinforce the broader relationship between China and Nepal.
"These people-to-people contacts are the most essential for us," he said.
Over a decade of educational, medical and cultural exchanges
Relations between the Guangdong Friendship Association and the Arniko Society date back more than 15 years, with cooperation focused primarily on education, health care and cultural exchanges, according to Prajapati.
One recent example emerged from the International Children's Literature Conference organized by Nepal Academy in 2024.
The Arniko Society contacted friendship associations in regions such as Guangdong, Xizang, Sichuan and Beijing, asking them to recommend writers for the conference. Guangdong recommended two writers, whose participation Prajapati described as a success.
One of them was Liu Dihong, a writer from Guangdong. After the conference, Liu contacted the Arniko Society and proposed translating a collection of his children's stories into Nepali.
The translation was completed by Dr. Sarbottam Shrestha, whom Prajapati described as "maybe the best sinologist in Nepal."
Liu later traveled to Nepal and donated 1,000 copies of the translated book to two schools.
"We distributed these books so that Nepali children can understand Chinese literature," Prajapati said.
For Prajapati, the donation reflected the same spirit of selfless cultural exchange embodied by Arniko, the renowned Nepali artist and architect after whom Prajapati's society is named.
Arniko traveled to China during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and built numerous Buddhist stupas, monasteries and temples, leaving a cultural legacy that continues to symbolize the long history of exchanges between China and Nepal.
"It is this selflessness that has sustained the friendly relations between the two countries," Prajapati said. "And we can also have a spirit like him."
People-to-people ties drive practical cooperation
Prajapati said people-to-people exchanges remained central to China-Nepal relations and could create further opportunities for practical cooperation between the two countries.
He added that technological innovation represents a promising area in which those long-standing ties could be expanded. "Now Guangdong Province is leading the world in technological innovation," he said. "We also want this kind of cooperation in the future."
During a visit to Shenzhen in September 2025, Prajapati toured Chinese food delivery giant Meituan and the Nanshan Energy Ecological Park. Two technologies in particular caught his attention: drone delivery and waste management.
At Meituan, he observed how drones were being used to deliver food. "This drone technology can provide essential goods to our people who live in high mountains or where the roads are not good," he said.
Waste management is another major concern for the mountainous nation.
Nepal has a population of about 30 million, and Prajapati said the country faces considerable population pressure, particularly in Kathmandu. He estimated that between 30 percent and 40 percent of the population lives in the capital, making garbage disposal and waste treatment a significant challenge.
At the Nanshan Energy Ecological Park, Prajapati saw how waste was processed and managed efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way.
"If I can take these two technologies back to our country," he said, "they would be very useful to us."
For Prajapati, such cooperation would build on the trust established through years of educational, medical and cultural exchanges, extending people-to-people friendship into solutions for Nepal's development needs.
Reporter | Liu Xiaodi
Video editor & cover designer | Deng Yingheng
Video script & text | Liu Xiaodi
