Activity Type: Technical Training

On November 24, 2024, China and Kyrgyzstan unveiled the Ban-Mo Institute (班·墨學院) at Kyrgyz State Technical University in Bishkek, a vocational training institute jointly established by the Kyrgyzstan office of China Road and Bridge Corporation (中國路橋工程有限責任公司), Shandong’s Taishan Vocational and Technical College (泰山職業技術學院), Shandong Caishang Education Technology Co. (山東財商教育科技有限公司), and Kyrgyz State Technical University. The event was reported by Xinhua News Agency’s own Bishkek bureau chief correspondent, via Xinhua’s Belt and Road information platform, which described the institute’s purpose as providing “a pathway for Chinese technology to go global,” widening channels for Chinese “traditional culture” abroad, and supplying localized technical personnel for Chinese enterprises operating in Kyrgyzstan. Chinese embassy counselor Li Baojie (李保杰) called the institute, alongside a related China-Kyrgyzstan Technical College announced at the same event, “another important achievement” in bilateral education cooperation. Taishan Vocational and Technical College president Cui Genghu (崔耕虎) said the school aimed to combine “vocational skills and Chinese language” training to prepare workers for Chinese enterprises operating abroad, describing the effort as contributing to a China-Kyrgyzstan “community of shared future.” The institute is part of a Shandong provincial government initiative to build “Ban-Mo Institutes” overseas — a vocational education branding model that, like Tianjin’s separate Luban Workshop network, invokes ancient Chinese craftsman figures as a soft-power vehicle for China’s vocational education outreach.

On October 26, 2024, Zhejiang College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower (浙江水利水電學院) and Kyrgyz State Technical University (吉爾吉斯斯坦國立技術大學) officially unveiled the Kyrgyzstan Luban Workshop in Bishkek, a vocational training center offering degree and non-degree instruction in water conservancy, electrical engineering, machinery, and road and bridge engineering. Kyrgyz State Technical University president Mirlan Chynybaev called it the largest Luban Workshop in Central Asia, with 15 laboratories and three “smart classrooms,” and the most important education cooperation project between the two countries. Zhejiang college party secretary Qian Tianguo (錢天國) said the project aimed to build a model of Belt and Road educational cooperation and contribute to a China-Kyrgyzstan “community of shared future” — a reference to Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy concept, and an indication of how China has used the Luban network as a form of public diplomacy. After a second construction phase began in 2025, the workshop trained Kyrgyz personnel in smart manufacturing and hydropower operations and hosted more than 100 visiting government, university, and business delegations from both countries. On June 17, 2025, the People’s Daily devoted a full page to the workshop as part of a China-Central Asia cooperation special report, and China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), Xinhua, and Kyrgyzstan’s state broadcaster covered it as well, with footage screened at the China-Central Asia Summit. The Luban Workshop model originated from a Tianjin-based vocational education pilot and opened its first overseas site in Thailand in March 2016, before expanding to more than 20 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa. China’s Ministry of Education oversees the program’s development standards through a dedicated expert committee, and the network has been folded into national vocational education policy initiatives since 2018.