Dear Readers, Colleagues and Comrades,

 

China-Africa relationship has been at the center of my youth and continues to be to date. This great nation of The People’s Republic of China and her people baffled my mind when I first came across the first group of Chinese nationals in the 1970s and still does so now, over forty years later. The situation, circumstances and context of which I have met or engaged with the Chinese differ over the years, but one item in my engaging with them has remained a constant, their friendliness and a great effort to invest in the sphere of understanding.

 

Over my forty decades of life, I have travelled a great deal across the globe and within my country of Tanzania. I enjoy traveling and I believe that through traveling, one enriches their mind and understanding of different and various cultures and races. Through traveling and engaging with different people and cultures, one enriches his/her ability to reason, to understand and to veer clear of misunderstandings and conflicts. I have lived, studied and worked in different continents in the world and would like to think that I am well exposed to global affairs. Living in China, and working with the Chinese in different capacities, has given me a unique understanding of a great civilization that even until today, I am working at understanding further.

 

A recent Afro Barometer survey, carried out by REPOA in Tanzania, indicates that Chinese nationals are liked by Tanzanians more than any other foreign culture. Tanzanians identify more closely with Chinese nationals. This indicates that China is seen favorably in the eyes of her Tanzanian friends. Why should that be the case? The Afro Barometer Survey mentions the reasons in the scientific study. Complementing the findings of the aforementioned survey, it is of utility to hear from a person who has worked and shared a life with the Chinese for over three decades.

 

In this think piece, I wish to surmise that one key reason or pillar that makes Chinese nationals liked by Tanzanians, is the Chinese tradition of investing time and efforts to conjure meaningful friendship before embarking on secondary activities such as engaging or discussing business. Coincidently, at the time of writing this think piece, I took a dinner break as my wife and I were invited by a Chinese couple for dinner, and sure enough whilst deliberating on the topic of the climate of doing business in Tanzania, our friend said “friendship is more meaningful than business and more important, lasts longer than business does”. Mind you, the aforementioned discussion was based on another topic, unrelated to the thread or concept of this Think Piece. This peculiar, special and yet fundamental stance by many Chinese nationals, endears them close to African hearts. Friendship is a cornerstone of any meaningful personal association. It is a great starting point to any dialogue or discourse among people, rendering it a solid foundation for success at any functional level, be it on a personal, a community or society level. Searching for friendship through meaningful mediums such as partaking at and sharing dinners, tea, singing Karaoke, dancing and other engaging activities is fundamental in relaxing people’s minds and positions them well in social dialogue. This tradition has worked well over many generations, and is dear to both Chinese and Africans alike.  At this juncture, I wish to posit that friendship, more often than not, leads to understanding, as it encourages two or more parties to honestly open up to one another, their feelings and encourages transparency.

 

The special function that social dialogue and engagement have in fostering friendship and social cohesion, is that during the process, parties to the discussions, dialogues, dinners and/or dances increase each parties’ understanding of one another.

In relation to the above observation, understanding among individuals, communities and society in general, is a difficult and colossal task. The aforementioned task is particularly hard, owing to the fact that people’s objectives and goals are dynamic and are permanently fluid; they constantly vacillate and lend themselves to change, depending on the environment and conditions surrounding them, including their needs and wants, their appetites and their necessities. Our dear friends from China have mastered the art of understanding other cultures. China invests in understanding other cultures, encouraged by a strong culture of seeking knowledge. This centuries-old tradition among the Chinese, has created a niche for them in understanding their African friends, better than any other culture, and to this end, I am sure, is the reason why the recent Afro Barometer survey by REPOA in Tanzania found that Chinese are liked by Tanzanians.  Chinese officials and explorers invested in cooperation and understanding Africans since AD 730-805 when Du Huan of the Tan Dynasty wrote a book titled “My Voyage”, having visited North Africa. Upon his return to China, he wrote a moving account of his voyage to Africa, using land routes. This written documented and written account was complemented by Jia Dan, another official from the Tan Dynasty who was a Geographer and who too traveled to Africa in search of knowledge and not in search of military prowess or control.

 

In A.D. 798, during the Zhenyuan Years, Chinese ships sailed to the Coast of East Africa, where I am from (today known as Tanzania) visiting the trading post and town of Bagamoyo. Recent studies by Chinese and African scholars from the Centre of African Studies at Peking University (PKUCAS) have found that these excursions to the East African coast by Chinese explorers, further reached Malindi in Kenya as well, during and immediately after the period mentioned. All these excursions were in the quest of seeking knowledge and understanding, as well as cooperation. This quest of seeking friendship and trading, through knowledge and understanding are substantiated by the writings and in art pieces with African influence found in China, by reading accounts of authors from the period such as Du Huan, as well as the many coins and porcelain pieces from China, found in Bagamoyo, Tanzania dating back for hundred of years.  Seeking friendship was definitely a goal of the Chinese explorers and merchants. There is no documented evidence, nor written account, suggesting tension between locals in Bagamoyo or Malindi and the Chinese visitors many hundreds of years ago.

 

Chinese curiosity and the thirst for knowledge and understanding of the world around it, made them invest heavily in understanding others. This investment has been done over many decades and millennia. The fundamentally important Chinese principles, of non-interference in other’s internal affairs, mutual respect and cooperation, as well as the principle of equality that have so ably been grandfathered by the Communist Party of China, have therefore remained consistent and constant in China-Africa relations and engagement since AD 730-805. Accolades here must be given to the CPC for its foresightedness in continuing this time tested tradition for many decades.  Understanding other cultures and engaging with them is a fundamental pillar in mitigation against possible and potential conflict. It is a time tested path towards establishing, making and maintaining solid friendships. When someone understands and engages positively with others, he is surely going to cause others to understand them. Once understanding is fostered and maintained, respect and non-interference follow, paving way to peaceful coexistence.

 

As earlier mentioned, my first encounter with Chinese nationals was in the early to mid 1970s, when I along with my friends, were playing a game of football in the evening, as the sun was setting against the backdrop of a red and orange sky, giving way to evening time, in the new capital city of Dodoma, Central Tanzania. With the scene of a breathtakingly beautiful African sunset sky, a group of mid aged foreigners drew nearer to us and before we knew it, had joined us for a game of football. To our excitement, the group of foreigners, who numbered between 5 to 7 were Chinese who spoke perfect Kiswahili. After the game, which I am sure they let us win as they were much older, the Chinese doctors gave us packets of a famous sweet brand from China called “White Rabbit” which is made out of pure milk. We hurried to fill our mouths with the tasty sweets.  As we said our goodbye’s, the Chinese doctors reminded us to clean our teeth before going to bed, and in so doing also gave us toothbrushes and toothpaste. As I think back, that was a perfect strategy to win the hearts of young children, but also a brilliant strategy to teach them about health. This scenery has stuck to my mind until today. There are many young Chinese doctors who leave their families for many months, volunteering to travel to Africa and teach about health, reaching remote areas and offering health services. These health services are usually free as most of the population leaving in the periphery of development have meager incomes and usually live below the poverty line, not being able to afford healthcare. Actions and sincere assistance by friends like our Chinese brothers and sisters endear them to Africans and need accolades.

 

In traveling across China for the last thirty years, I have come to meet many families and have even adopted a Chinese couple as my parents. My Chinese parents have played a formidable and pivotal role in my upbringing, since my teenage years until now. Although one has now passed away his wife remains alive and operates what is known as the African Village, a Museum of African Art in a suburb of Beijing called Songzhuang. The couple have also donated many Tanzanian art pieces to national Museums in Beijing and Changchun, as well as most recently to the Museum of Natural History in Shanghai. All of this has been done from their meager savings and without subsidies. The couple lived in Tanzania for approximately thirty years and spent formidable time and many years to study and understand Tanzanians and Africans through works of art. In Africa, art can depict a society’s hope and fears, their aspirations and feelings. This is yet another live example of how the Chinese invest in knowledge and understanding of other cultures, even through art, to foster cooperation and peaceful coexistence by establishing friendships using different mediums.

 

Chinese family structures are very similar to African families, where extended families are the order of the day and where grandparents live together with families and play an integral part in bringing up grandchildren, telling them folklore stories with meanings in life and even disciplining grand children who may have unwanton behavior.

 

The Chinese history of foreign occupation and colonization mirrors that of African countries that too have been occupied, pillaged and colonized. The Chinese history of famine and poverty followed by great triumph against these vices makes China a perfect development partner and model for Africa, first because China understands Africa and has invested in meaningful friendship building and friendship maintenance with Africans, but also because the two cultures in general are not too different from each other, have common threads and traits, a few cultural differences notwithstanding.  Geographically far apart, these two axis remain close as friends, as both China and Africa seek real friendship, free of extortion and pillage that has never characterized the relationship between the two. An old Chinese proverb says, “Genuine friends with the same ideals will never feel far away from each other, even when separated by seas and mountains”. This proverb has characterized the relationship between China and Africa for decades and for millennia.

 

In closing, I wish to pay homage to our forefathers over many centuries, who have invested heavily towards understanding each other, from both China and Africa. I further wish to recognize the important roles played by our great leaders during and after independence, in their determined reconstruction of societies to make them equal and respectable, to bring development and friendship, the great expense notwithstanding. I wish to thank and to congratulate the leadership of the CPC for seeing the importance of establishing and supporting CAFIU, which has a noble objective and a colossal task in fostering international understanding.  

 

There is enormous goodwill between Africans and Chinese nationals, built over many centuries and continuing to date, covering various areas such as joint research in agriculture and science, cultural exchanges, political and diplomatic engagements and exchanges, education, sports and many more areas of cooperation. Most currently, there is an enormous surge in trade and business among nationals of both China and Africa. Remarkably there has been an increase in people-to-people interaction and exchanges. The initiative of promoting more people-to-people interaction and engagement between Chinese and Africans is fundamentally important. In every society and polity, the whole starts with the individual and that is where it matters. An old Chinese proverb says that “when we drink water, we must not forget our forefathers who dug the wells”. We have every reason to remember our leaders who fought to reinstate, continue and maintain the excellent relations between China and Africa. We have no excuse to slow down this wonderful momentum begun by our forefathers, and for that reason must invest more time and efforts towards understanding each other, to understand each other’s needs and wants and to constantly establish channels for engagement and discussions, forging ahead to mutual respect and mutual development.

 

(The author is General Secretary of Tanzania China Friendship Promotion Association)