A world of wonders in China
THE first glimmer of the sun peeked over the skyline in a radiant form. I sat on a rocking chair, my cotton pyjama bottom soaking up the damp morning dew as I took in the beautiful cityscape from my hotel room. The sunrise cast a beautiful glow as the soft rays brought warmth to a new day, which only acted to solidify reality. The reality being: visiting the People’s Republic of China for the first time in my life.
Despite enduring an exasperating nine-hour flight aboard the Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 777-200LRF airbus from Addis Ababa to Guangzhou, the journey to this great Asian nation was quite an exciting experience in every sense of the word.
Our first port of call was Guangzhou, the capital and most populous city of the province of Guangdong in southern China. We spent a few hours at Guangzhou International Airport waiting for a domestic flight to Yiwu, a commercial city famous for international trade activities.
After a two-hour flight to Yiwu, we finished off our journey by road to Jinhua.
Jinhua, a beautiful city situated in Zhejiang province, the richest county in China, was to be our host city for the duration of our three-week stay.
The city is home to one of the country’s top five universities, Zhejiang Normal University. The institution also offers African film and television studies among other programmes relevant to the continent. A lot of foreign students, among them Zimbabweans, are studying at the university. The institution also has an in-built African museum documenting the continent’s rich cultures, beliefs and the preservation of artifacts.
We were also taken to the renowned Hengdian World Studios where lectures were conducted about the development of Chinese film making. We had a lifetime opportunity to watch live theatre displays, which offered a riot of colour and dance. Most of the Chinese famous movies are shot at the Hengdian World Studios. It is actually regarded as China’s Hollywood. We also went to Jinhua Museum where the history of the city is well documented and archived in quite an amazing way.
The visit took us to various media houses such as Jinhua Daily News on familiarisation tours. It was a real eye-opener!
We got an insight of how Chinese media organisations have embraced technology to maximise on profits in the age of new media.
The Chinese government through the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) owns and controls both the print and electronic media. Unlike in Zimbabwe, there are no privately owned media houses in China.
During the second week of our visit, we travelled to Hangzhou, which is the provincial capital for Zhejiang. We had a lifetime opportunity to explore rich Chinese culture and also toured Zhejiang University of Media and Communications. The university has the best broadcasting equipment in the country’s universities.
The most stimulating part of our trip was a historic visit to the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, one of the most exciting and dynamic cities in the world.
Its astonishing geographical and cultural diversity is unique. It is a destination offering an exotic blend of East and West. The city is a staggering beauty complemented by dramatic skyscrappers.
Situated in the heart of the city is the Asia and Pacific Plaza, a gigantic shopping mall where a relentless entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese is clearly evident in a special way. Whenever you intend to buy any item, it turns out to be a tug-of-war between a potential buyer and the seller. A lot of bargaining and haggling has to take place before a good deal is ultimately reached.
Shanghai provides endless fascination. It is a cosmopolitan city with glimpses of deep rooted traditional Chinese culture, beautiful architecture and a vast range of must-see attractions, which include an elegant historic classical style of the Tang Dynasty historic temples constructed of wood and immaculately preserved monasteries and ancient towers.
The Chinese have also retained a strong sense of identity and pride and they are eager to share this with foreign travellers.
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, located in Pudong Park, is surrounded by the Yangpu Bridge in the northeast and the Nanpu Bridge in the southwest. It is an incredible eyecatching building which provides a spectacular sight of the city, attracting thousands of visitors all year round.
The 468 metres high tower, which is the world’s sixth tallest building and China’s second tallest TV and radio tower, contains shops, restaurants, including a rotating restaurant and a sightseeing floor providing different magnificent views of the city through a glass bottom.
Shanghai offers a startling mix of colour and form, offering unforgettable images of an ever changing cityscape. A symphony of lights illuminates the night sky over the central business district with spectacular multi-media displays. The city is quintessentially a Chinese city, steeped in history and culture offering a unique blend of new and old. The city is at the forefront of avant-garde architecture combining traditional buildings with state-of-art steel and glass skyscrappers.
In all the cities we visited, there is ceaseless development of glittering skyscrappers and high rise residential buildings.
The Chinese love organic vegetables, roast geese, Peking duck and fresh seafood.
Yiwu International Trade Centre is a Mecca for shoppers, tourists and locals alike. The ubiquitous lanes and markets offer a huge range of clothes, accessories and fake designer brands while the numerous up-market shopping malls provide some of the classiest-and most expensive-shopping in the world.
China’s numerous major infrastructure projects are nothing short of spectacular. Despite difficult terrain, the construction of bridges, roads and tunnels is a feat of highprecision engineering.
In a country with a massive population of 1,4 billion people and a sharp rise of middle income earners, it is not surprising that the availability of traffic space can be a challenge.
Most people move around in buses, bicycles and motorbikes. The bus stops are computerised and there is no need for a conductor as payments are done electronically. The director and founder of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, Professor Liu Hongwu, said Zimbabwe can learn about economic transformation from China.
“China was poor in the last 30 years but today we’re the second largest economy in the world after the United States. I believe the same can happen with Zimbabwe whose population can’t be compared with our huge population. Zimbabwe has a lot to learn from China in terms of economic transformation,” he said.
China is Zimbabwe’s all-weather friend and the two countries enjoy cordial relations dating back to the time of the liberation struggle. China’s railway line and road network is rated among the best in the world.
By 2012, its railway had reached 100 000km, ranking the second in the world.
China’s super railway reaches 10 000km, the longest in the world. Only recently China launched the world’s fastest speed train travelling at 350km per hour. The bullet train plies the Shanghai-Beijing route.
First-time visitors may be surprised to find that Chinese people are extremely welcoming and friendly. They are also fascinated by Africans (considering how few travellers from the continent visit).
China, whose vast landscape encompasses grassland, desert, mountains, lakes, rivers and more than 14 000km of coastline, has a treasure trove to discover.
It takes a few days to explore the country but a lifetime to fully appreciate it. — @mashnets.