'China: A thousand feet tall tree knows its roots'

By Dr SANDE NGALANDE
THERE would be no modem Africa as we know it without China's numerous acts of friendship and generosity in Africa.

'China: tall tree

Amidtiie huge amount of negative energy towards China-Africa decades long and all-weather friendship, Africa should not lose its focus and must not forget where she has come from with China.
An online publication, "Why Africa loves China" (2019) characterizes this type of energj' as a ■'Sino-phobic narrative championed by the West."
Sino-phobic narratives raise a strong danger especially in the young generation of distorting the truth underlying China-Africa relations.
In the era of lake news and tek of scholarly readership, people tend lo believe all that is presented before Iheirmodem g^dgets used lo mine daily new s especially on social media.
African scholars aware of the true characteristics of the Sino-Africa engagement are increasingly getting agitated by the distortions in the characterisation of die origin and growth of China's pursuits in Africa.
In my work as dtrcctm of the Confucius Institute (CI) at the University of Zambia (UNEA), 1 have hadanumberof oppommities of visiting China.
During the visits. I have always marveled at the ^lecuic pace at which China has developed.
I and many teams from African Confiicius Institutes have been given chance to visit highly developed modem cities in China.
.Advancements in technology, telecommunicalions, road networks, the education and health sectors as well as the general infrastructure have always been mesmerising.
The careful mix betwTOi deep rooted Cltinese culture, long and strong history, education and modem developmental wa>^ provides momentsofcaptivating lessons.
Oneisalmostalwa>-smistaken to think there has always been such a prosperous and of the famous long march and became the base for the Rectification Movement which was the first ideological mass movement initiated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 1942 to 1944.
Van'an was, therefore, the communist base located in the remote and isolated mountainous area in nortfaeiQ Shaanxi ("Rectificarion Movement", 2019).
The city was isolated but also surrounded by enemies, making it look up to itself for survival.
The venue of the conference was in die city of Yan'an.
We flew from Beijing and as we approached Yan'an, I begun to relate the topography as 1 could see from the plane's wiiKlow to die amazing t itraature I read about the birthplace of modem China.
As the captain aimoimced the beginning of descent into the city airport, we could feel the discomfort from the turbulence caused by the mountainous air spaces.
I could not sec anything except a range of mountains.
1 began to think about the areas where the Chinese People's Communist Party revolutionary guards were hiding in order to mount a spirited fight that would liberate China from both external and internal enemies.
China's civil and international wars are foodforanodiCTarticle.
Out of nowhere, we saw reclaimed land from the mountains and we soon landed at a small, single lane airport by Chinese standards.
In China, everything is massive.
We were greeted by the warmth of the hospitaIit>- of the friendly people of Yan'an.
Both old and young are fiill of heart-warming smiles.
From ihe outset, no one would ever know such are a people that bore the brunt of a war frontline. The symposium was a well thought mixture of tours ofhistorical si^ts and meetings.
As we begun the tours immediately after arrival, the stunning truth of the hardworking, self-reliant, persevering and resi I Sent people also encircled by enemy lines, unable to seek or receive help bom the outside.
The people, therefore, believed in him until he won the yiais, united China and became the first leado" of the People's RepubUc of China.
Under Chairman Mao's leadership. President Xi went to live m the same cave houses with the peasants in apolitically liberated but still impoverished China.
There was hardly anything to share and hardly anything to eat, but Presidem Xi helped Ihe villagers to dig thansetves out of poverty.
This is the story of the two ^eat leaders in the same great historical city.
The city as we know it now enjoys both political and economic freedom.
It is a growing but prosperous city.
It's lifestyle is not necessarily altered but hi^ly improved with people enjoying the prosperity K^ther nilh mainland China.
On one of the touis, we got into cars climbing along the apple farms in the mountains.
At one point, our car broke down.
The vice president of the China-.Afnca Institute Professor Li said, "Don't wotrymy friends. Let's go into the apple fields and mjoy the apples as we wait for a replacement car."
The mouth-w^lering apples thai have transformed the lives of the peasants are big, succulent, and delicious.
As you eat them, you can not believe this is happening in a land that had suffered so much and was alm<Kt brought lo nothing by human disasters.
One evening, a Chinese fiiend from another city came to visit me.
lie n..^ »ll       »av- fmm hi»
colonial and imperialist icign of tenor.
China did not join the imperialist reign al that moment but chose to celebrate Africa's achievements in gpining political independence.
This was evidenced by China's sending of Special Einvoy Marshal NieRongzhen lo attend Ghana's independence celdiration ceremony as Africa's first tndependem slate in Sulv Sahara .Africa.
Soon after, Tanzania and Zambia became independent and established diplomatic ties with China. President Nyerereof Tanzania and President Kaunda of Zambia did not only want to help liberale other African states but also wanted to quickly find sustainable means of dcvelopinjs their countries. A TAZARA project was first of their major infrastructure projects.
They sought to naturally get help from their former colonia] masters.
In disbelief, they were told by the West thai ihe project w^ economic^ly not viable, useless in other words.
When President Nyerere, on behalf of his friend President Kaunda, visited Chairman Mao in China, Chairman Mao said, "Tanzania is our close friend, if they grew stronger, we would become stronger...You have difficulties, so do we. But your difficulties, are different from ours. We will still help you build this railway even if it means we won't be able to build railways on our own land."
It is not coincidence that the recoil 2013 Xi Jinping's first visit to Africa as president oi China happened in Tanzimia.
In his own wonts, Presidem Xi said. The inwaem 1 set foot on this beaulMiil land, I was overwhelmed by the friendship of ihc lapzanian

in inodern looks.
The known sayrog in .Airica that 'China was once poor Hke as' does not make sense until you gel into contact with the ^>rutal reality presented in the liistory of China's stru^e tor independence and economic emancipation.
In all my engagements widi China, I have never been so emotionally and spiritually moved by the reality behind the real struggle China fou^ than what I have recently seeiL
The unveiling of the Chinese people'shistory a few days ago of the struggle, perseverance and mililance against all odds before my eyes in a little but historically very important city of Yan'an was life changing.
I	got an invitation to {vesent an academic papertogetherw^ith a team of African and Chinese ihinkianks at die international symposium called "The Van'an Spirit and Exchanges on Governance Experiences Between China and Africa".
II	was organised b>'the China-Africa Institute of the renowned Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.
I chose to presem a paper on the theme. "The Yan'an Spirit and the Modem China."
The contents of the paper can be a subject for another discussion and being developed for a book chapter.
Until now, I knen nothing about the city of Yan'an.
When I set my eyes on literature about Uiis city, 1 begun lo engage the himible history of China and begun to draw strong parallels between China and .Africa's history.
By humble, 1 mean China was an impoverished slate in every sense of the word.
The city of Yan'an is celel^ed as the birthplace of the revolution and the centre of the Chinese Communist Revolution from late 1935 to 1947.
The city was at the end point frnntfaejedflgandtheconftisioir
in difiference of time.
Vfcwetearrivinf -Houndixmn at witich time i f.A fnca was just waking up.
A city with a heavy sense of loss in their hundreds of thousands, millions if you like, to the struggle of both political and economic indepeiidence, is brane to the profound history of two great Chinese leaders; Chairman Mao and current President of China Xi Jinping.
Chairman Mao consolidated his leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in this region.
President Xi Jinping's soul and spirit were mentored in Yan'an when he spent his time of youth with viUageis under Chairman Mao's policy that required educated youth from Beijing to spend a considerable amount of their lives living with villagers and peasants, eating what they ate and cultivating with them in the fields.
These are two great stories that we cannot exhaust in one space.
In his own words. President , Xi, after retiuning to Yan'an more than 40 years but now as president of China, said, "It's so exiting to come back and sec you again. January of 1969 was my first important step in Hfe. In a major sense, my life started here, at Liangjiahe. Seven years of my life were spent here. Physically I lefr this place years ago, but left my heart here," (Liangjiahe Village: A story of Chinese Piesident Xi Jinping, 2018).
During the struggle. Chairman Mao Zedong was successful in cultivating a resilient sphit in his followers by imderstanding the rimes he lived in and predicting the future, laying a strong literacy and educational foundation for the masses, emphasising hard work through agriculture, and nurturing peasant power.
In this period, he lived with peasants in the cave houses of Yan'an, hidingfinmencm ies but
1 spcm a mght at & hotel we hved in so that we could talk.
That evening, I walked with him lo do some shopping in the city.
As we walked past a school, I could hear jubilant and ptDspenius sounds of children playing in Uie school grounds.
That diy, we had just returned from visiting the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall where we heardgniesome stories of how the solders suffeisd lo liberate China.
As they wierc encircled by enemies at one time, there was hardly anything to eat fi>r the soldiers.
We saw in the memorial hall animal skin belts for wearing uniforms that were boiled and used as source of food.
My heart was filled with emotions in remembrance of the children of ihose soldiers.
And I said to my friend in a heav7 voice, "It is unfortunate Uie fallen soldiers could not live lo see their children flourish."
Then a thou^t by Lu Yao, one of Chraa's giealesi novelists whose works we had enjoyed in a drama, said. The greatest happiness of life lies in the creative process, rather than the result"
With consolation, I said to myseIC "They are the happiest of all because no one will ever snatch this hisiorv away firan them."
Chma Policy in Focus (2019) confirms that "Egypt became the first African coimtry to establish diplomatic relations with China in May 1956. By the earty 1960s, over 10 African countries, including Morocco, Algeria, and Sudan, had established diplomatic relations widi China. By the end of the 19705,44 ofthe 50 iodepewkm African countries had entered into diplomatic relations with China."
China show^ her resolute need for engaging Africa politically, at the time Afiica suffered her worst pains of people.
people ofl anzania helda speaal and grand welcoming ceremony for me and my detection, but also the profound traditional friendship between the two countries and the two peoples".
The later part of the speech was reminiscent of President Nyerere and Chairman Mao'' engagement. The welcomi-accorded to President Xi wa representative of African.--feelings tow^ a great leader o' a great country but also a grec friend of Africa.
A different forum would K necessary for us to engage full> on the lessons Afn'ca must leari from the city of Yan'an thai are now known as Ihe "Yan'aii Spirit'.
In this space, we sought to remind ourselves of a (Thina we have always had; in Prcsidcni Kaunda's language, 'an all-vk-eatho- friend'.
Chairman Mao's quote above and the subsequent construction of the TAZARA has been a hallmark of China's policy towards Africa.
China believes in a stron;) and tmitcd nation with strong' (.African) allies.
Her engagement widi Africa has always been peacefiil and in solidarity with Africa's dream u' economically liberate herself
When China had two apples, she w as able to give one to Africa without conditions.
Now that she has several himdreds of apples, should we be surprised she is able to give more than a dozen to Africa?
Let us judge China based or. Iter actions and not speculation
As we celebrate China's 70"' anniversary and 55 years ol bilateral relations with Ch ina, w must nol forget the journey we have had with a fiiend in need and indeed.
As the Chinese saying goes, "AneealhousaiKifeettall Imows iti roots."
'The author is a dbrctar at Ihe ConfHdus Institute ut the UHiversitrofZambia ((UNZA).

' THE team of Chinese and African think tanks listen to a Presentation by Professor Cao Guxi, second from left, one of President Xi's contemporaries who has keenly foUowed President Xi\ leadership development and worked with him in the 1970s as part of the Beijing Educated Youth in Yan'an.