On 24th October 2006, I landed at Beijing International airport in China. I was in China to attend a forum on Vocational Education. This was my first time to travel outside Africa. My earlier trips had been to the Southern African region i.e. to Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
The trip to China started from Lusaka International Airport at 13 40 on 23rd October. With eleven other officials, I boarded Ethiopian Airlines. Our first stopover (45 minutes) was in Lilongwe. Some food was loaded onto the plane and the plane was refueled. The next leg of the flight was to Addis Ababa. We arrived in Addis at 20 00 (19 00 Zambia time) after flying for about 3 hours. We were at the airport for 4 hours. We visited several shops in the recently refurbished airport. I was impressed with the display of local products, such as clothes, coffee, artifacts, music CDs and tapes at the airport. Most of these were fairly priced in either US dollars or Ethiopian Birr. One could almost get a very good introduction to the Ethiopian culture just by moving around at the airport. This is an area for us to learn here when we look at our Lusaka International airport. There is need to expand our airport. There is equally need for fair pricing. The cost of changing foreign currencies and having meals at the airport is exploitative to say the least. Anyway back to Addis. I found the body search which included removing shoes and belts in Addis very strange and an inconvenience. Is this what the threat of terrorism has led to in some nations?
We left Addis at midnight using an Airbus. We flew for 6 hours to New Delhi where we had a stopover for 45 minutes. We had some food packed and were given copies of a local Indian newspaper. New aircrew boarded the plane. After all formalities, we were set for the final leg to Beijing. This trip took about 6 hours. It was quite a tiring trip. It was interesting moving across various time zones and getting confused in the process. Beijing is 6 hours ahead of Zambia.
Tianjin
Tianjin is one of the four leading cities in China. It has a population of about 10 million. Tianjin is a costal town. Tianjin is a growing city with a lot of reconstruction taking place. We stayed in Tianjin for 18 days. We were in Tianjin to attend a forum for Vocational Education hosted by the Tianjin University of Technology and Education. Participants were drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia. The forum was well organised. By the end of the training period, the forum objectives were met. The programme comprised lectures, discussions and country reports. There were also academic study tours and cultural visits. We found the electrical and mechanics workshops at the university very clean and well-equipped. The Chinese have invested heavily in the vocational education system. They have and continue to learn a lot from nations such as India, Germany, South Korea and USA,
Tianjin city is undergoing a lot of reconstruction. Everywhere we went we saw a lot of buildings being constructed. Old buildings giving way to new buildings! Beautiful architecture! The road network is very good with excellent ring roads and over passes. A number of international companies have established businesses in Tianjin. These businesses are in various sectors such as financial, motor vehicle, tourism and food. We had meals at the famous MacDonald’s fast food outlets. We did our shopping at shopping malls, markets and a cyber market where various electronic products were on offer!
I had fun tasting new dishes. I tasted shrimps, chicken cooked in honey (sweet and sour chicken), bamboo shoots, drank green tea with all meals. Tea drinking plays quite an important role in Chinese life. There are about 2000 different types of teas. These can be reduced to 7 major types. These include green tea, monkey tea, oolong tea and jasmine tea. I highly recommend green tea. It’s an anti-oxidant tea good for persons with high BP, anti cancer, digestion problems etc. Green tea can be found in many of our major supermarkets.
Places visited included Tianjin Professional College and Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) where we saw a showroom of mostly imported cars. Tianjin is home to seventeen universities. One of these is Tianjin University of Commerce, where Tianjin International Fellowship (www.tjif.com) meets. This is the church which I attended for the first two Sunday’s. The church is made up of about 50 different nationals. Before entering church, I had to show my passport. That is standard procedure for most international churches in China! All hymns and songs were sung using an overhead projector. The preacher too had his sermon beamed using an OHP. Some Christians have raised alarms of the growing practice of churches using OHP’s. I’m sure the debate will continue to rage. I think it’s one of the new technologies that we need to learn to use for the benefit of God’s kingdom without compromising biblical worship. It was a joy to make friends with one of the elders (from USA) and a brother from Rwanda, studying in China. I later learnt of how God saved the Rwandese brother through an evangelistic meeting in China. God’s ways are mysterious! China’s religion is mostly Buddhist. Economic and political reforms have led to some religious tolerance which allows foreigners to set up churches as long as the do not ‘evangelise’ the locals.
Beijing
Beijing is the capital city of China. Beijing means ‘northern capital’. It is also home to a number of tourist attractions such as the famous Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Beijing is set to host the 2008 Olympic games which start on 8th August 2008 (08/08/08). The China-Africa forum was hosted in Beijing in November 2006 at which new strategies in co-operation were discussed and agreed.
The first day of the visit to Beijing was spent visiting the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built by one of the emperor’s as a place of retreat during vacations. It is beside a lake. The Palace has one of the world’s longest corridor’s (about 1000m). This corridor was used by the emperor when he was relaxing and looking at the various marble paintings on the walls as he strolled along. The Summer palace receives thousands of visitors on a daily basis.
On the second day we visited one of the world’s seven wonder: the Great Wall of China. Again this is a place which receives a lot of visitors on a daily basis. It was such a wonder to see the Great Wall after learning about it in school. Greater wonder was to actually climb the Great Wall and get to one of the highest points! We were given certificates with our photographs indicating that we have seen the Great Wall.
On the third day, all roads led to the Forbidden City. Why Forbidden City? It was a city forbidden to those that were not part of the royal circle. The city was for the emperor and those of royal connections. This city has 9,999 rooms. One would need 30 years to sleep in each of the rooms! A lot of artistic beauty went into building the city. Again this tourist attraction is a crowd puller. In all these places one needs to be very close to the tour guide and follow the flag of the guide so as not to get lost! On our way out of the Forbidden City we saw the famous Tiananmen square.
The other time in Beijing was spent shopping and eating. Yes eating! Eating in a number of restaurants that were selected by our tour guide. Our last supper was at a restaurant which has dishes from Southern China. This was spiced by some traditional dancing by men and women from Southern China.
The last day in Beijing was spent in packing, last minute shopping and getting to the Beijing airport. We finally boarded the plane after a 2 hour delay. As we took off on the runaway a number of thoughts were racing in my mind. What were my impressions of China – the land of the Dragon or the land of Ancient Civilisation?
Impressions and Lessons from China
Firstly, I had quite a big shock. I was not too sure as to how developed China was. What I saw blew my mind! China has really made great strides in development. Preparations for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing are in full gear. China’s development has been due to an emphasis by the government from the early 80’s to concentrate on economic development as opposed to political development. There is lot of lessons for African nations that wish to see rapid development.
Secondly, the Chinese are generally hardworking, hospitable and humble people. Through hard work, the Chinese have managed to turn around their economy and make it a force to reckon with. On Chinese hospitality I’d need an article twice this one to document it! Simply put, our Chinese hosts who fully sponsored the 23 delegates and gave some pocket money, also provided all meals and bought everyone a shirt and some warm under clothes. We were made ‘mauless’ (speechless) by the great show of hospitality. On the aspect of humility, I noted that though all our lecturers were professors they carried themselves with humility. They did not mind whether they were called professor or not. I find it strange that some of our locals will insist on being called ‘doctor’ or ‘professor’ at all times!. Should the Lord grant me a PhD qualification or professorship, I will insist that friends at church and at work call me by first name or just the surname.
Thirdly, I was impressed with the tourist activities that China has. On a daily basis, China is making a lot of Yuan’s (local currency) due to a lot of visitors to various tourist attractions. The museums are well kept and have well trained narrators and guides.
Fourthly, I noted that China is a very religious nation. The way buildings and roads are constructed has some spiritual explanation. The Buddhist religion is dominant. Let’s pray that even in that land of the dragon, the Lord would save many and make them his own!
Gabriel S Konayuma
25 December 2006
The trip to China started from Lusaka International Airport at 13 40 on 23rd October. With eleven other officials, I boarded Ethiopian Airlines. Our first stopover (45 minutes) was in Lilongwe. Some food was loaded onto the plane and the plane was refueled. The next leg of the flight was to Addis Ababa. We arrived in Addis at 20 00 (19 00 Zambia time) after flying for about 3 hours. We were at the airport for 4 hours. We visited several shops in the recently refurbished airport. I was impressed with the display of local products, such as clothes, coffee, artifacts, music CDs and tapes at the airport. Most of these were fairly priced in either US dollars or Ethiopian Birr. One could almost get a very good introduction to the Ethiopian culture just by moving around at the airport. This is an area for us to learn here when we look at our Lusaka International airport. There is need to expand our airport. There is equally need for fair pricing. The cost of changing foreign currencies and having meals at the airport is exploitative to say the least. Anyway back to Addis. I found the body search which included removing shoes and belts in Addis very strange and an inconvenience. Is this what the threat of terrorism has led to in some nations?
We left Addis at midnight using an Airbus. We flew for 6 hours to New Delhi where we had a stopover for 45 minutes. We had some food packed and were given copies of a local Indian newspaper. New aircrew boarded the plane. After all formalities, we were set for the final leg to Beijing. This trip took about 6 hours. It was quite a tiring trip. It was interesting moving across various time zones and getting confused in the process. Beijing is 6 hours ahead of Zambia.
Tianjin
Tianjin is one of the four leading cities in China. It has a population of about 10 million. Tianjin is a costal town. Tianjin is a growing city with a lot of reconstruction taking place. We stayed in Tianjin for 18 days. We were in Tianjin to attend a forum for Vocational Education hosted by the Tianjin University of Technology and Education. Participants were drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia. The forum was well organised. By the end of the training period, the forum objectives were met. The programme comprised lectures, discussions and country reports. There were also academic study tours and cultural visits. We found the electrical and mechanics workshops at the university very clean and well-equipped. The Chinese have invested heavily in the vocational education system. They have and continue to learn a lot from nations such as India, Germany, South Korea and USA,
Tianjin city is undergoing a lot of reconstruction. Everywhere we went we saw a lot of buildings being constructed. Old buildings giving way to new buildings! Beautiful architecture! The road network is very good with excellent ring roads and over passes. A number of international companies have established businesses in Tianjin. These businesses are in various sectors such as financial, motor vehicle, tourism and food. We had meals at the famous MacDonald’s fast food outlets. We did our shopping at shopping malls, markets and a cyber market where various electronic products were on offer!
I had fun tasting new dishes. I tasted shrimps, chicken cooked in honey (sweet and sour chicken), bamboo shoots, drank green tea with all meals. Tea drinking plays quite an important role in Chinese life. There are about 2000 different types of teas. These can be reduced to 7 major types. These include green tea, monkey tea, oolong tea and jasmine tea. I highly recommend green tea. It’s an anti-oxidant tea good for persons with high BP, anti cancer, digestion problems etc. Green tea can be found in many of our major supermarkets.
Places visited included Tianjin Professional College and Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) where we saw a showroom of mostly imported cars. Tianjin is home to seventeen universities. One of these is Tianjin University of Commerce, where Tianjin International Fellowship (www.tjif.com) meets. This is the church which I attended for the first two Sunday’s. The church is made up of about 50 different nationals. Before entering church, I had to show my passport. That is standard procedure for most international churches in China! All hymns and songs were sung using an overhead projector. The preacher too had his sermon beamed using an OHP. Some Christians have raised alarms of the growing practice of churches using OHP’s. I’m sure the debate will continue to rage. I think it’s one of the new technologies that we need to learn to use for the benefit of God’s kingdom without compromising biblical worship. It was a joy to make friends with one of the elders (from USA) and a brother from Rwanda, studying in China. I later learnt of how God saved the Rwandese brother through an evangelistic meeting in China. God’s ways are mysterious! China’s religion is mostly Buddhist. Economic and political reforms have led to some religious tolerance which allows foreigners to set up churches as long as the do not ‘evangelise’ the locals.
Beijing
Beijing is the capital city of China. Beijing means ‘northern capital’. It is also home to a number of tourist attractions such as the famous Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Beijing is set to host the 2008 Olympic games which start on 8th August 2008 (08/08/08). The China-Africa forum was hosted in Beijing in November 2006 at which new strategies in co-operation were discussed and agreed.
The first day of the visit to Beijing was spent visiting the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built by one of the emperor’s as a place of retreat during vacations. It is beside a lake. The Palace has one of the world’s longest corridor’s (about 1000m). This corridor was used by the emperor when he was relaxing and looking at the various marble paintings on the walls as he strolled along. The Summer palace receives thousands of visitors on a daily basis.
On the second day we visited one of the world’s seven wonder: the Great Wall of China. Again this is a place which receives a lot of visitors on a daily basis. It was such a wonder to see the Great Wall after learning about it in school. Greater wonder was to actually climb the Great Wall and get to one of the highest points! We were given certificates with our photographs indicating that we have seen the Great Wall.
On the third day, all roads led to the Forbidden City. Why Forbidden City? It was a city forbidden to those that were not part of the royal circle. The city was for the emperor and those of royal connections. This city has 9,999 rooms. One would need 30 years to sleep in each of the rooms! A lot of artistic beauty went into building the city. Again this tourist attraction is a crowd puller. In all these places one needs to be very close to the tour guide and follow the flag of the guide so as not to get lost! On our way out of the Forbidden City we saw the famous Tiananmen square.
The other time in Beijing was spent shopping and eating. Yes eating! Eating in a number of restaurants that were selected by our tour guide. Our last supper was at a restaurant which has dishes from Southern China. This was spiced by some traditional dancing by men and women from Southern China.
The last day in Beijing was spent in packing, last minute shopping and getting to the Beijing airport. We finally boarded the plane after a 2 hour delay. As we took off on the runaway a number of thoughts were racing in my mind. What were my impressions of China – the land of the Dragon or the land of Ancient Civilisation?
Impressions and Lessons from China
Firstly, I had quite a big shock. I was not too sure as to how developed China was. What I saw blew my mind! China has really made great strides in development. Preparations for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing are in full gear. China’s development has been due to an emphasis by the government from the early 80’s to concentrate on economic development as opposed to political development. There is lot of lessons for African nations that wish to see rapid development.
Secondly, the Chinese are generally hardworking, hospitable and humble people. Through hard work, the Chinese have managed to turn around their economy and make it a force to reckon with. On Chinese hospitality I’d need an article twice this one to document it! Simply put, our Chinese hosts who fully sponsored the 23 delegates and gave some pocket money, also provided all meals and bought everyone a shirt and some warm under clothes. We were made ‘mauless’ (speechless) by the great show of hospitality. On the aspect of humility, I noted that though all our lecturers were professors they carried themselves with humility. They did not mind whether they were called professor or not. I find it strange that some of our locals will insist on being called ‘doctor’ or ‘professor’ at all times!. Should the Lord grant me a PhD qualification or professorship, I will insist that friends at church and at work call me by first name or just the surname.
Thirdly, I was impressed with the tourist activities that China has. On a daily basis, China is making a lot of Yuan’s (local currency) due to a lot of visitors to various tourist attractions. The museums are well kept and have well trained narrators and guides.
Fourthly, I noted that China is a very religious nation. The way buildings and roads are constructed has some spiritual explanation. The Buddhist religion is dominant. Let’s pray that even in that land of the dragon, the Lord would save many and make them his own!
Gabriel S Konayuma
25 December 2006
Comments