Second-Prize Essay of “Zambia Through Chinese Eyes” Competition: Back to Zambia, Fifteen Years Later
by Liu Jiahong,
International Settlement Processing Center, Bank of China
When referring to remote Africa, people carry the impression of poverty, backwardness, diseases, and chaos. Seventeen years ago, as a spouse of a Chinese company employee in Zambia, I experienced seventeen painful months of life in this country. Fear, anxiety, robbery, and the great scarcity of food were all around me and my associates. But we took care of each other, helped each other, sought joy amidst the sorrow, and forged a profound friendship during that time. Now, seventeen years later, at the end of July, 2014, those same friends brought our children along and went back to Africa to collect the moments of our youthful days.
I remember October of 1997, the first time I set foot on the land of Africa. For the first time I saw flowers growing on the tops of trees. The brilliant greens of plants and bright rays of the sun excited me. However, the endless disappointment and intolerable loneliness that were to come greatly diminished my initial excitement.
Buying food was inconvenient. Back then there were only two decent supermarkets in Lusaka, Zambia, Shoprite and Castle. Those two supermarkets sold mainly local food, and most local people carried big bags of melie-meals to make Nshima, the food eaten widely across the country. Vegetables and fruits were limited and there was no seafood. The available meat was limited to pork, beef, and chicken, which had been frozen longer than we could imagine. Going to the supermarkets meant standing in long queues and holding our breaths because of the mixed unpleasant odors of those frozen meat.
The Castle Market was the preferable market for us Chinese. There were imported foods, including some Chinese cuisine. Too bad that the date of production told us that the food items were vintage, and had spent a long time at sea before arriving at the supermarket. Chinese fine dried noodles were our favorite as they gave us a taste of home. The fresh local vegetables could only be purchased at the local market due to the high prices and the buyers were mostly foreigners, especially Chinese. Among the sellers was a young, thick lipped Zambian man. He impressed me with how he knew to say the vegetable names in Chinese, and he gave customers warm and thoughtful service. Buying vegetables from him was a fun. However, the assortment of vegetables was few. If we wanted a certain type of Chinese vegetable, we had to grow them ourselves. So we did. At harvest time, picking vegetables, exchanging them with friends, and sharing the joy of harvest brought happiness into our humdrum lives.
[pullquote]To our surprise, the chinese self-employed small business owners had become bosses with enormous assets. The Chinese businessmen managed projects now occupying a sizable market share[/pullquote]
Back then, the number of Chinese people in Lusaka was only about four hundred. Most of the Chinese were self-employed business people. They ran small business like restaurants and shops, however, the Chinese chefs’ cooking was plain, and products in the Chinese stores were overstocked and almost unsaleable. Other Chinese people rarely came to buy them.
The most unbearable thing about living in Lusaka was the poor road conditions. During the dry season, the pot-holed roads raised suffocating dust. In the rainy season, cars splashed meters of mud as they traveled the bumpy and pitted roads. We became accustomed to seeing shabby, rusted shuttle buses fully loaded with people, obsolete Chinese BJ212 Jeeps running on the rutted roads, and stalled cars, the people in the car resigned to pushing it off the road.
Security was tenuous. Stealing and robbery occurred frequently. Gunshots could be heard occasionally. After eight o’clock in the evening, when it got dark, we dared not go out. Our leisure activity was to go to the Economic and Commercial Counselor’s Office of the Chinese Embassy on weekends. We would spend time singing, playing pool or playing mahjong with friends. Sometimes we’d pamper ourselves and go to the outskirts of Lusaka to have a wonderful meal with friends. I still remember the relaxing time we spent at the beautiful Lilayi Lodge and the feeling of walking barefoot on the Zebra skin rug inside the lobby.
Livingstone was our favorite place to visit. We would drive to Livingstone whenever there were three or four days of holiday. Hours of driving tired us, but when we visited Victoria Falls we had to stay alert to keep our bags from being stolen. Our desires as tourists could not be perfectly satisfied as there were only a few activities in Livingstone: Whitewater rafting, a Zambezi river sunset cruise, and a daring bungee jump from a bridge several hundred feet above the river gorge.
After seventeen months of a bittersweet life, my friends and I returned to China one after another. We yearned to revel again in rich Chinese cuisine and a comfortable life.
Regardless, the days my friends and I shared together in Zambia are etched into our hearts. The years have passed quickly, and recollecting the traces of our youth it has become our common dream to return. We could not wait to go back to Africa, return to Zambia, and recall the spring time of our life!
“Zambia! Lusaka! Here we come!”
We reunited in Africa fifteen years after we left Zambia. We came back accompanied by our children, the flowers and future of our own country. We came back, curious to see the changes and potential future of Zambia. To our surprise, the self-employed small business owners had become bosses with enormous assets. The Chinese businessmen managed projects now occupying a sizable market share. The small Bank of China (Zambia) Limited was now a two-story building. Cars fill up the space in front of the building and customers line up in the lobby. The scope of service provided by Bank of China (Zambia) Limited has become much more diverse. Among the vigorous differences with the old days, only the smile of our old colleague and friend, Phiri, was still the same.
In Lusaka, more and larger supermarkets and shopping malls have been built; a wide variety of goods dazzled me! Upscale hotels and restaurants are open to the public. Pamodzi Hotel has opened an exclusive store selling its delicious pork-rib grill. The Chinese managed Golden Peacock Hotel is elegantly decorated, not only with modern facilities, but also with genuine and flavorful dishes. The local waiters and waitresses dress in Chinese costume. It is clever of them to speak their shaky Chinese while serving our meal. Sitting at the top floor of Mike’s Kitchen, tasting the classic savor of the steak, we can appreciate the bustling city night life. The fresh seafood from Ocean Basket restaurant left us supremely satiated. The natural organic and nutritious cooking foods cleansed our stomachs.
The advancement of civilization in Zambia was beyond my expectations. What surprised me most was the road conditions. They had been greatly improved. The roads had been widened and broken-down cars had mostly disappeared. High-rise buildings sprang up from the ground, commercial real estate buildings lined the streets with distinctive villa styles, and for a moment I felt as if I were in a European town! My favorite Lilayi Lodge had obtained a fine wine cellar and created luxurious guest rooms, and their menu offered prime cut steaks. The attentive service made us linger longer than intended.
Livingstone, the city that had created such good memories, the dramatic changes astound me. The city now is bristled with blazing lights, high grade hotels, and people of different ethnicities from all around the world. It is now permeated with the atmosphere of being an international tourism capital. At Victoria Falls, tourists get wet by the grand mist of the falls, laughter and the roar of the waterfall blending, creating a harmonious connection with nature. Rainbows shimmer over the rocks, the fog wells up like a phantom, and the fat baboons block the pathway, daring the visitors. The view, the sound, everything there remains enchanting, beautiful and thrilling. We could not help to praise the work done for the natural environmental preservation by the local government.
More tourism projects have been created to attract an international interest. For example, there is now a Zambezi Sunset Luxury Cruise, a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls, and lunch catered in the Devil’s Pool. All activities stimulate the visitors’ need for adventure. Placed in a unique geographical location, Zambezi Sun Hotel grants guests access to the waterfall. The water from the falls cascades in a roar, cleansing the air as well as the visitors’ heart. The sun rises from the east, sets in the west, giving the waterfall a spectacular image, no matter what the angle or time of day!
Our journey of tracing the old days was a short five days. But it fulfilled our dream of many years. We were amazed to see Zambia’s marvel in development and its vigorous prospects for the future. The everlasting friendship between China and Zambia grants Zambia a solid foundation of development. I sincerely hope China’s reform and open-up policy, as well as the industriousness and intelligence of the Chinese people will bring continued opportunity and mutual victory to the two countries, especially to Zambia. This is truly a flourishing African land.
The author has nailed it. A true reflection of what was on ground in the 1990s, dusty roads, theft, Shoprite. The picture has since changed now as rightly observed by the author
Yes the picture has changed, more people are jobless, load shedding, everything is more expensive now.
To top it all up, there is a lazy drunkard for president that is pardoning criminals under the influence of Ruphia Banda
Terrible nonsensical article.
Thanks
BB2014
Does someone realize the size of the Zambia in this article compared to the 752,000 sqm total area of our country.
If only this Chinese lady could have visited Chipulukusu and kantolomba 15 years ago and now.
read 752 sqkm
corrected 752000 sqkm
young, thick lipped Zambian man – Chinese are very racist, don’t be fooled by them! They prefer to remember Blacks by their features other than their names
young, thick lipped Zambian man – That’s all they see of Black people, not human with names, very racist
It’s good to note you’ve seen a new Zambia from the one you left behind. However – as expected from a Zambian – the changes have not been reflected in our livelihoods. Most of the amenities and development you’re enthused about is cosmetic to the eyes of millions who remain unemployed or employed under poor conditions by locals, foreign investors (South African and Chinese top the list) and illegal immigrants. Do visit more often and thank you for the nice words.
We are glad you chose to come and see for yourself and your peoples, the opposite side of a blinded rhetorical depiction (picture) of Africa/Zambia, told by the imperialist West and aided by western funded donor (and a number of NGOs) agencies and media organisations including sky-news, BBC, ITV, CNN to mention by a few.
Please come again and together we can continue painting the qualitative picture of a 21st Century Africa and Zambia in particular!!
Thanks China man for your essay. I also remember 1997 vividly. The economy had collapsed and there were too many pot holes on the roads especially in Lusaka. True, robbers were many as thousands of people who used to have jobs especially in the mines were now unemployed. But Lusaka was much cleaner than it has been from 2011 when the late Sata known as the king Cobra (Snake) legalised street vending because he wanted the poor people to vote for him and for his Patriotic Party which many now call as Pathetic Fools party with useless ministers. Sata himself was right in saying that most of his ministers were useless. Zambia has always been a haven in Africa where even your fellow poor Chinese were seen selling chickens in the market and roasting corn on the streets last year. The nation…
I like the story. Just yesterday in one of the threads on LT, I responded to one of these “kid” bloggers telling them of the changes the country went through under the MMD regime. In 1991 when MMD came to power, the condition in this country was pathetic. FTJ rightly said “Zambia is ICU” but the good thing is that she is still alive”
Indeed the Zambians under MMD went to work to resuscitate the country. The first 8 years or so were though but we Zambians believed. MMD gave us hope. The turn around was not easy. By 2001, progress was visible.
sorry, meant “tough” above.
…
The MMD have helped in changing Zambia. Most of the roads, shopping malls, etc even those being built today are a result of the sound base left by the MMD. The biggest crime MMD committed was “CORRUPTION” and when RB took over, his preoccupation was to get back into Plot 1 in 2011 at the expense of real development.
As for PF, I am sorry to say that these guys have come to reverse everything the MMD had started working on. God help Zambia
No Vision,
No Plan,
Rampant corruption,
Massive and gross deceit,
Regionalism and lack of tolerance for opposing views
Lack of self-confidence in the leaders (inferiority complex)
Pettiness
Preoccupied only with political power
etc
are the order of the day.
Meanwhile the country is hurting
Someone is writing about shops, roads, hotels, foods, restaurants, lights, and some investments into buildings, in her article. That is what professional writers do; they focus on the elements of their stories. Yet someone comments about jobs. Is it the problem of comprehension, or you don’t know who to blame if you can’t find jobs, or make a decent living?
Even in developed countries, those who cannot find jobs will always cry for jobs, but I believe that the shift is there. There are millions of jobless Zambians, some without even a clear education background, crying. In any country there must be private employer and the government. For the government to collect reasonable revenue, the private sector must be robust.
Rich Zambians must create jobs through investments, if they…
Yes go and tell the same rhetoric to the woman selling roasted maize with her 8 year old daughter on the street as a full time job
I am sure the author meant Lusaka had 400,000 population in 1997 and not 400 as stated in the article. In 1997, Lusaka was not that backward as portrayed, short on amenities maybe, but enough hotels for the population then.
Good article but it still reiforces the stereotypes as we see in the Western media! How did the author immediately expect to find chinese vegetables in a country when there were few chinese for some one to invest in producing such vegetables? For him lack of Chinese food is lack of civilization and that is what the west says when you don’t provide them with what they want. I still believe there is a wide assortment of vegetables in Zambia than what he has said. How can a Zambian expect to find an abundance of typical zambian vegetables in a far flung place with no cultural connection. This is why the Chinese hardly integrate! He needed to understand how other people live and see how to fit in with the good that was there. I believe that is how the chinese that were running small…
Totally agree with you. They fail to integrate into foreign societies because they can’t do anything different
How many different kinds of meat are there? She was limited to chicken, beef and pork only? Kaili Chinese bakonda galoo
Am insulted and impressed by the article above. Zambians invest.
She fails to mention that the population of dogs went down after 1997.
Oh I see that’s the meat she was looking for in the supermarkets! No we dont sell that
Here is what caught my attention: “To our surprise, the self-employed small business owners had become bosses with enormous assets. The Chinese businessmen managed projects now occupying a sizable market share. The small Bank of China (Zambia) Limited was now a two-story building.”
Meanwhile, the Zambians who were at the same level as the Chinese small business owners, have either remained there or they are now working for the Chinese!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are some inconsistencies in this article but what really caught my guard is “The advancement of civilization in Zambia was beyond my expectations” and then she cites new roads as civilisation, like seriously? It is detrimental to insinuate that a people, like ours, are uncivilised
I wonder what’s the meaning of civilisation in this writer’s head?
Zambians yah! Awe you really like complaining. Enjoy LIFE Zambia is not hell on earth – it is in fact PARADISE. Just relax and have fun – do something for yourself.
Did you notice in the article that the Chinese who had small businesses in the 90s are now big business people in Zambia – banking with the Bank of China Zambia ltd – while we the Zambians are just complaining, complaining. I dont know WHY we DONT SEE WHAT IS RIGHT IN FRONT of US. Zambia is teaming with money bane – just put your act together. You can be the Next Mikalile!!
Awe sure!!!
Mushota is right . The writer is nonsensical narrowminded and has no perceptive abilities. For example vegetables in Zambia are or were sold in markets not supermarkets. Seafood was sold in certain shops like the one at fair view then because inland countries are not in love with seafood. Robberies were not commonplace may be for Chinese who are in any case very unsociable preferring to mix only among themselves