By Ekena Wesley
Although the African journalists converged on Beijing for the China Foreign Affairs University - organized Seminar, members of the Fourth Estate would have missed one-third of their lives had the trip to Guizhou Province failed to materialize. The dynamics of an evolved typical Chinese Culture greeted African journalists in the capital - Guiyang. But the Chinese knew what they were doing and did it best.
The program commenced with the selection of carefully preferred lectures, study-tours and sightseeing overwhelmed the journalists, and at the same time, drew them much closer to the Chinese reality. Our itinerary had planned a five-day visit to the Southwestern Province of Guizhou.
Unlike many an African country where development beyond the capital city is somewhat a rarity, China offers an entirely new ball game. The Chinese as evidently discovered embarked on a systematic national development agenda. It is simultaneous and coherently concomitant. In the midst of all this, the uniqueness and grandeur preserve of their culture remains uncompromised.
The delegation left Beijing for what turned out to be a three-hour aero-cruise for Guizhou. Turbulence scarred and rampaged jittery through the veins and blood streams of the African Journalists and others on board CA4162 at precisely 12:15 p.m. local time (approximately 3:15 a.m. Liberian time).
The time zone has been a bit perplexing for the African Journalists who have been used to awaking some seven to eight hours later than the Chinese. In spite of the turbulence that beset our cruise, our approach took place as scheduled. Flying over Chinese territory, one thing became obvious folks. China is a hugely mountainous and rocky country. The experiences of pilots do certainly count on that score. They understand the terrain better.
A delegation from the Chinese Foreign Affairs office in Guizhou Province was at the airport to receive the delegation. The airport clearly depicts a provincial galore for first-timers. Beautifully built by the engineering of Chinese architectural, it reminisces a memorabilia of distinct characteristic. But additional coloration continues to be embroiled. China, a touristy of attraction, magnifies all and sundry to this beautiful province. There are multi-billion dollars construction projects taking place all over Guizhou like other parts of the country. Bridges, multi-purpose gigantic or colossal buildings are rising into the skies. New roads are being built to respond to the province's increasing demands as an economically burgeoning southwestern part of China.
Something struck our sensitivities as journalists and seems to resonate multiple senses of conjectures as it were. What was that any way? In Africa, we tend to bamboozle our guests in some way. We offer water and sometimes kola nuts and then welcome whoever the guest (s). This is followed by the traditional question of: "What brings thou here"? After the unfolding of whatever the baggage-full of "mission statement", complaints or special messages, we set the tune for meals particularly prepared for visitors. In a typical village, this is what obtains, which is done on purpose. Specially prepared cum ingredient-contained meat, chicken, fish or all of the nutritious stew/sauce is hidden beneath, while the rice nicely bundled on top. The visitors are tricked into some kind of deception that some stew-less or sauce-less food was prepared not until they continue to explore further to the unknown.
Analogically, that was our experience in China. The Chinese people chose one of their cultural heartlands as a place to demonstrate to the African Journalists a warmth, hospitality and espirit de corps of brotherliness and true friendship. A glamorous welcome ceremony was arranged for the African team of journalists on the 4th Floor of Guizhou Province - Four Star Miracle Plaza Hotel by the Province's Foreign Affairs office.
The hotel is a 22-storey building and ideally located in the city center. There were no apprehensions since the elevators were up and running. The local Foreign Affairs folks honorably welcomed the journalists, noting that Guizhou was indeed happy to pay host to media practitioners from different African countries to showcase the province in a unique way. Various signboards along our route bore the words - culture, history, heritage, diverse natural mineral compositions.
Liberia, on a towering note, praised the Chinese on behalf of its colleagues and assured the great people of Guizhou that Africa was prepared to stand by China to foster a mutually agreeable partnership for the benefit of our two peoples. China, Liberia asserted, was crucially positioned to work along with Africa in diverse spheres to help Africa respond to the mammoth challenges that plague the continent. Liberia thanked the Chinese for the gesture and expressed the hope that China would work assiduously to strengthen the bound of friendship with African journalists in the years ahead. The Guizhou Foreign Affairs office later presented each journalist a memorable gift on behalf of the people of the province.
Historically, there are more than eighty prehistoric sites in Guizhou Province, which suggests that there were human activities 240,000 years ago. Officially named Guanyingdong Culture, the Cave of Guanyingdong is valuable to study the origin and evaluation of the Old Stone Age in China.
During the era of the Warring States, the Qin and Han Dynasties, Guizl10u developed as a center of Yelang Kingdom. During the reign of the Song Dynasty, Guizhou appeared in the historical documentation as an administrative name. Guizhou officially became a province in 1413, the 11th year of Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The provincial territory was basically determined during the reign of Yongzhen Emperor (1723 -1735) in the Qing Dynasty.
Guizhou has a total area of 176,100 square kilometers and is administratively consist of four prefecture-level cities namely Guiyang, Liupanshui, Zunyi and Anshun. There are three ethnic autonomous prefectures including Qiandongnan (Southeast Guizhou), Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Qiannan (South Guizhou), Miao and Bouyei Autonomous Prefecture, and Qianxinan (South west Guizhou) Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and Bijie and Tongren. Under the prefecture level, there are nine county-level cities, eleven autonomous counties and sixty-eight counties (districts and special districts). By 2006, the population of the province was 39,553,000 million.
In Guizhou the population of ethnic minority accounts for 38.9% while 55% of the province is under ethnic minority autonomy. Numerous ethnic minorities form a big harmonious family to jointly create rich and colorful cultures. Guizhou is situated on the eastern slope of Yunnan-Guizhou plateau. The province's topography tilts from west to east. Its altitude of west is 1500 - 2800 meters above sea level. Guizhou has a subtropical monsoon climate and the weather is normally mild -- neither frigid in winter nor scorching in summer. The average temperature is around 15°C in most places.
Our visit to Guizhou placed us at the right side of history. On the 12th of June 2008, we joined million of Chinese people to observe the passing of the Olympic Torch in Guiyang, the provincial capital. Journalists were taken on a tour-guide of a tourist site in Central Guiyang, a pharmaceutical factory as well as the second best modern high-tech television facility of Guizhou. Many thanks to Guizhou Province's Foreign Affairs office for the hospitality during our five-day working visit to Guizhou land.
Source: Heritage
