adminBrian Mudumi and Takudzwanashe Mundenga
If China and America are both world economic giants, and Zimbabwe has a common historical background with China, it means it is easier to emulate China than America.
The roadmap to development that the People’s Republic of China uses is closely connected to its cultural bearings.
Contrary to what Walt Whitman Rostow (1962), one of the proponents of the Modernisation Theory, who suggested that cultural heritage is a demon to development that needs to be exorcised in the freeway to the age of high mass consumption, China is ascending without the guiding principles of the Rostowian stages of economic growth.
Faithfully affiliated to its culture, Beijing has become one of the world’s cosmopolitan destinations with a traditional flavour emanating from the Forbidden City, which is a historical walled complex located in the heart of the capital.
From 1421 to 1911, the ancient historical monuments served as the inner compound of China’s imperial family and ordinary citizens were prohibited from entering its gates.
Today the museums within its walls draw many visitors from around the world.
The same scenario applies to Great Zimbabwe which is 20 kilometres from the city of Masvingo.
The name of the country, Zimbabwe, derives from the Shona word “Dzimbabwe” which literally means “houses of stone,” a term used to describe the magnificence of the national monument.
Great Zimbabwe, an African rendition of the Forbidden City in Beijing, though different in design, seem to have a similar mystery.
The treasured Zimbabwean stoned wonder was built by the Shona between 1100 and 1500 AD.
Just like the Forbidden Palace, most commonly known as Gugong in Chinese, which means “former palace”, that bears testimony to a grand Chinese epoch, the Great Zimbabwe Empire is now symbolised by its monumental mortarless granite stone walls.
Like the Forbidden City, Great Zimbabwe is a spiritual heritage centre for the country which should be protected through generations. Taking a snapshot of what Mervyn Claxton envisages in his thesis, Cultural Traditions as a Development Resource, “Modernity and tradition are two sides of the same coin. They are independent. Traditions must be constantly updated if they are to remain relevant and effective in the modern world. In short, they need to be modernised. Modernisation, for its part, must be built, a least partially, on tradition if it is to promote sustainable development.”
The point we are compelled to convey is that, the Forbidden City of China looks very much alive when our Great Zimbabwe is slowly crumbling, a fact that might be the cause of low tourist traffic in the 21st Century.
Perhaps what it tells us is that, constant routine renovations are inevitable.
The last time the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum in Beijing, underwent a major renovation was in 2013.
The challenge we might have is Zimbabwe is the architectural complexity of the monuments.
However, if we cannot accept the challenge, then we might be yielding to the mendacious explanation that the ruins were constructed by foreigners from Indonesia or early explorers from Europe.
Sometimes people question our audacity because they do not see our intelligence on preserving what we possess. Owning Great Zimbabwe means looking after it, otherwise there could be absolutely no ancient history about this country to tell future generations if the sacred ruins fall to the ground.
The Look East Policy our government is pursuing since the dawn of the millennium leaves us with a lot to learn from our Eastern friends.
If it means hiring consultants from the Far East to help us come up with a renovation plan, then we must be prepared to do it.
It is mandatory that studies be conducted through institutions of higher learning and relevant stakeholders on how we can remodel our national monuments to suit the demands of the era.
This will go a long way in boosting some sectors of the economy such as tourism and hotel industry.
Brian Mudumi and Takudzwanashe Mundenga are members of the Zimbabwe China Youth Forum
Online Reporter