adminLovemore Chikova: in Beijing, China
If you stay a little longer in China and you are an African, you will definitely start posing questions on interactions between ordinary Chinese and their African counterparts.Well, prejudices still exist on both sides despite that China and many African countries have cordial political and economic relations.A Chinese scholar and expert on African affairs, Professor Li Anshan, recently noted that deliberate programmes are needed to remove such prejudices. He noted that if allowed to continue, the prejudices can be a hindrance to smooth progress in cooperation between China and Africa.
Delivering a lecture to African journalists at Renmin University of China recently, Prof Li cited a poll which indicated a lot of misunderstandings between the Chinese and Africans exist.
He quoted a Chinese Youth Daily poll carried out in 2006 showing that most Chinese think Africans are very poor and backward, afflicted by hunger and HIV and Aids, very primitive and that chaos reigns on the continent.
The poll indicates that Africans think that the Chinese have very limited desires and simple pleasures, very little legal consciousness, do not pay attention to image, do not hang out together, do not have religious belief and eat everything and anything.
And a Zimbabwean woman, Samantha Sibanda, whose works are the subject of this installment, has since taken an initiative that will contribute significantly to bringing an understanding between the two sides.
Samantha has taken it upon herself to initiate programmes that fight such prejudices and ensure that Africa’s image is portrayed in the right way in China. In 2013, Samantha, who now stays in China, formed an organisation called Appreciate Africa Network.
The purpose of the entity is to “create awareness about Africa, African people and their culture” not only in China, but in the whole of Asia. The organisation does not only strive to deal with the above stereotypes, it also brings to the fore contributions that Africans are making to the development of China.
Appreciate Africa Network also seeks to bring the real and true Africa to China and Asia. At the same time, it offers an opportunity to create a relationship between Africa and Asia, not only in business, but also in appreciating African people.
“Appreciate Africa Network is a non-profit organisation whose sole intent is to promote the values of African socio-cultural and economic contributions anywhere in the world starting from our base of operation in China,” Samantha said recently.
The organisation hosts many activities that offer Africans an opportunity to participate and market their countries in China. This Saturday will be another big day for Samantha and Appreciate Africa Network, as they host an event called Africa Night Speech Contest. During the event, 20 African students based in China will take to the stage to market and speak about their countries, while some Chinese nationals will sing African songs.
Appreciate Africa Network said in a Press release yesterday that the show will help deal with the stereotypes against Africans.
“It is a competition where African students come together to celebrate the beauty of Africa by giving speeches and presentations to showcase the beauty of Africa as never told,” said the organisation.
“There is a huge stereotype that people have about Africa. Most people still think that Africa is a jungle, poor and disease stricken to an extent that here in China most employers are not employing Africans, hence most Africans are resorting to lying about their nationalities so as to get a job.”
Several African diplomats, Africans living in China, various professionals and Chinese nationals are expected to attend the event. There will be African cuisine and music to help celebrate this day. The purpose is to ensure that by the end of the speech contest, the audience will have known something about the particular African countries.
This helps create awareness about the continent and its different cultures. The contest is aimed at providing African communities in China a chance to re-connect with their heritages. It also encourages audiences to discover the beauty of African countries and, of course, provide opportunities for multi-arts collaboration involving artists, students and business people.
“It’s a night to celebrate and embrace African culture through music, dance, fashion and food,” says Samantha. “Each represented African country has the opportunity to showcase to the world what they are capable of and who they really are, not how the media depicts them.”
The organsiation also hosts the Miss Plus International competition in which “big-sized” women take to the stage showcasing their beautiful curves. The competition involves people of different nationalities, who want to showcase their “plus-sized” bodies, to help change the perceptions of many Chinese towards people of such stature.
Many African women have taken advantage of the competition and joined “plus-sized” people from other continents in the competition.
“Most importantly, we show that we are comfortable in our own bodies and not intimidated by the continuous pressure and stereotypes that people have about big women,” said Samantha.
The first Miss Plus Size International Beijing was held at Landmark Hotel on April 25, 2015 with the theme “Big is Beautiful”, where 16 “plus-sized” women took to the stage. The second one was held on April 25 this year.
In an effort to prop up African entrepreneurs in China, Appreciate Africa Network runs the Africa Achievers Awards, which recognises African community builders in Asia. Categories of community development, leadership, arts and culture, business and entrepreneurship, agriculture, community service, rural development and education form the basis of the awards.
The major objective is to recognise the contribution made by Africans who are based in the Asia-Pacific and reward them for continuously uplifting their countries’ status in the region.
These awards also help showcase the positive contribution made by Africans, not only to China, but in the whole of the Asia-Pacific region. Appreciate Africa Network is now constructing an African Information Resources Centre in Beijing, which will provide all information about Africa under one roof.
The network also runs the Africa Got Talent Show which scouts for talent among Africans living in China in the fields of music, dance, poetry, drama and magic. In the long run, Appreciate Africa Network intends to open African schools in China “to create a suitable learning environment for African kids and ensure educational affordability to all”.
The other project being run by Appreciate Africa Network is the Discover Africa Academy, which teaches students about Africa, African people and their cultures. Students learn subjects like African history, African art, African music and dance, wonders of Africa, African folktales and stories and African languages.
The academy offers summer schools, winter classes and after school activities to students from kindergarten to high school. Appreciate Africa Network has lined up a number of programmes before the end of the year that will bring the Chinese closer to Africa. With her organisation and projects, Samantha is striving to ensure that more Chinese are aware of Africa and enhance people-to-people relations between the two sides.
Samantha is an artiste in her own right, having starred in the Chinese film, China 1911, done in 2011. The film is about the Xinhai Revolution that ended the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), the last imperial dynasty in China, leading to the formation of the Republic of China.
Online Reporter