Finding a bit of Africa in Chinese trading city

Yiwu's philosophy: Neither skin color nor nationality is a problem

The Chinese city of Yiwu in Zhejiang province is home to the largest wholesale market of consumer goods in the world.

At the aptly named China Commodity City, 2-meter-high, hand-carved Ghanian statues and South African jewelry spun from elephant hair and elegantly set in sterling silver have found a comfortable home.

A Ghanian, outside the shop selling his country's wares, says he has been living and trading there for the past four years.

He says life is fine in Yiwu - his bulging stomach and the ornate gold pieces adorning his wrists and neck suggest that life could be more than just fine.

The sprawling complex, which features mostly made-in-China jewelry, clothing, toys and a bewildering assortment of knickknacks and trinkets, gave visiting journalists a glimpse of the scope of end products churned out by China's manufacturing machine.

The center has 75,000 shops covering 5.5 square kilometers and offers at least 1.8 million kinds of goods, according to the information office of the Yiwu government.

For the past 24 years, the center has led the stakes in terms of turnover for specialized markets in China.

The South African store's theme is predictably one that focuses on the country's wildlife, gems and traditional beadwork. The pictures of four South African presidents, including Nelson Mandela and current president Jacob Zuma, adorn one of the walls.

That African products have secured floor space in this market speaks volumes of the people-to-people relationships built between the two regions in recent years.

"Here in Yiwu, neither skin color nor nationality is a problem. Traders and commodities coexist in harmony," says the Yiwu information office in describing the city's business philosophy.

Indeed, near the center, a plethora of foreign-owned businesses line one of Yiwu's main streets - from halal kebab cafes to German beer bars to Arab-run packaging stores.

Yiwu can thus be considered a more than suitable venue for the recent fourth China-Africa People's Forum. It is also one of China's first county-level cities to be granted "approval rights" to invite foreigners and also to register foreign traders.

In addition to Chinese journalists, media representatives from Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Tanzania, Egypt and South Africa attended the forum.

The African journalists are on a 10-month stint with the China Africa Press Centre - an initiative hosted by the China Public Diplomacy Association. It took in its first batch of African journalists last year.

It seeks to give African journalists a better understanding of China: its people, culture, political ethos and media landscape.

The program has already yielded a great deal of exchanging of ideas. Common connections have been made and friendships have been forged.

China's involvement in Africa is well-documented, and one of the goals of the China Africa Press Centre is for the African journalists to tell the Africa-China story from a perspective informed by having lived, worked and traveled in the country, side by side with the Chinese.

This year, China Radio International shot a documentary featuring the lives of South Africans who have made China their home.

The project is a reciprocal nod to the Year of China in South Africa and aimed at fostering a greater understanding between people in the two countries.

Recently, Air China announced a nonstop flight between Beijing and Johannesburg, with the hope of stimulating two-way tourism traffic.

Ethiopian Airlines has already been operating a flight between Addis Ababa and the Chinese capital for the past six to seven years.

African art also has a strong presence in China, thanks to an intrepid Chinese couple.

Changchun, capital of Jilin province's has the world's largest collection of Makonde sculptures, which are indigenous to Tanzania.

Located in Changchun World Sculpture Park, the Songshan-Hanrong African Art Collection Museum has 12,000 Makonde carvings.

This extensive collection was donated to the Chinese people by Li Songshan and his wife, Han Rong, who lived in Tanzania for nearly 30 years. The Tanzania Arts Council bestowed on them the title of doctors of culture and art.

The forum in Yiwu takes the scope of these ideals of strengthening bi-lateral relationships wider as some 200 representatives from China, nearly 30 African countries and officials from the African Union and United Nations Development Programme gathered to discuss the significance of connecting the people of these two regions.

In its draft declaration of proposals, organizers of the forum - the China NGO Network for International Exchanges and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union - say that people were the foundation of the "new type of China-Africa strategic partnership".

"China and Africa enjoy a deep tradition of friendship between their peoples, which serves as an important social foundation for the relations between China and Africa.

"Only when the people of the two sides take an enthusiastic part in their relations can such a friendship be always filled with vigor and vitality and the foundation of China-Africa cooperation be consolidated," the draft document says.

The organizers of the forum also called on NGOs, think tanks, media, businesses and government departments of China and Africa to:

Function as the booster for the comprehensive and sustainable development of China-Africa relations.

Enhance mutual understanding through exchanges and mutual trust through cooperation.

Provide a voice for Chinese and African NGOs in the reform of the system of global governance.

Help improve the mechanism of the China-Africa People's Forum.

"On major global issues like the post-2015 Development Agenda, UN reforms, climate change, food security, poverty reduction and development, it is necessary that Chinese and African nongovernmental forces improve communication, coordinate positions, render support to one another and cooperate when taking action.

"To take part together in making international economic, financial and trade rules and increase the representation and voice of developing countries in the system of global governance."

The declaration is to be submitted to all departments of the Chinese and African governments represented at the forum and will also be sent to the Forum on China Africa Cooperation to be held in South Africa in December.

At the welcome banquet, former Namibian president Hifikepunye Pohamba said the forum provided a platform for Chinese and Africans to join hands and to take significant steps toward mutual understanding through people-to-people interaction.

"We, in Africa, appreciate what the Chinese have done, especially in the fight for liberation as a whole. China will be Africa's friend for years to come."

Pohamba also lauded the Chinese for building the African Union headquarters in Addis Abeba. "China demonstrates the friendship to the African people by her presence in the majority of African countries, assisting in development."

Of the forum, he says: "I also believe the ideas generated during our discussions have the potential to positively impact millions of people in our countries. It is crucial that the forum grows deep roots as a platform to spread the cornerstone of solidarity between China and Africa. Now is the time to strengthen the ties of cooperation."

Yiwu Mayor Sheng Qiuping said up to 94,000 African businesspeople visit his city every year to buy products. He said there were 10,000 products from 31 African countries on offer in Yiwu. "Trade between Africa and Yiwu so far totals $5.37 billion. At present, Yiwu is working toward making itself vital in terms of the Belt and Road Initiative."

For China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/05/2015 page8)