Many Chinese in their 40s, like Zhou Zhicheng, have an impression of Africa that comes from the Tanzania-Zambia Railway China helped build in the 1970s or Chinese volunteer doctors working in Africa since the 1960s.
Zhou, aged 44, says for years he had imagined Africa as a land of deserts with the Third World economies, but the impression started to change in 2004 when he was appointed team leader in the project to design and build a satellite for Nigeria, the first four-frequency-band geo-stationary satellite for Africa.
"I had the chance to visit Abuja to deliver the satellite to Nigeria after it was launched in China and tested in 2007," Zhou says.
In Zhou's eyes, "Abuja is well planned and the people I met were professional and eager to learn. I was impressed with the country's vitality and ambition."
To Zhou, the "ambition" to develop Nigeria and other African countries means great business opportunities for China, which is eager to expand the international market as its economy and technologies are developing rapidly.
"After more than two decades of reform and opening up, China now finds itself in a position to offer what African countries need -- sophisticated technology appropriate to African conditions at relative low cost, and expertise in poverty alleviation and economic development," says Liu Naiya, a researcher on African affairs with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"The satellite project is a good example. We have the technology and the Nigerians have the demand. Such cooperation is mutually beneficial."
Compared with Western technologies, those of China are not more advanced. But, Liu notices, the services China provides are usually more cost-effective. And more importantly, the fact that China is more willing to transfer its technologies makes its high-tech products more accessible than Western products to African countries.
According to Zhou, under the Nigerian satellite deal, China not only designed, built and launched the satellite, but also built two ground monitoring stations and trained 50 Nigerian technicians.
"The training, starting from basic knowledge to satellite monitoring and designing, lasted 15 months," Zhou says. "The Nigerians said in their evaluation reports after the training that 'the Chinese are selfless' and the training is 'comprehensive'." (more)
Source: Xinhua
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