•THE author being interviewed by a TV crew from CCTV over his impression on the One Belt One Road Initiative and on a conducted tour of the Leishan Ecological Tea in Guizhou Province.
Pictures by LEVI MUKARATI.

By STANSLOUS NGOSA –

MY recent trip to China’s three provinces was fun and educative from start to finish because each destination was as rewarding and stimulating as the last.
The official programme was so compacted and never ended before 20:00 hours local time everyday, but my counterpart Charles Chisala from Zambia Daily Mail and I with our colleague from Zimbabwe Levi Mukarati from the Sunday Mail managed to venture out and explore every city we went to.
We were in that country to attend the Africa Media Workshop and 2015 Media Cooperation Forum on One Belt One Road Initiative courtesy of the People’s Daily.
However, one of the interesting trips was a visit to Guiyang district in Guizhou province located in the south-western part of China where we experienced night life.
Night life of Guiyang is not about drinking Mountai, a local beer brewed from rice, but an impressive reflection of both home-grown and international interests.
Rapid communication, the media and mass culture have combined with the traditional nature of the city and this has brought about a flourishing of evening activities for families, couples and tourists.
On any given night, you may find people involved in a number of activities, but one particular activity that has stood the test of time and developed alongside the city is the bar scene which is popularly known as Bar Street.
It is a vibrant and sociable city.
Poo Bar is one of the popular bars in Guiyang as most nights of the week it is furnished to a high standard and has become a place for those who have the purchasing potential.
The bar places its emphasis on high art and culture even in the centre of the city’s entertainment district.
Live music is played in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere,  high quality wine  is sold and most importantly  the customer gets to taste the unique and active local lifestyle.
While in the province, we saw the successful experience of poverty reduction projects among the Miao people in Xijiang area who are one of the 55 ethnic minority groups in China.
We also visited the Leishan County, Qiandongnan, and Dong Autonomous Prefecture where we were introduced to local the tourist industry, organic agricultural projects and embroidery craft.
It was a nice to see how local tourism has contributed to the economy of the local communities and the country as a whole.
These are perhaps some of the examples that Zambia whose tourist potential is yet to be explored should learn from China because the sector has the prospects to create wealth and subsequently reduce poverty.
Unfortunately in Zambia, local tourism especially culture has not being fully promoted and marketed.
For instance, the history of Mwansabombwe Village in Luapula Province is rich and I am sure few people know that area is the largest in Southern Africa.
You would agree with me that Mwansabombwe, Mtenguleni and Mukuni Villags are only remembered during the annual Mutomboko, N’cwala and Lwiindi traditional ceremonies respectively mainly by the people who hail from those areas.
The Zambia Tourism Board should have programmes to promote these tourism products unlike just placing information about them on the website or generic brochures or during the annual ceremonies.
The tourism board should often invite foreign journalists from various countries to visit these cultural areas as doing so would highlight the potential abroad and attract more tourists.
Living and dead legends or significant figures like former President Kenneth Kaunda, Kalusha Bwalya and other should be promoted as part of our cultural tourism.
Documentaries of such personalities should be placed in museums in order to add value to promoting Zambia’s cultural heritage.
This is what China has done by preserving and promoting cultural tourism which is appreciated by both local and foreign tourists.
Moreover, preserving cultural heritage is one way of passing it from one generation to another.
I wonder how much our young generation knows about Grey Zulu and several other heroes and heroines  who can be promoted  to attract attention from both local and foreign people.
Thank you to late President Michael Sata who when elected as president recognised some heroes and named some infrastructure after them.
This will help the future generations know these people . That is one way preserving cultural heritage and passing it on to the next generation.
Of course animals or wildlife and Victoria Falls are the gate way to Zambia’s tourism but the country needs to promote other products like the peaceful nature of Zambians an attribute which is appreciated by many visitors.
Anyway, I do not want to bore you with other things I saw and experienced during my two weeks stay in China because I believe in this era more people are familiar with that because they have widely travelled or read on the internet.
I believe more people have appreciated the sky scrapers, technology, the road network especially the inter change and Ring Roads because they have been there or seen in the media using their palm tops.
Moreover, a lot of Zambian traders are always on  air going to do business with their Chinese counterparts in Guanzhou city.
But the most important aspect I want to highlight is the attention that the Chinese have given to recreation facilities and garden parks unlike here where open parks have be turned into residential areas and shopping malls.
Play parks in the three provinces I visited were a common feature right in the heart of cities where families could be seen having fun dancing, doing aerobics, and children skate boarding.
Others were seen strolling, riding bicycles and scooters while others were jogging.
This was during weekends or after working hours; no wonder our colleagues are believed to have few cases of lifestyle related diseases like hypertension and diabetes.
The story is different locally as every space meant for recreation has been sold as residential plots or shopping malls.
I also wonder if newly opened up residential areas have space for play parks or gardens.
Recreation is beneficial for both physical and psychological wellbeing of human beings perhaps is why our colleagues seem to have less lifestyle related diseases.
According to experts, recreation is the time to be together with your friends and family and to have fun.
Devoting some time for recreation helps one to stay healthy and achieving a peace of mind.
Recreational activities serve as a way of relaxing and as research has shown that recreation on a daily basis reduces risks of diabetes and hypertension and it improves mental and physical health and improves the quality of life.
Taking part in recreational activities, particularly outdoors, can improve your physical wellness.
In fact, people who frequently take advantage of park activities have fewer doctor visits, lower body mass indexes and lower systolic blood pressures than those who don’t, according to Dr. Laura L. Payne of the University of Illinois.
Currently there is a row between some Kafue residents and the authorities over a football pitch that has been sold for the development of a shopping mall because it is in the prime area.
But I believe play parks and gardens could add beauty to cities unlike the open garages dotted around our cities, especially  Lusaka.
I was also informed that there is a policy in China that does not allow developers to put elevators or lifts in buildings that are less than seven storeys to compel people use the stair cases to promote healthy living.
Meanwhile, other fascinating places visited while in China included the Temple of Heaven, Nanluoguxiang, Back Lakes and the F1 night club in Beijing.
In Fengze District of Quanzhou, it was intrigueing to visit the Kaiyuan Temple, Maritime Museum and China Museum for Fujian-Taiawn Kinship.
Visiting local communities, enterprises also gave us an insight of how China fairs in that aspect.
It was refreshing to visit Beijing National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) where I wished I could compete with Usain Bolt in the 100-metre race. Uunfortunately he had gone back to his home country, Jamaica.
The other interesting places visited after the 2015 Media Cooperation Forum on One Belt One Road initiative was the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
The media from Africa were given an opportunity to meet senior officials of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
It is, however, these and many other lessons that Zambia can learn from China. Moreover, the two countries have enjoyed bilateral relations for over 50 years.