Kenya should emulate China in conserving cultural heritage

China’s contemporary culture and the protection of its diverse cultural heritage have become one of the most talked about issues today. Cultural prosperity was put forward as an important objective of the central government’s national development strategy and has been firmly backed by legislation. This means that that for the first time, Chinese traditional cultural practices now have legal protection.

In addition to policies and laws, China has also incorporated the notion of “protection through production” into its preservation philosophy. The approach has proved productive. By the end of 2011, UNESCO had inscribed 29 Chinese Intangible Cultural heritage (ICH) items on its representative list of the Intangible Cultural heritage of humanity. China is home to more UNESCO certified ICH traditions than any other nation in the world.

All these measures have made China a unique tourist destination and a valuable cultural learning pot attracting interest from all over the world. They have enhanced China’s unique identity and value through its unique cultural heritage that has been preserved and protected over the years.

Seasons are celebrations, and so is the Chinese New Year: Happy Spring Festival.

All Chinese people across the entire globe are uncharacteristically in a celebratory mood. Pockets are lined and business is booming as they begin to treat themselves with earthly pleasures and buying each other gifts. Hundreds of millions of them are travelling across China from all over the country and the world to their hometowns and villages. The scene of passenger transportation in China is remarkable as the people are determined to get together with their families in what has come to be referred as the great annual Migration. It is the Chinese New Year, commonly referred to as Spring Festival.

Spring Festival marks the first day of the first Lunar month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. It usually falls somewhere between end of January and early February. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and each twelve years of the lunar cycle are named after 12 animals: The Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar). This year’s festival will fall on the 10^th of February and it marks the transition from the year of the dragon to the Year of the snake, 2013. Keeping with the ancient traditions and beliefs, the People born in the Year of the Snake are believed to share certain characteristics that relate to the snake. They are contemplative and private. The Snake is not outwardly emotional. They can appear cunning and reticent and work very modestly in the business environment.

Originally called “Yuandan”, Yuan meaning “beginning” and dan meaning “morning”; Spring Festival symbolizes the breaking of a new dawn on the first morning of the New Year. It is the grandest and most exciting festival for the Chinese, containing a long history of rich and cultural connotations. For thousands of years, China was an agricultural society with farming being the main economic activity. The whole year’s work depended on a good start in spring; a season for ploughing and weeding. As a matter of fact, modern day spring festival was in ancient times a series of sacrificial activities by which people hoped to bring about good weather and good crops in the New Year. It symbolized hope and rebirth.

Many traditions accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the Spring Festival. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck. The ecstatic populace begins to embellish their sparkling rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. The doors and windows are then decorated with red paper-cuttings and couplets highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper, with themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity printed on them. 

The Spring Festival eve, referred to as ‘reunion night’, is perhaps the most exciting part of the event as anticipation creeps in. This is when family members reconnect, catch up on the past year, have big family reunion dinners and stay up until midnight to see the New Year in. Family members and relatives, some who have travelled long distances to be together, gather to chat and play. Most of them stay up all night enjoying sumptuous meals like rice cakes and jiaozi, or dumplings. Originally, jiaozi referred to the moment “across midnight”. The Chinese name for the period between 11 pm and 1 am. The next morning is called zi and Jiao means “across” and later jiaozi became the name of the food cooked before midnight and eaten after it. Without eating Jiaozi, you are not celebrating the festival in the real sense of the world. A series of celebrating activities such as lion dancing, dragon dancing, Yangge dancing and temple fairs ensued.

Although celebrations of the Spring Festival vary, the underlying message is one of solidarity and happiness for family members and friends. It vividly portrays a key cultural element deeply rooted in Chinese traditional heritage, that is, harmony. A family is an important cell in the Chinese society and spring festival is basically a time to consolidate family ties and friendships. For instance, on the first day of the New Year, people meet and celebrate by greeting each other. Children first go and greets their parents and grandparents in the morning, wishing them good health and a long life. In return, parents give some money in wrapped red-papers as gifts. This symbolized success and abundance in the New Year. In the past, people of high standing would have their names and official positions written on red color paper or carved wood chips, and on New Year’s Day; have them sent to friends. These were possibly the earliest New Year cards.

All activities during the spring festival centre on bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the New Year. With the opening up policy, globalization and modernization in China, New Year customs have transformed and become more interesting, attracting the attention of the whole world. Tourists flock China to witness the spring festival celebrations. They flock China to see the spectacular firework displays, the colorful street parades, Shaolin martial arts performances and the Lion and dragon dances among other activities. The Festival has stepped out from China to overseas communities, and has become a cultural symbol for harmony and auspiciousness the Chinese community both at home and abroad. It serves as an important cultural bridge linking the Chinese people across the world.

In recent years, China has conducted cultural exchanges with other countries, including Kenya in a bid to deepen exchanges and cultural understanding between the people. This year, Kenyans will have the pleasure of witnessing and joining the Chinese community in commemorating spring festival. The Chinese Embassy has organized a cultural performance dubbed “Embrace China & Happy Spring Festival” to carry forward and spread the Chinese culture and celebrate the Chinese New Year with overseas Chinese and friends. These celebrations will be held on February 16^th, 2013, at the Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani from 3:30 pm to 6pm. It will feature groups consisting of talented artists, singers, dancers and acrobatics among other performers.

The only variation therefore between the Chinese Lunar New Year and the Gregorian New year is the date. Otherwise, the common overriding theme is thanksgiving and celebrations. Just as the rest of the world celebrated their New Year in early January, it is time for the Chinese people to usher in the New Year with greater hope and enthusiasm. Indeed, a merry year is born, just like the bright berry from the naked thorn. Happy New Year! May the Chinese people be blessed with Peace, Prosperity and good Health, now and in the future.

Kenya can look to China in the face of punitive sanctions by the West on the ICC suspects

As Kenyans are gearing up to the much anticipated March elections of 2013, there are fears that the Country’s relationship with the International community will not be business as usual if the ICC suspects are elected into office. However, Kenyans can bet on China to continue with its friendly diplomatic relationship with Kenya.

China’s friendship and cooperation with Kenya and other developing countries is based on the principle of mutual respect, equality and non-interference in internal affairs. It respects other countries choices of leaders, social system and development path. In the recent report to the 18^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, outgoing president Hu Jintao outlined China’s diplomatic priorities in the new era. He emphasized that China will remain a reliable political ally and sincere partner to developing countries. He said China is opposed to any attempts to subvert the legitimate government of any developing country and will not abandon the principle of non-interference in other countries, however, it will share its views and experiences with other developing countries to ensure peace and stability prevails.

Western and developed nations often take advantage of their dominant positions to take offensive positions and interfere with the internal affairs of developing nations. China has strongly spoken against this practice and has consistently come to the defense of developing countries by insisting on legality, justice and consensus among countries across the globe. Its stance in favor of developing countries in not only reflected in what it says but by its actions. It opposes punitive economic sanctions that affect the lives of ordinary citizens. With respect to Zimbabwe; China has used its veto six times to protect the citizens of Zimbabwe from the punitive sanctions imposed by the western countries.  These sanctions do not entirely influence the decisions of the leadership of Zimbabwe but only subject the ordinary citizen to more hardship and suffering. China will always stand by developing countries. “We will decide our position and policy on an issue on its own merits and work to uphold fairness and justice,” Hu Jintao said.

Chinese media has added sparkle to the local media scene

There is a simmering revolution shaking up the media landscape in Kenya. Some sense of renewed strength, vigor and interest in all things Chinese. For Instance, I feel good watching Kenyans interviewing international figures and experts live via satellite all over the world from Nairobi on CCTV Africa live.

All the major Chinese state media with a global audience, namely China Central Television (CCTV), Xinhua News Agency, China Radio International and China Daily, have all established operations in Africa with their headquarters in Nairobi.

This is truly an exciting time, not only for Kenya but Africa in general. Most of the time, China and Africa learnt about each other from a third party, which was normally western media. International opinions were, and still are led by western media. Voices from Africa and other regions have been relatively weak. However, the entrance of Chinese media and the close exchanges and collaboration with African media will balance the situation. China and Africa can now communicate with each other more effectively, build mutual trust and eliminate misunderstanding. This is an effective way to ensure that the friendship and cooperation between China and Africa will bring opportunities to the citizens of both countries to achieve their full potential.

They have managed to portray the true picture of Africa to the Chinese people and the real China to the African people. This year, a crew from CCTV recorded a documentary of the landscape and beautiful scenery of Kenya and its magnificent wildlife. The documentary titled “Glamorous Kenya” was aired every day in China on CCTV documentary channel 9 and the effects were amazing. Chinese people are getting more interested in Kenya and Africa and the number of Chinese tourists to Kenya and Africa is rising sharply.

The Chinese media are also establishing close and constructive collaboration with Africa’s influential broadcasters to increase their capacity and share ideas for better programming and to serve both our interest. KBC channel has collaborated with CCTV to air CCTV’s “Africa live” program for one hour every day. This is just what our local media scene needed to shake up things in the newsrooms.

Chinese economic miracle will continue under the new leadership

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping made his debut as the new leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on  November 15^th, 2012, with a strong mandate to continue the country’s economic miracle and improve the lives of the 1.4 billion Chinese people. Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang are expected to formally take over the presidency and premiership from Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao respectively at the National People’s congress in March 2013. They have promised to deliver the arduous task of leading the Chinese people in building a moderately prosperous society. As it pushes for a more balanced development with the new leaders, China will continue to serve as a global economic powerhouse.

Convened at a time when the world’s economic future is tied to China’s growth, the 18^th CPC National congress gave a report of its work in the last decade and made plans for delivering economic prosperity and equity to all Chinese people. The report gave priority to improving the people’s livelihoods and enabling them to benefit substantially from China’s development. With the bar having been raised, the new leadership will be under pressure to deliver on the daunting task ahead. There are great challenges of inequality, social cohesion and an unpredictable global environment and for the new leadership; these challenges will only grow in complexity as China becomes a middle income country.

The report also set the goal of doubling China’s GDP of 2010 and the per-capita income of urban and rural residents by 2020. This is the first time that the CPC has included per capita income in its 2020 development blueprint of a moderately prosperous society. Previous targets only focused on GDP growth. This is an ambitious goal but considering China’s economic miracle in the last decade, it is possible that the Chinese leadership will deliver. The per-capita disposable income of urban residents in China rose 8.4 percent in 2011 from a year earlier while the per-capita net income of rural residents grew 11.4 percent over the same period.

Despite the global economic slowdown, the CPC has promised to make this goal a reality by 2020. When the goal is realized, the 1.3 billion Chinese people will join the group of fewer than 2 billion people worldwide who currently enjoy the standard of living as envisioned in a moderately prosperous society.

China’s new leaders are devoted to this economic goal and have vowed to build on the achievements of their predecessors to scale the new heights. In a report published by the Paris based Organization for economic cooperation and development, it is expected that China will overtake the United States by 2016 to become the world’s largest economy.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also predicted that than China’s economy will be bigger than that of the United States in terms of purchasing power parity.

Mindful of the opportunities and the Challenges lying ahead, the new leaders will put the policies agreed upon at the 18^th National Congress into practice. While placing emphasis on economic growth, the CPC will spearhead a Change in China’s development model to ensure that the wealth divide is bridged. As China rebalances its economy, there are global implications. China’s important role in the global economy means that its success is a success for the world and its failure is a failure for the world.

Bargaining In China: A Cultural Perspective

I have heard many Kenyans remark on how the Chinese people are fond of bargaining on almost everything. Such remarks bring a smile to my face as I recall my shopping experiences in the famous shopping spots for tourists and foreigners in the Beijing, China. The Silk Market, Yashow Market and Carrefour come to mind.Bargaining is a cultural norm in China and is acceptable in most Chinese stores, except in large stores, corporate shops and department stores in which the goods have clear fixed prices. Bargaining is the main mechanism that people use to interact in the marketplace and using it in its correct art form will get you so much for a decent price. The saying goes “everything in China is negotiable.” Shopping, buying and selling, they're all games. The seller plays and the buyer plays. The game is amiable and the best player wins.

Just like the Kenyan hawker in the streets of Nairobi and in the markets, the seller starts with a really high price, especially when it comes to foreigners. The fun starts as soon as you say  “No”, “too much” or “Bu Yao”. The Chinese trader will ask what you are willing to pay and as soon as you place your offer, a calculator will appear from nowhere in a matter of seconds and a figure will be punched and thrown on your face. The game has officially begun. Nothing is bought or sold without the ever-present large format calculator and the transaction can continue to be wordless as the calculator is handed back and forth between the seller and the buyer. This is when one’s bargaining skills are put to the real test. You will wish you had taken more trips to “Gikomba” market so as to be able to cope with such moments. It is not easy to escape, especially if you like the product and the best options is to play the game hard and if you’re good at it or “tough” as they say, you will get the product at a good price.

For example, for an item worth 50 RMB, the seller will probably start at 120 RMB. My guess of a fair price would be between 50 and 70 RMB but as a buyer, you are safer proposing as low as 30 or even 20 RMB so that you have more room to maneuver. There's nothing more disappointing in a bargaining game than starting too high. Obviously, the seller will say no and follow with words like “are you crazy” or “are you kidding me” and in no time, the calculator will be on your face with a reduced value. It is very difficult to establish the correct price because everyone sells at different prices and want to maximize on the profits and it all depends with the buyer.

Mission Accomplished!!

There is some form of art in this bargaining. The seller sometimes fidgets and mumbles Chinese words to make you feel like you’re being unfair. However, smiling and insisting on your own price is the way to go. Vendors love to play like you've ruined their day with your hard bargaining. You'll hear everything from "Now my child won't have any dinner," to "You are getting this for less than I paid for it! If you buy from several shops, you will notice that they all say the same things and the same tactics are being used. Most of the traders do not speak English but they have mastered key words and sentences necessary to facilitate the bargaining process. I must say I am proud of my bargaining skills, thanks to stints at Gikomba, Ngara and other hawkers market in Nairobi. I got several compliments from the sellers after negotiating and arriving at a decent price. 

There is always a comic relief in the bargaining process with Chinese traders. The negotiation never gets tense. It is fun and it is a game; the best player wins. They never allow tension to build in the process of negotiating.  They will quickly ask who you’re buying the item for and try paint a picture of how handsome or beautiful the person will look in it in the case of clothing and accessories. Their tone of voice and expressions add more character to what they are saying and give the negotiation its light nature. By the end of the small talk, there’s usually some likeability in the trader and a personal relationship established.

Having made some connections, talked and done business, the bargaining experience in China is a memorable moment, especially for foreigners. Both the buyer and seller leave with a smiling face and the buyer goes home with a cultural experience rarely witnessed anywhere else in the world.