Land of beauty, friendship, leisure ... and frustration

Chinese give the low-down on how they see South Africa

Two years after Pei Guangjiang returned from the "country of rainbows", he still feels the need to explain to curious people what South Africa is like.

"Some Chinese seem determined to believe that South Africa is a country plagued by disease, violence and social unrest," says the senior editor of international news at People's Daily in Beijing. "The fact is that 99 percent of South Africans I met were friendly and welcoming."

Above: Greg Munyai, commercial director of the South African embassy in Beijing. Below: Tebogo Lefifi, China manager of Brand South Africa. Photos provided to China Daily

In his four-year posting to Johannesburg that ended in 2012, Pei found that Chinese people's awareness of South Africa does not match China's increasing investment in the country.

In 2012, to better understand local traditions, Pei reached out to a Zulu village in the country's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province and lived with a local family for three days.

"From what I saw, South Africans' hard work to make a living and their support for their children's schooling and developing their economy is no different to what Chinese people are doing," Pei said at a media roundtable last month whose theme was South Africa's image in China.

"Had I not immersed myself in their daily village life I would not have realized how similar we are deep down inside our cultures. The reality of a country is not usually what is depicted by global media."

Pei suggested media outlets search for stories at the grassroots level in South Africa and write balanced reports. "Fostering friendship between two countries calls not only for collaboration at a high political level, but also for improving people-to-people understanding through the media."

Chinese readers generally have positive feelings about South Africa and its government, but are not as well-informed as people elsewhere about the country's tourism and its business, according to an online survey conducted on China Daily's English and Mandarin channels last year.

The survey, initiated by China Daily and Brand South Africa, the country's marketing agency, looked at the awareness, preferences and investment tendencies of more than 500 readers relating to South Africa.

Tebogo Lefifi, China manager of Brand South Africa, says the information gathered will help South Africa fine-tune its message to China, a country critical to South Africa in implementing its national development plan.

"We want to know how to best position South Africa to Chinese media for deeper engagement and how to position China in South Africa to maximize input and interaction by key stakeholders from both countries," Lefifi says.

The study showed that 48 percent of the Chinese respondents were totally unfamiliar with South Africa. Seventeen percent of these respondents had visited the country, the main purposes being travel, at about 40 percent, and business, at about 12 percent.

Eighty-six percent of the Chinese respondents said they had learned of something in South Africa in the previous six months, mostly on the Internet, 63 percent, and television, 43 percent.

While most said they see South Africa as a country that is naturally beautiful, friendly and internationally respected and that offers appealing culture and leisure, they also expressed concerns about theft and violence, inadequate medical care, economic instability and strict visa controls.

Zhu Manjun, a senior editor at China Radio International, says she experienced problems with South Africa even before she set foot on its soil.

Getting a work visa for the country, even for a short-term interview trip, is extremely difficult, she says, which is why the radio station set up its regional office in neighboring Zimbabwe.

"How can Chinese journalists get to know this country with such rigid entry policies?" she says.

She spent two years working as a reporter in Africa, starting from 2008 in Zimbabwe. In 2012 a book she wrote about the experience, Being a Journalist in Africa, was published.

Once she arrived in South Africa her problems included: having to give up high heels in favor of flat shoes in Johannesburg in case of a robbery; a football association president who went AWOL, and failed to turn up for a promised interview; and infuriating buck-passing when leaking water in a hotel destroyed her laptop computer.

"The South African government really needs to allay people's concerns, for example by increasing security around Johannesburg, thus sending out a message that South Africa is safe, or at least that it is doing something about the problem," Zhu says.

"South Africa should play a role as a regional integrator of resources by further collaborating with neighboring states such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique."

Greg Munyai, commercial director of the South African embassy in Beijing, hailed the advice from media practitioners as "a new open window" for the two peoples to better understand each other.

"Despite a distance of more than 10,000 kilometers between our two countries, we were linked in history by the maritime Silk Road, and now we have close economic interaction worthy of publicity," Munyai says.

Last month, when President Jacob Zuma was in China, the two countries set out a development framework for the next five to 10 years. Zuma's trip heralded the Year of China in South Africa in 2015. The country now receives more than 100,000 Chinese tourists every year.

Among the big events to be held during the year will be the sixth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Munyai has called for more Chinese investors to explore the country's energy sector, which is expected to double its generation output by the year 2030.

"Our collaboration will be well encompassed in China's landmark Maritime Silk Road initiative," he says.

puzhendong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/23/2015 page26)