President pays homage to workers

By Li Xing and Zhu Linyong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-16 07:33

A file photograph of work in progress on the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, China's largest aid project in Africa. Work began in the late 1960s. [Xinhua]

DAR ES SALAAM: Jin Chengwei was just a month away from his 22nd birthday when he was killed in 1973 while working on the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.

He was buried 24 km from Dar es Salaam in a quiet cemetery now graced with tall green pines and small yellow, purple and white flowers, a long way from his native Liaoning province. But he has not been forgotten.

President Hu Jintao visited the Cemetery for Chinese Experts yesterday with Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete to pay respect to the 69 Chinese engineers, workers and doctors who lost their lives during work on the "Freedom Railway" project, including the youngest: Jin.

"Jin Chengwei, I've come to see you on behalf of your family," President Hu said in front of Jin's tomb.

Before leaving, he wrote in the memorial guestbook: "The selfless devotion of Chinese experts in Tanzania erected a monument of China-Tanzania friendship. Hereby I salute them with my highest respect."

In the same book, Kikwete added: "It is an honor for me to pay tribute to the heroes who sacrificed their precious lives for the sake of the people of Tanzania and Zambia May their sacrifice be rewarded by the progress of the people of Zambia and Tanzania."

The cemetery holds a special place in the hearts of those who live in the city. Every year during the Qingming Festival, Chinese embassy staff and colleagues from the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation join to visit the site and lay wreaths.

"They died for a noble cause, they died helping our people," said Adam O. Kimbisa, mayor of Dar es Salaam. "They are heroes. We were cut off, we needed communications, not just transporting people but also raw materials."

"This is not a simple burial site. It cements the relationship between China and Tanzania."

Running from the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia, the 1,860-km-long railway has been known as "Freedom Railway" among locals since its completion in 1976.

Zhang Zhibin, 76, a retired engineer from China Railway Construction Group, was a senior technician on the project. He recalled: "I had little idea of countries like Tanzania and Zambia before going to Africa."

Before leaving, veteran Zhang helped build railway networks in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Shanxi provinces, where working conditions were hard and sometimes dangerous. Nonetheless, he, along with tens of thousands of Chinese workers, did not expect the working and living conditions to be so much harder in Africa.

"The railway ran through areas with very complicated geological structures and varied topography, including plains, hilly lands, high mountains, large canyons, torrential rivers and dense primeval forests," said Sun Fujin, who once served as English translator for the construction team.

In the dry season the rivers dried up, causing a shortage of water, while torrential rain often caused disastrous floods during the rainy season. "In these tropical areas, diseases like malaria and cholera could easily take a life," said Sun. "However, the Chinese stuck to the construction sites around the clock despite all these odds."

The idea of a railway to transport copper from neighboring landlocked Zambia was first raised by then-President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere during his visit to China in February 1965. He had previously been turned down by Britain, Germany, and the World Bank.

The Chinese granted his request, with Chairman Mao Zedong vowing to "build the best railway."