COURTESY PHOTO

Liang Yinzhu's home is decorated with numerous African handicrafts. Half of his 36-year-long career was spent in Africa. Starting in the 1980s, the former Chinese ambassador worked in embassies in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Namibia. These years included his participation in significant events in Sino-African history, such as Namibia's independence ceremony, Nelson Mandela's presidential inauguration in South Africa, and negotiations that established diplomatic relations between China and the Rainbow Nation.

These are just a few of the experiences that led Liang to dedicate his life to Sino-Africa relations.

Understanding Africa

The year after he graduated from university in 1970, Liang joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ten years' hard work in its Department of African Affairs had passed when he was given an opportunity to work in the Chinese Embassy in Ghana as an attaché.

It was 1981 when Liang set foot in Africa for the first time. Everything was new, and he was taken with the country's hot weather and hospitable people. Even children greeted him warmly, trying to engage him with their prowess in kungfu. Best of all, to his surprise, his new Ghanaian home endowed him with a kind of miracle: he spontaneously recovered from the sinusitis that tortured him for years.

Liang had a lot of car trouble during his Ghana days. At the time, many people, even kids, were always offering their help to push his car whenever it stalled. One day when he found himself in a car crash on his way back to the embassy from a newspaper office, passersby ran to him at once, making sure he was sent to the hospital and contacting the Chinese Embassy. They stayed with the car until embassy staff came to collect it.

This experience opened Liang to a profound understanding of Africa and its people. He told ChinAfrica that he used to envy diplomats working in developed Western countries, but the sincere and hospitable people he encountered in Africa changed that. The longer he stayed to witness the development of Sino-African relations, the more determined he became to dedicate himself to his work on the continent. Liang was given opportunities to serve in other parts of the world, but refused them all. He believes his place is in Africa.

A most vigorous ambassador

"We should treat Africans with honesty and sincerity," Liang has said in interviews. "Diplomats working in Africa should not stay at home. We should go out and research more. This is what will help us to discover more cooperation opportunities."

Liang became the Chinese ambassador to Namibia in 2003. Over the following four years, he left footprints on each corner of the country. The Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba dubbed him "the most vigorous ambassador."

During that period, Liang was shuttled in a car from place to place. Sometimes, he spent whole days huddled in vehicles, driving over a thousand miles from one location to the next. The traveling was exhausting and left him with aching back pain.

The dimensions of Liang's geographical research were enormous: from grape-planting projects in the south to farmlands in the north, he searched for Chinese-Namibian cooperation opportunities. Liang incorporated his findings into reports sent back to China. His extensive efforts attracted attention from government and enterprises, promoting collaboration between the two countries.

Contributing more

After he retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007, Liang began to work for the Association of Former Diplomats of China (AFDC). Now he is the group's vice president. In this organization, which consists of 2,000 former Chinese diplomats, Liang still keeps up his work in promoting relations between China and Africa.

Although he is no longer an active diplomat, Liang hopes he can contribute more to Sino-Africa relations in his present job. AFDC's Round-Table Conference on China-Africa Cooperation, which was created in 2010, is one of the association's most important events. It is aimed at building a platform for communication and cooperation between China and Africa.

According to Liang, the AFDC is based on a spirit articulated by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, which is "to promote exchange and serve common development."

Part and parcel of Liang's new responsibilities is to provide information for Chinese enterprises interested in investing in Africa. He draws on his own experience and knowledge of the continent, using his connections to help bring players from both sides together. The fact that he's able to accompany these enterprises on field trips to Africa is a major perk of the job.