As China-Africa cooperation grows, people from both sides have more opportunities to work together and get along with each other. Over time, China and Africa have built friendships, but they have also discovered cultural discrepancies. One is the notion that the Chinese value hard work and efficiency, and that Africans, as some Chinese complain, can be reluctant to work and do not value time. Three African and Chinese spectators share their opinions on the topic with ChinAfrica.

Zhong Jianhua,

Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs

I think we have attached too much significant meaning to diligence by defining it as a virtue. Our forefathers, mostly from rural areas, were all diligent, for farmers cannot survive at all if they don't work. But in recent years, many farmers have flooded into factories in Chinese cities. All they want is a better life. What does a better life mean? It means that you don't have to work for 14 hours a day in the field. So once we get the chance to get rid of this taxing lifestyle, we will try our best. Our diligence should be just for survival, but we take it as a virtue to make it socially acceptable.

Both China and Africa have existed for thousands of years. Economy is always the basis of human civilization. In these terms, China and Africa were on the different phases of development. Due to limited land, China entered the era of intensive and meticulous farming. The natural environment requires Chinese people to work the whole year to feed themselves. In contrast, if African people hunt a cow, it's enough to feed the whole tribe. The rest of their time can be spent on enjoying life, singing and dancing. If you hunt two cows at a time, the second will go rotten quickly. Under those circumstances, storage is a silly thing. Therefore, the difference in culture between China and Africa is based on their own routes of historic development, so we don't need to judge each other according to this difference. We have to realize and understand people's lifestyles, and compare them with our own. I think this is a healthy and practical attitude that will help us respect people from other countries.

Hon. Inonge M. Wina,

Minister of Gender and Child Development of Zambia

These are cultural barriers. But once people begin to know each other, you will see these barriers break. Therefore, there is a need for Chinese people to understand Africans, and the way we operate and the way we work. It's also very important for Africans to understand the work culture of the Chinese. Sometimes they may complain "they are pushing us too hard," but that's the way the Chinese work. And you cannot run away from it. Then the two sides will find a compromise.

The perception that Africans tend to enjoy present time may be correct for the younger generation of Africans. But there's another generation like those of us who grew up during the struggle for independence. We know what suffering means and we know what work means. And even today, we still believe in these values of hard work, discipline, and solidarity with others. We may not have done our homework in terms of passing these values to our children. Now children have found their necessities are already available, and they think that they will be there forever. But these situations are things that can be changed. We should change their minds a little bit about the culture of work, and the culture of keeping time.

There are certain values that are international. You are given a project to complete in a certain number of days or weeks, and you have workers who do not understand that. So what do you do? You have to push them. It's something that all of us need to share in order to make those people understand why you are behaving the way you are behaving.

Yu Youbin,

Chinese Co-Director of the Confucius Institute in the University of Lagos

Chinese and Africans have a lot of differences concerning philosophy, religion, values and the concept of happiness. In Africa, people work according to "African time." For most Chinese, they are kind of dilatory. If you attach importance to efficiency, achievements and success, you may sometimes have conflicts with African friends.

When I first came to Africa, I thought that the relatively poor infrastructure and low salaries would make people concentrate on economic development. But the fact is that their lives are full of singing and dancing. Even if they are poor, they laugh heartily. At first, I felt it was unfair. We Chinese have better financial conditions than Africans, but we can hardly live as happy a life as Africans. Unlike them, we always get worried and anxious about our missions and responsibilities.

After thinking for a long time, I believe the reason lies in difference of values. If a Chinese person is quite satisfied with his present situation and enjoys his life without planning for the future, we will regard him as lazy and hopeless. But this is not how African people view life. They believe humans are born with the right to be happy. It's normal for people to enjoy life when nothing stops them from it.

Half a year later, I began to scrutinize Africa from a different perspective. We have been criticizing them according to our standard of values, which is under an industrial civilization. But under the natural economy, African people have their own standard. If we can abandon our industrial values and return to the lifestyle closer to nature, we will see Africans' advantages. Even African adults can laugh as wholeheartedly as children. Their lifestyle is closer to human nature.

Over three years, I've learned how to see people through the perspective of another culture. Under the perspective of other cultures, the concept of right and wrong becomes less clear. All we see are differences. It's important to build communication and understanding based on differences. My experience teaches me not to judge people with our former standards of values. We should respect our own and others' culture. When we understand culture after learning the historic and geographic reasons behind the culture, we will not take ours as the only standard.