China and Zambia look to the future as ties celebrated

Edward Chabu flew all the way from the Zambian capital Lusaka to Beijing to attend the 2024 China-Zambia Culture and Tourism Year, which kicked off on May 11.

The Zambian music lecturer sang and danced onstage in multicolored traditional attire and makeup, and amazed the audience, especially with his rendition in Mandarin of the Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower, which he sang with a Chinese artist.

"In addition to the duet that shows our friendship, we have prepared four shows and cut them short and pieced them together for the audience," says the musician in his 20s.

"They are all traditional performances featuring instruments from different parts of Zambia. We want to show our country's culture as much as possible to the Chinese audience."

Chabu studied music at the Nanjing University in Jiangsu province between 2016 and 2021 and is now a music lecturer at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka.

"China is my second home, and I am here with my fellow musicians to share our musical traditions," Chabu says.