Translation Tuesday: Benguela Railway: The Glory of “Made in China”

By Christian Straube

Authors: Zhu Jianhong, Zhang Baojun and Long Jiamin
Translator: Christian Straube
Published on: 15/05/04
Source: People’s Daily
Original text (in Chinese): http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2015/0504/c1004-26941139.html

The Benguela Railway was officially inaugurated on February 2015 after rehabilitation by the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation. Initially a colonial project by the Portuguese at the end of the 19th century, it integrated with the Katanga Railway, and now connects the African Copperbelt with the harbor of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.
---- Christian Straube

The Benguela Railway, which has been built by Chinese in the African country of Angola, is the longest railway built by a Chinese company overseas in the 21st century.

It is a railway filled with glory. When it was opened on February 14, the presidents of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Zambia took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. They also interacted with the meritorious people representing the construction: Liu Feng, Chen Lei, and Ma Junfeng of the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR20).

It is a railway full of blood and sweat. Over a period of more than ten years, more than ten thousand of CR20's staff helped with the construction. They suffered from land mines, malaria, a shortage of materials, and worsening security conditions. They had to overcome language, traffic, and communication difficulties as well as the discomforting climate. Several workers sacrificed their lives.

Translation Tuesday: Chinese High-Speed Rail: Go Overseas and Share the Benefits with the World

By Laiyin Yuan

Author: Qi Zhongxi, Fan Xi, Liu Shiping, Su Xiaozhou, Chu Xiaoliang, Yang Jian, Wu Hao
Translator: Laiyin Yuan
Published on: 01/26/2015
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Original text (in Chinese): http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-01/26/c_1114135389.htm

From the “promotion” of Chinese leaders during overseas visits to business development, Chinese high-speed rail (HSR) is accelerating “going overseas.” The cooperation between Chinese HSR and foreign companies can not only build more advanced transportation facilities but also bring the benefits of HSR to various countries around the world.

“Now I have dozes of overseas projects to follow up simultaneously, including Laos, Thailand, the U.S., Russia, Hungary-Serbia, Morocco, etc. while also tracking an HSR project in India,” said Chen Juemin, Director of China Railway Corporation’s International Cooperation Department.

In Asia and the surrounding region, China is planning to build a major corridor throughout Southeast Asia reaching Malaysia and Singapore in order to serve the “One Belt, One Road” strategy, as well as HSRs bridging Central Asia and Europe in the Silk Road Economic Belt. In Africa, China’s “steel dragon” will link together multiple countries. In Europe, Chinese railway companies have just started to reveal their excellence. In America, Chinese HSR projects are expected to breakthrough in their contract bidding.

Translation Tuesday: An Overseas Chinese Company Constructs the New Century's Longest Railway

By Joseph Webster

Author: Fan Xi, Pang Shuguang
Translator: Joseph Webster
Published on: 08/13/2014
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Original text (in Chinese): http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2014-08/13/c_1112064589.htm 

According to Xinhua the new Benguela railroad will: “greatly reduce the cost of exporting copper and other natural resources in Southern Africa. Through integration with the railway networks in Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique and other neighboring countries, Southern African regional rail interoperability will be achieved, thus forming a large international railway passage between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean that will promote regional economic development.” The article notes that technology transfer and local jobs will increase as a result of railway construction, but also stresses that the construction standards and operating materials were supplied by Chinese companies.
--- Joseph Webster (translator)

Reporters were informed by the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited that, after the Tanzania-Zambia Railway was built in the 1970s with Chinese aid, our country will construct the world’s longest transcontinental overseas railroad of the new century. The Benguela rail line will cross the whole territory of Angola, will be completed on August 13, and it will be officially open for operation within the year.

Translation Tuesday: 安哥拉元旦守夜活动发生踩踏事件致10人死亡 (10 People Killed in Angolan New Year's Day Vigil Stampede)

10 People Killed in Angolan New Year's Day Vigil Stampede

安哥拉元旦守夜活动发生踩踏事件致10人死亡
2013年01月02日03:21 新华网 评论

Xinhua Luanda, January 1 (Wang Bingfei reporting) Angolan National Fire Department spokesman [Faustino] Sebastiao announced on January 1, that the a stampede occurred on on the evening of December 31 2012, during the New Year's Day vigil held in Hedo Della Stadiumin. located in the Angolan capital of Luanda, resulting in 10 deaths and 120 people injured.
新华网罗安达1月1日电(记者 王丙飞) 安哥拉国家消防局发言人赛巴蒂奥1月1日宣布，去年12月31日晚在首都罗安达希达德拉体育场举行的元旦守夜仪式上发生了踩踏事件，造成10人死亡，120人受伤。

Sebastiao said the dead included six adults and four children, most of whom died from being trampled and suffocation, and there are also 120 injured, with 12 people sent to Luanda's major hospital for treatment.
赛巴蒂奥说，死者包括6名成年人和4名儿童，其中大部分人死于踩踏和窒息，120名受伤者中，有12人被送往罗安达各大医院住院治疗。

According to Angolan media reports, the stampede occurred about 7:30 p.m. local time on December 31 2012, when a large number of Luanda residents rushed to Hedo Della Stadium to participate in the New Year's Day vigil organized by a church, and as they opened the doors to the stadium it caused a stamped. The organizers expected 70,000 people to participate in the vigil, but the actual attendance was well over 70,000, and details from the event are still waiting verification.
据安哥拉媒体报道，踩踏事件发生在当地时间去年12月31日晚7时30分左右，当时大批罗安达居民赶赴希达德拉体育场参加一个教会组织的元旦守夜活动，体育场开门时由于拥挤发生了踩踏事件。组织者早先预计有7万人参加守夜仪式，但实际到场人数远远超过7万，目前事件详情仍在进一步调查核实中。

(Original Title: Angola New Year's Day Vigil Stampede Kills 10 People)
(原标题：安哥拉元旦守夜活动发生踩踏事件造成10人死亡)

Reading: The Dragon's Gift

UPDATE: I finished finished reading Deborah Brautigam's The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa. I wrote an earlier post describing some of my initial thoughts and I just finished something a little more substantive.

Prof. Deborah Brautigam has written a text that should be on the shelf of anyone interested in Sino-African relations, plain and simple. Professor and Director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins University/School of Advanced International Studies, Brautigam has more than three decades of experience studying development, specifically African development, and she is one of the world's foremost experts on Sino-African relations, having been interested in Chinese aid projects to Africa since the 1980s. Looking primarily to debunk some of the more excessive stories being written about China's presence in Africa, she succeeds in that mission. However, she also either ignores or does not deal with evidence that contradicts her thesis, and she does both in a way that made me wary of her overall research. However, even with that said, her research and arguments are compelling enough to make up for those problems.