Hope rises of building foundation for future

While waiting in line at a pizza restaurant in Harare, I was asked by a local resident named Simon how popular Huawei cellphones were in China. He asked this as he showed me a new Huawei P8 bought locally, which he said was the "coolest phone" he had ever used.

He then named some Chinese brands that are well known in his country, including the home appliance producer Hisense, vehicle manufacturer FAW, and Sinoma, a Chinese cement maker that even many Chinese don't know. He said he wants to see more companies like these open factories in his country so he can find a job.

His words were a sign of the popularity of Chinese commodities in Zimbabwe and the robust trade relations between the two countries, but they also show the desire for industrialization, which has been the hottest topic on this continent during recent years.

However, the government of Zimbabwe has a firm view that before the country can embark on industrialization, it must address the basic infrastructure network as the biggest challenge. As Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa put it, without infrastructure, there can be no meaningful economic takeoff or industrialization.

Thus, President Xi Jinping's state visit to Zimbabwe is tied to high hopes that more infrastructure projects will be brought in to lay the foundation of the country's economy.

The two nations' flags and leaders' portraits were hung along the main roads, and more than 40,000 people, as estimated by a local Chinese business association, were on the street waving flags, dancing and singing to welcome the arriving Chinese president.

Among them, Teneol Machel, a 38-year-old tour leader in Harare, said he was impressed by the expansion of the Victoria Falls Airport, undertaken by a Chinese company, and he hoped more Chinese tourists would visit his homeland after Xi's visit.