A “Europe” in Africa
Somebody said South Africa looks like a small United Nations in terms of its diverse buildings. That’s somewhat true. You can see nearly all the European architectural styles in that country.
I saw a typical Dutch-style house when I was visiting a wine company in Cape Town; it featured white walls covered by a roof of thick grass. South Africa is first mentioned in books dating back to 1488, when the Portuguese sailor Bartholomew Diaz first found the Cape of Good Hope. Some 160 years later, migrants settled and established the first European colony. So most of Dutch-style houses we can see now are in the Western Cape.
The style changes in downtown Cape Town, though. The city is dominated by the gothic-style architecture and along many streets with European names. Close to those tall buildings are many simple one-or two-story houses which, as I was told, were built for servants and slaves 100 year ago. The houses had no address numbers at all. People later painted those houses in different colors to identify them. Those houses now look a little odd but are interesting.
Now I must mention Soweto. It’s a big township5 where a large number of small houses are located. I was told that this is the famous “Black City”—Soweto, the largest black community in the world covering 100 square km. Nearly 4 million black people live there. Among the houses is the old residence of former President Nelson Mandela. Though crowded, the houses did not look as bad as I had expected. A local guide told me that the houses were much better than before, as the government had allowed the blacks to buy their own houses and given them subsidies6 to decorate the houses.
Fantastic Cape Town
Cape Town might be the most beautiful city in the world. When you see the pure sky, the blue ocean, the white sand, the colorful buildings, the charming harbors, the strangely-shaped mountain and the unique confluence of two oceans, you might agree with me.
Take the famous Table Mountain. It is a stone mountain with its peak reaching about 1,000 meters above sea level. The mountain looks very strange as the top is flat and seems to have been cut by God. This makes it look like a huge table hanging above Cape Town. People have to ride a cable7 car to get to the top since it’s very difficult to climb. While standing on the peak, you can enjoy the fantastic scene of the whole of Cape Town, the blue sea around the city and Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years.
People like speaking Chinese
Most of the people I met in South Africa were very nice and friendly. News stories about a group of Chinese being attacked in South Africa earlier this year had scared many Chinese.
I, along with the others from Chinese media, were very happy to see the smiling faces. To my surprise, many South Africans spoke a few words of Chinese. When we were touring the square, a friendly young fruit vendor8 shouted at us: “Chang chang! Chang chang!”. “Ni hao” was heard very often not only in hotels and restaurants, but also in shopping centers and some companies.
What further surprised me was that many people there knew about Shenzhen. The first South African I met was Schoeman, the counselor9 of the South African Embassy in Beijing. He looked happy when I introduced myself, and said: “Shenzhen, a beautiful city.” I heard the same words later from Maseko, CEO of Government Communication and Information System.
Once an official in Beijing asked Maseko which city in China he liked most, he answered without hesitation:“I know most of you come from Beijing or Shanghai, but I want to say Shenzhen.”“Why?” I asked. “Shenzhen is an amazing young city with fast development. South Africa is also a young country. I believe we can learn from Shenzhen in many ways,” Maseko said.
非洲的“欧洲”
有人说南非风格各异的建筑使它看起来就像一个微缩的联合国，此话不假。在这个国家你可以看到几乎所有风格的欧式建筑。
我在开普敦参观一家酒厂时见过一栋典型的荷兰式建筑，白墙加厚厚的茅草屋顶，很是特别。南非最早在书中出现可追溯到1488年——葡萄牙航海家巴塞洛缪·迪亚士第一个发现好望角。大约160年后，欧洲移民在此安家立业并建立第一个殖民地。因此如今我们能看见的大部分荷兰式房屋都位于西开普敦。
不过开普敦市区的建筑风格有所变化。这座城市以哥特式建筑居多，分布在许多街道两旁，这些街道都有着欧式名称。那些高大建筑附近有很多简陋的一两层住房，听说一百年前供仆人和奴隶居住。这类房子根本没有门牌号。后来人们将它们漆成不同的颜色，以示区别。房屋现在看上去有点怪，但也趣味盎然。
这里不得不提到索韦托。这是一个由许多小房子构成的大镇区。据说这就是著名的“黑人城”——索韦托，世界上最大的黑人社区，占地100平方公里，将近四百万黑人住在这里。南非前总统纳尔逊·曼德拉的故居就在其中。这里虽然有些拥挤，但居住条件并没我想象的那么糟糕。当地一名导游告诉我，这些房子比以前好多了，因为政府允许黑人购买自己的房产，还向他们提供装修补助。
迷人的开普敦
开普敦可算得上是世界上最美的城市了。当你看到那纯净的天空、蔚蓝的大海、洁白的沙滩、五彩的房屋、迷人的海港、奇形怪状的山峦以及两大洋非同寻常的交汇，你也许就会同意我的观点。
就说说著名的桌山吧。这座山由岩石构成，最高峰海拔约一千米。它的样子十分奇特，因为山顶是平的，就像被老天削过一样，看起来像极了一张悬挂在开普敦上空的巨大桌子。因为极难攀登，人们只能坐缆车上山。站在山顶，你可以饱览整个开普敦的美景，蓝色的大海环绕着这座城市和罗本岛——曼德拉曾被囚禁于此长达27年。
人人爱说中文
我在南非遇见的大多数人都很善良友好。今年早些时候关于一些中国人在南非遇袭的新闻吓倒了许多国人。
看到一张张笑脸，我与同行的另外几个中国媒体工作者都很高兴。出乎我的意料，很多南非人都会说几句中文。我们在广场游览时，一位年轻的水果摊主热情地朝我们喊“尝尝，尝尝！”。“你好”不只在旅馆和餐厅里常常听到，购物中心和一些公司里也一样。
更使我惊奇的是这里许多人都知道深圳。我遇到的第一个南非人是舒曼，南非驻北京大使馆的参赞。我做自我介绍时，他看起来很高兴，说：“深圳，一个美丽的城市。”后来我从马萨可口中也听到相同的话，他是南非政府通讯与信息系统的首席执行官。
一次一位中国官员问马萨可他最喜欢中国哪座城市，他毫不犹豫地说：“我知道你们大多来自北京或上海，但我想说的是深圳。”“为什么？”我问。他回答道：“深圳是一座了不起的、发展迅速的年轻城市。南非也是一个年轻的国家。我相信我们在许多方面可以向深圳学习。”
1. game reserve 野生动物保护区
2. conservation n. 保存；保持
3. leopard n. 豹
4. enthusiastic adj. 热心的，热情的
5. township n. 镇区（在南非是指在种族隔离时代由白人政府建立的一种族隔离区域，作为有色人种的居住区。）
6. subsidy n. 补助金, 津贴
7. cable n. 巨缆；钢索
8. vendor n. 小贩
9. counselor n. 参赞