Africa, Zobia, the capital of the State of Seril.

It is the starting point of the "Cyril-Gabay railway", which ends at the port of Khanday in Gabe, a large seaport facing the Indian Ocean that was expanded two years ago with the help of China to accommodate 300,000-ton giant bulk carriers.

Cyril is a landlocked country with rich mineral resources and a population of 20 million, but it has always been one of the poorest countries in Africa because of its inconvenient transportation, its minerals are difficult to export, and its industry cannot be developed. Ten years ago, the Chinese government signed an agreement with the government of Seril to help it build the Serbia-Canada Railway, with the Chinese government providing loan support and sending engineering teams to implement the construction project.

The construction of the Saiga Railway encountered many unexpected difficulties, but in the end it was completed triumphantly. The completed Saiga Railway will connect Cyril with the port of Khanday in Gabe, and the minerals and agricultural products of Cyril will be able to be transported to Port Khanday and sold to all parts of the world. At the same time, consumer goods and industrial equipment from all over the world can also be transported by rail, helping Cyril out of poverty and into the era of industrialization.

Today, at the opening ceremony of the Saiga Railway, representatives from African countries and China gathered at the Zobia station to cut the ribbon for the first passenger train on the Saiga Railway.

On Platform 1 of the Sabia Station, colorful flags flutter and cheerful dance music is played on loudspeakers, including the most authentic Chinese folk music such as "Dance of the Golden Snake". In the process of building the railway, the officials, engineers and workers of Cyril have become accustomed to the music in the camp of the Chinese engineering company, and they believe that this music is related to the railway, and hearing such music can make people imagine the romantic atmosphere of the train passing through the field.

On the temporary rostrum, on one side sat the presidents, speakers, ministers and other officials of African countries, as well as officials of some African multinational organizations, while on the other side were representatives from China, including several department-level officials of China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and several leaders of China Railway Corporation. Among them, sitting in the chief position of the Chinese representative is Feng Xiaochen, president of the "China-Africa Industrial Technology Cooperation Association".

The Cyril official, who was in charge of arranging the seating at the celebration, did not take the Chinese official with the title of president of the association seriously at first, and placed Feng Xiaochen under the deputy general manager of a branch of China Railway Corporation. Who knew that after the arrival of the Chinese delegation, when they saw this arrangement, they all looked frightened, and moved Feng Xiaochen's seat in the direction of the head one by one, and finally moved it to the front of everyone.

The Cyril officials didn't know what to do, but when he reported the situation to Cyril Vice President Franken, who was presiding over the celebration, Franken immediately gave him a scolding and then trotted all the way over to talk to Feng Xiaochen. As early as more than ten years ago, Franconian knew Feng Xiaochen when he was still the Minister of Industry of Cyril, and over the years, Cyril's cooperation with China Equipment Industry Corporation has not been interrupted, and Franconia knew in his heart that the Saiker Railway could be established and finally completed, and Feng Xiaochen's contribution was far above anyone else.

"Mr. Feng, what happened just now was a serious mistake, after the celebration is over, I will strictly investigate the responsibility of the person concerned, and I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation. Franken took Feng Xiaochen's hand and said apologetically.

Feng Xiaochen smiled and said, "Mr. Franconian is serious, and the matter of ranking up is not worth mentioning at all. In fact, these colleagues of mine are the biggest contributors to the Saiga Railway, and they deserve to be at the top. ”

Franken nodded: "Yes, yes, I am very grateful to the leaders and employees of the Chinese construction unit, and if possible, I hope they can all sit in the most prominent positions." However, Mr. Feng, you have also put a lot of effort into the Saiga Railway, and if it were not for your mediation, it would have been difficult for the Saiga Railway to obtain the support of the Chinese Investment Bank so quickly. So, the most important position should be yours. ”

Feng Xiaochen said: "Thank you, Mr. Francon, for your kindness. Today you are the protagonist, so you don't have to waste too much time with me. When the celebration is over, let's arrange time to catch up. ”

"Okay, okay!" said Franconia. At this time, the staff led a middle-aged black man with extraordinary bearing to come over, and Franconia warmly beckoned the man to sit down next to Feng Xiaochen, and then introduced them to each other.

"Mr. Feng, allow me to introduce to you that this is Mr. Ramuru, the Rotating Chairman of the Executive Council of the African Union, who has made a request to us in advance to be able to sit with you. Franconia said.

"It turned out to be Mr. LaMuru, who looked up for a long time. ”

Feng Xiaochen hurriedly stretched out his hand to shake hands with the other party. Lamuru is also extremely enthusiastic about Feng Xiaochen, and the handshake is very strong, and it is also thanks to Feng Xiaochen who often goes to the grassroots level, is in good health, and has a lot of strength in his hands, otherwise it is inevitable that there will be some embarrassing scenes.

Franconian introduced the two and then left, Lamouru and Feng Xiaochen sat down separately, and before Feng Xiaochen could think about what to talk about with each other, Lamuru spoke eagerly:

"Mr. Feng, the main purpose of my visit to Zobia this time is to see you. ”

"Oh, is it?" Although Feng Xiaochen knew in advance that LaMuru wanted to see him, he didn't expect him to be so straightforward, without even making a detour.

Lamuru took out a beautifully bound booklet from his bag and put it in front of Feng Xiaochen. The cover of the booklet was written in French, but Feng Xiaochen could recognize it, and it was clearly the "First Five-Year Plan for Promoting Africa's Industrialization."

Half a month ago, the secretariat of the association sent the document to the AU by e-mail, and a few days later received a response from the AU, expressing great interest in the plan and hoping that officials from both sides could hold a formal meeting during the Saiga Railway celebrations.

Feng Xiaochen originally thought that the African Union officials would make an appointment with him after the celebration, but he didn't expect that Lamuru was not even willing to wait for this time, and chased him directly to the celebration site.

"This plan is very good! My colleagues and I were very moved after reading it! We need this plan, and we also need China's help!"

LaMuru said bluntly, without the slightest hint of reserve.

"This plan is just one of our assumptions, which is put forward after summing up some experiences and lessons in China's industrialization process, and whether it is in line with Africa's practice is probably what Africa's friends need to determine. Feng Xiaochen said in a low-key manner.

The plan provided by Feng Xiaochen concentrates the wisdom of several high-level think tanks in China, and the contribution of equipment industry companies to this is particularly prominent, because in the past, many domestic equipment companies have cooperated with African countries and know the characteristics and difficulties of promoting industrial technology in Africa.

According to Feng Xiaochen's idea, to help Africa achieve industrialization is not simply to sell some machinery and equipment, but to provide a complete set of industrial solutions. Specifically, what kind of resource endowment Africa has, what is the transportation situation, what is the energy supply situation, what is the quality of the labor force, and what kind of market does it have, all need to be considered holistically. Blindly selling the most advanced equipment and expanding its production capacity without restraint will only end up making the continent indigestion and adding to Africa's already weak economy.

According to the preface of the document, this plan is scientific, forward-looking, feasible and economical. Out of bad taste, Feng Xiaochen asked the writing team to divide the entire plan into several stages, and named the first phase of the work "The First Five-Year Plan". The five-year plan is actually an invention of the former Soviet Union, but now China is the only big country in the world that is engaged in such a five-year plan. Feng Xiaochen's move can be regarded as a kind of cultural export.

After receiving the "five-year plan," AU officials carefully studied it, and many were shocked by the goals outlined in the plan, and were immediately conquered by the rigorous arguments and logic in the text. That is, Feng Xiaochen did not appear in front of them at that time, otherwise it is estimated that more than half of the African Union officials would bow to Feng Xiaochen and call him an ancient god.

In fact, this is not to say that AU officials are not as smart as Chinese think tank researchers, but that they have never done such a huge development plan, and the level of economic development limits their imagination. In this five-year plan, the compilers regard the entire African continent as a complete economy, propose a cross-border industrial division of labor, and use the advantages of scale to reduce production costs and improve production efficiency.

The African continent includes more than 50 countries, and due to historical, cultural and other reasons, there are deep contradictions between many countries, and even wars are continuous. Political conflicts led to economic fragmentation, and as a result, a unified market could not be formed, and a unified transportation system could not be established. It is difficult for a country with a few million people to support large-scale industrial projects, which makes it difficult for African countries to resist the impact of cheap industrial products on the international market.

China's development plan points out this bottleneck in Africa's industrialization process and proposes to promote industrial cooperation among countries to improve production efficiency. For example, a country of 10 million people cannot absorb the capacity of a 300,000-ton ammonia plant, and if a small-scale fertilizer plant is chosen, production efficiency will be affected. The plan proposes that several countries could join forces to build a large fertilizer plant, which would be a win-win option to share the construction investment and absorb the production capacity together.