More than 40 years ago, more than 50,000 Chinese sons and daughters came to Africa with sincere friendship for the African people, and worked side by side with the brotherly people of Tanzania and Zambia, overcoming all difficulties and dangers in the vast African grasslands, and building the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, which is known as the road of friendship and freedom, with sweat, blood and even their lives. More than 60 of them gave their precious lives for this purpose, and they are buried forever in this land far from their homeland. They have interpreted the great spirit of internationalism with their lives, and are heroes who have forged a monument to China-Tanzania and China-Africa friendship, and their names, like the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, will always be remembered in the hearts of the Chinese people and the people of Tanzania.

——Speaking at the Tanzania Chinese Experts Cemetery (March 25, 2013)

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In a cemetery on the southwestern outskirts of Dar es Salaam, the "port of peace," 69 Chinese compatriots who sacrificed their lives to help Tanzania build are buried. The cemetery is green grass, green pines and phoenix trees are tall and straight, and a huge stone tablet is engraved in Chinese and English with two rows of bright red characters: "The Tomb of the Glorious Sacrifice of Comrades of China's Aid to Tanzania".

Since the 60s of the 20 th century, China has sent tens of thousands of experts to Tanzania and made selfless contributions to the economic construction of this African country in various fields. Among these 69 compatriots, there are those who have helped the Tanzanian people to build coal mines, those who have helped to develop agriculture, and those who have helped to build water conservancy, but the vast majority of them have given their lives for the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.

The Tanzania-Zambia Railway is a prominent symbol of China-Africa friendship. From May 1968, when the first Chinese exploration team set foot on the Qianli Mangyuan Road Selection and Determination Line, to July 1976, when the Tanzan Railway was officially opened to traffic, a total of more than 50,000 Chinese engineers and technicians fought the construction site of nearly 2,000 kilometers. The engineers and technicians of China, Tanzania and Zambia have gone through hardships and dangers to open a 1,860-kilometer railway transportation line in the lofty mountains, making it an economic artery connecting Tanzania and Zambia and even other African countries, creating favorable conditions for the economic development of Tanzania and Zambia, and at the same time supporting the national liberation struggle in southern Africa, which the people of the two countries have praised as the "road to freedom" and "road to liberation".

Zhang Mincai, a water conservancy expert who is buried in the cemetery of Chinese experts in Tanzania, is the first Chinese expert to die in Tanzania. In order to find a drinking water source for the local people, Zhang Mincai was stung by wild bees in October 1967 while exploring in the wild bushes, and his whole body was poisoned. When Premier Zhou Enlai learned of this, he immediately sent doctors from China to rescue him, but he could not save his 35-year-old young life.

Xi Jinping deeply cherished the memory of the Chinese experts who sacrificed their lives in aiding Tanzania, affectionately recounted the past of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, and expressed his good wishes to carry forward the spirit of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway and carefully cherish and care for the precious wealth of China-Africa traditional friendship. Xi Jinping's first foreign visit as president included Africa, a "continent full of hope", reflecting China's consistent brotherhood towards developing countries. "To strengthen China-Africa friendship, let's talk about the word 'pro'." Through storytelling, Xi Jinping told the world that China-Africa friendly relations are not based on certain conditions, but supported by friendship that can withstand the test of wind and rain. As Charles Sangar, former Tanzanian ambassador to China, commented: "President Xi Jinping's joy of being inspired by the continuous development of the African continent is so sincere and touching, and it is love from the bottom of my heart." ”