Zambia opens memorial for Chinese who died building Tazara

[John Ashworth]

Zambia opens memorial for Chinese railway workers who died building Africa’s Tazara line (video)

A memorial park opened in Zambia’s capital Lusaka on August 10, 2022, to honour Chinese workers who died during construction of the Tanzania-Zambia (Tazara) railway. The rail line has been critical to Zambia, in part as an export link to move copper from the landlocked nation to seaports in Tanzania. It was also China’s largest foreign aid project in Africa ever, after Beijing stepped in to fund the railway after neighbouring white-controlled territories cut off previously used routes. Nearly 50,000 Chinese worked on the project and more than 160 died during construction which lasted from 1970 to 1975.