By: Jesse Wilson

Source:https://tribuneonlineng.com/analysis-of-prof-zhenwu-zhus-chinese-african-literaturology/

He is not the first and nor would he be the last to study African cultures and write on African collected works by her scholars and storytellers, some that predateseven the great flood itself. Both ancient and modern, the Professor Zhenwu ‘Fred’ Zhu embarks on an endless journey, to find and equally espouse a sea of literary classics that could make one baffle of theirexistence, and could even make one say with an arched eyebrow ‘when did Africa write all of this?’ Not an answer to the question but it is a mere fraction of Africa’s literary works that have been discovered let alone read. The foreign scholar who wishes to testAfrican writings will find out that it is unlike any.There might be comparisons to other nation’s own due to the fact that African civilization predates all. Her blood runs through the veins of many nations and peoples of the earth. Many cultures and classics of the world were drawn from Africa’s own. Notably Homer’s Iliad, which was said to be partially takenfrom ancient Egyptian texts that the Greek author heard or read when he had visited Egypt in his lifetime.Scholars have found similarities in Egyptian tales like the ‘Tale of Sinuh’ and ‘The Battle of Quadesh’ to Homer’s epics. Which significantly means that The Iliad was taken from one or more ancient Egyptian original writings, rewritten to fit the European contextand handed over to generations to read as a European literary classic.

It is said that to best understand African history is not from books but the lyrical words of her ancient historians, the griots, who were the bards of the royal court, summoned at times to glorify the king or one of noble lineage in poetic verses. The griots of West Africa hold the history of many kingdoms, and will never miss a name of those that took part in it. They have total recollection of all events with little or no room for errors. But when griots are scarce one can turn to writing to preserve ancient knowledge. It was said that the Bagum and Bamum script of the Cameroon were invented by King Njoya and King Pufong; from medicine to magic incantations, the sciences of that nation were stored on paper. But were they really invented by kings? If so be the fact, then they had existed before in another form just like the Amharic language derived from the ancient Ethiopian language of Geez. Both thousands of years old. There has always been a writing system in Africa, but the sages chose to best narrate their wisdom through their voices, and at times, accompanied with rhythms using native instruments like the kora or the ngoma, to name a few.

For the foreign scholar who delves into the studies of African civilization, perhaps, by coincidence, will rediscover his own. That his own civilization was not entirely developed by his ‘own people’ but rather borrowed from another.

That the Songhai Empire of Africa and Shanghai of China share similarities, not of the same people or thephonetic sound of their names, but how shockingly the latter was influenced by the former. For over a thousand years, the Chinese have documented the visitations of African people in ships and called them‘divine southerners’ or ‘dark strangers’. The Admiral Zheng He also recorded similar visitations in his time of Africans long before the contact of Europeans. And these Africans came in great and ostentatious vesselsnot as serfs or anything lesser than that, but men dressed in royal regalia as nobles, lords, and ambassadors of their realm. For all foreign scholars, the study of African civilization from its antiquity will undoubtedly be the completion of understanding world history.

From West Africa, Nigeria, the Yoruba people could tell you of the pantheon of their gods that the Western world appeared to have copied from. The god of war, Ogun, who wielded his thunderous hammer, predated Scandinavia’s Thor, who in Scandinavian mythology also depicted him wielding a mighty hammer. To the North we have Egypt, where her history and classics stands timeless. Ancient Egypt called their land Kemet, which means the Land of the Blacks or the Black people. Many have tried but failed to whitewash its history, especially the Arab invaders that have since claimed their land. To the Horn of Africa, we find Ethiopia and her neighbors, where the tribes who inhabit those lands—particularly the Mursi or Mun people—are said to be more ancient than religion. South Africa could tell you about the Immuanelas, sky gods, and how the Zulu tribe was founded by them.Africa is a continent where even the Batwa Pygmies of central Africa have great and ancient stories to tell. And if one is curious and prepared to listen, and of course, if one can fully understand their language,without translation, you will discover that there are more to African civilization than what has been written on paper.

The Professor Zhu attempts to give his people—the keen and avid minded Chinese academics who wish to know more about African literary arts—a clear and broad spectrum of African collected works in Chinese characters, and on how, Africans too have contributed to the literary works of the world and how they have equally shaped contemporary history. The likes of Joseph Ki-Zerbo’s Histoire de l’Afrique Noire have for decade served as resourceful information for one to better appreciate African history. Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka’s works have bejeweled African storytelling in modern English. Guinea’s Camara Laye, Senegal’s Cheick Anta Diop, and many more one could find in the hidden and unhidden library of Africa’s rich history.

From Shanghai Normal University, one of the best in mainland China, the Prof. Zhu has contributed immensely to Chinese literature research. Amongst the numerous articles he has written and edited, the onesthat have gathered praise and have solidified his achievement in the Chinese academic community and in the study of third world cultures are Root and Flower of African English Literature, Study of African Literature English and Study of English Literature in African Countries. The term ‘Chinese African Literaturology’ could make one raise an eyebrow, as if the culture in question is reformed and perhaps ‘owned’ by a foreign pen. But that is not the case. The Prof. Zhu commits in giving his own interpretation of a culture that has long been misunderstood and largely misinterpreted by even the indigenous writers themselves. It is true that only Africans can write their own history and tell their own stories, but that does not mean we must encumber the foreign scholar who wish to make the attempt at something new. It is ‘them’ that will evaluate and subsequently connect the dots between their own and other civilizations. It is the ‘foreign pen’ that usually exceed others in elaborating more on a giving civilization; but it should not be confined to mere imagination or the study of few books on the subject matter, but the stranger invited to write on such a theme, should understand that he must not only read or study but must likewise live in it, as though he craves to assimilate the essence of it. Reliving every beat of its heart and soul. Merging himself with the characters, the people and their culture. Then will he be master of it.

As a writer and scholar myself, I invite Dr. Zhu to advance on what he has been doing for quite some time, not only structuring phrases or redefining civilizations to fit the proclivity of a nation or a group of academics, but to go beyond borders, and strive by all means necessary to discover or re-discover how his own civilization might have started or gained influence from the subject he is currently working on. And this goes for all who wish to take up the pen to express‘Africanness’.