China-Gabon Friendship Museum in Yitou Village

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Mr. Jean Ping is currently the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union. His father was from Yitou Village, a small rural settlement south of the Oujiang River and about 20 kilometers south of Wenzhou City in southern Zhejiang Province, China.

Now beside the former residence of the Cheng family in the center of the village stand a china-gabon friendship museum, a modern affair of 8 million yuan in both Chinese and Gabon architectural styles. The museum was built by Cheng Xiuping and Cheng Xiaoping, niece and nephew of Jean Ping, over a period of five years. In the family book, Cheng Zhiping, the father of Jean Ping, were a brother of the grandfather of Cheng Xiuping and Cheng Xiaoping.

On September 10, 2009, Mr. Jean Ping came to yitou village and cut the ribbon for the museum, adding a chapter to the friendship between China and Gabon.

Mr. Jean Ping’s father was Cheng Zhiping, born in Yitou Village, linjiang Town, Lucheng District, Wenzhou City. He went to Marseilles, France in the 1930s. Cheng later moved to Gabon where he prospered and got married. His son Jean Ping was born in Omboué, Etimbwé Department, Ogooué-Maritime Province, Gabon.

From the early 1970s onward, Jean Ping worked for UNESCO until 1984 when he became Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President of Gabon. From 1990 onward, he worked as a government minister in various posts. In 1999 he was promoted to the position of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. In 2007 he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister while remaining in charge of foreign affairs. In early 2008 he became Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union.

Jean Ping’s father did not come to visit his home village in Wenzhou after his stay in Gabon. The senior passed away in 1986. Since then, Jean Ping has paid five visits to Yitou Village. These visits have further promoted the friendship between the two countries. Cheng Xiaoping, a nephew of Jean Ping, was invited to do business in Gabon during one of the home visits of Jean Ping. Now Cheng Xiaoping runs two companies in Gabon. The business is good there.

In order to honor the friendship between China and Gabon, Cheng Xiaoping and his sister Cheng Xiuping decided to build a memorial structure in the village.

They talked with villagers and local governments about the idea. Villagers and the governments embraced it. Villagers say that Cheng Zhiping and his son Jean Ping are pride of place of the Cheng Family of Yitou Village and they have created international friendship between China and Gabon. They were willing to support the project. Eighteen households near the ancestral residence of Jean Ping offered to turn their small private lots over to the museum.

The foundation laying ceremony was held in June, 2006. Cheng Xiuping and Cheng Xiaoping are business people with little knowledge of architecture. They commissioned architects to design. But what to display and how to display inside the museum was their responsibility. They consulted experts at Wenzhou Exhibition Center about displays and outlays. While the project was in the preliminary and construction stages, people and government departments in Wenzhou City and Lucheng District gave their full-hearted support and coordinated smoothly. The cultural authorities of Lucheng District donated display cabinets.

Mr. Jean Ping was amazed by the exhibits after the inaugural ceremony of the museum. The exhibits include some unique African artifacts and some photos of Jean Ping in his college years. He laughed and asked his niece Cheng Xiuping when these things came together into a collection. The niece replied, they began to collect things after Jean Ping met first his relatives from Yitou Village at Diaoyutai Guesthouse in Beijing on February 16, 1987.

As a matter fact, Cheng Xiuping and Cheng Xiaoping had long since wanted to build up this collection. In August, 1995, Cheng Xiuping came to visit her brother Cheng Xiaoping in Gabon. They then flew to USA and France to do research and collect exhibits. Over years, the two built up the collection.

Today, the 1,800-m2 museum has a collection of 260 some exhibits including photographs, wood carvings and ethnic garments. They are on display in turns, about 80 exhibits for one session. The museum is divided into China Hall, Gabon Hall and Video Hall.

The photographs show historical moments when Chinese President Hu Jintao meets the late Gabonese President Omar Bongo, when Jean Ping poses with various Chinese leaders, when Jean Ping meets various world leaders at UN and on other occasions. Also on display at the museum are photographs of Cheng Zhiping and his wife. In the small cinema at the museum visitors can watch videos that record Jean Ping’s home visits to Yitou Village and a documentary entitled “My Chinese Father”, which is now in the collection of the American Congress Library.