The plane flew to Panama, and then departed from here to fly over the Caribbean Sea for an hour and a half to Jamaica, the hometown of "flyer" Bolt. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt's fabulous performance made China and the world remember the Caribbean country at once.
As a southern port city, Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, is an important transit point for Trade in the Caribbean. Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport is named after former Jamaican Prime Minister Norman Manley, and a large billboard inside the airport catches the eye of tourists with 20 interesting facts about Jamaica. Although English is the official language, all Jamaicans are accustomed to communicating through another indigenous language, Patois, a mixture of English and African Creole.
Taxis to the hotel race along a long, narrow highway also named after Norman Manley, with the blue waters on both sides of the road making you feel like you're on the road to the celestial realm. Although Jamaica is a small country, it is not only known for its talents in sprinting, sugar cane, rum, blue mountain coffee and rich tourism resources make tourists around the world fascinated, and the spirit of self-reliance and struggle to the end spread by reggae music is directly hit the hearts of the world.
Bob Marley's museum, the progenitor of reggae music, is not far from the hotel I booked. I rushed to see many tourists from the United States, Chile and other countries taking a group photo in front of the bronze statue of Bob Marley. The song's title, "No Woman No Cry," is written on a mural in the museum's backyard as if to remind fellow citizens that everything is going to get better. Bob Ma used music to call for peace, fight racism and give Jamaicans self-esteem and self-confidence. In 1978, he also had Jamaican Prime Minister Manley shake hands with his biggest political enemy, Sika, at his concert "One Love." The museum's guide said that in 2001 it became a nationally protected site, and reggae music is a national cultural symbol of Jamaica.
Foreign visitors pose for a group photo in front of the bronze statue of Bob Marley. Photo by Liu Xuxia
"Bob Marley is like a legend, he is the pride of all of us Jamaicans, and his spirit of peace and peacemaking has made our country even more remarkable." Omar, the taxi driver, pulled out a stack of records as he said, "I have a lot of his music here, and we Jamaicans can all hum a few words!"
Jamaica is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country where European, African and indigenous cultures blend and is interpreted by the national motto of "Out of many" – people here are no longer racially distinct, they are all "Jamaicans". The slogan can be seen everywhere on the walls of Jamaican buildings and on billboards.
A billboard with Jamaica's national motto "Out of Many, One People" on the façade of a restaurant in Kingston Harbor. Photo by Liu Xuxia
As the Caribbean poet and Nobel laureate in literature Derek Wolcott said, in the Caribbean world, language is mixed, everything is mixed. Wolcott even called it a writer's paradise, and his poems were the product of a blend of African, European, Caribbean, and even Eastern cultures. Looking at literature from countries such as Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago, you can almost always feel the author's sense of identity with different races.
Naturally, there are Chinese people here. More than 160 years ago, Chinese people came to Jamaica one after another. Tian Qi, Chinese ambassador to Jamaica, told me that there are currently nearly 20 Chinese enterprises operating in Jamaica, which have become an important driving force for local social and economic development, and Chinese enterprises have invested in creating nearly 10,000 jobs for the local area.
Before leaving Jamaica, I made a special trip to Port Royal, not far from the airport, which was once home to pirate ships and is now a base for the Jamaican Coast Guard. After the British captured Jamaica that year, 5 forts were built here, and Fort Charlie was one of them. From a distance, the cannons in Charles's fortress can be seen pointing to the sea, which seems to be a warning to the world that the world no longer needs artillery fire and war, but peace, equality and freedom.
Cannons on Fort Charlie. Photo by Liu Xuxia