Zambia’s Shaolin temple offers a softer face of China

From a distance, the Shaolin Temple outside Lusaka appeared almost like a mirage, a slice of central China dropped into the Zambian landscape.

Then the dragons emerged from beneath the pagoda, their brightly coloured fabric bodies hoisted on poles by teenagers moving with surprising precision.

Nearby, smaller children tumbled across a weather-beaten foam mattress, twisting into barrels and forward rolls as 30-year-old instructor Yan Chen…