C.E. - Aug. 20 - Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa

[Gregory Hewett]

August 18, 2007
New Power in Africa
Chinese Entrepreneurs Flourish in Africa
By HOWARD W. FRENCH and LYDIA POLGREEN

LILONGWE, Malawi — When Yang Jie left home at 18, he was doing what people from China’s hardscrabble Fujian Province have done for generations: emigrating in search of a better living overseas.

What set him apart was his destination. Instead of the traditional adopted homelands like the United States and Europe, where Fujian people have settled by the hundreds of thousands, he chose this small, landlocked country in southern Africa.

“Before I left China,” said Mr. Yang, now 25, “I thought Africa was all one big desert.” So he figured that ice cream would be in high demand, and with money pooled from relatives and friends, he created his own factory at the edge of Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. The climate is in fact subtropical, but that has not stopped his ice cream company from becoming the country’s biggest.

Stories like this have become legion across Africa in the past five years or so, as hundreds of thousands of Chinese have discovered the continent, setting off to do business in a part of the world that had been terra incognita. The Xinhua News Agency recently estimated that at least 750,000 Chinese were working or living for extended periods on the continent, a reflection of deepening economic ties between China and Africa that reached $55 billion in trade in 2006, compared with less than $10 million a generation earlier.

Even when Mr. Yang arrived here in 2001, he said, he could go weeks without encountering another traveler from his homeland. But as surely as his investments in the country have prospered, he said, an increasingly large community of Chinese migrants has taken root, and now runs everything from small factories to health care clinics and trading companies.

During the previous wave of Chinese interest in Africa in the 1960s and ’70s, an era of radical socialism and proclaimed third-world solidarity, European and American companies held sway over economies in most of the continent. Here and there, though, the Chinese made their presence felt, often in drably dressed, state-run work brigades that built stadiums, railroads and highways, crushing rocks and doing other labor by hand.

Today, in many of the countries where the new Chinese emigrants have settled, like Chad, Chinese-owned pharmacies, massage parlors and restaurants serving a variety of regional Chinese cuisines can be found; the Western presence, once dominant, has steadily dwindled, and essentially consists nowadays of relief experts working international agencies or oil workers, living behind high walls in heavily guarded enclaves.

At first, this new Chinese exodus was driven largely by word of mouth, as pioneers like Mr. Yang relayed news back home of abundant opportunities in a part of the world where many economies lie undeveloped or in ruins, and where even in the richer countries many things taken for granted in the developed world await builders and investors.

Conditions like these often deter Western investors, but for many budding Chinese entrepreneurs, Africa’s emerging economies are inviting precisely because they seem small and accessible. Competition is often weak or nonexistent, and for African customers, the low price of many Chinese goods and services make them more affordable than their Western counterparts.

Chinese Expansion

You Xianwen sold his pipe-laying business in Chengdu, in southwest China, this year to move to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, to join a startup company with a Chinese partner he had met only online. “Back where I come from we are pretty independent people,” Mr. You, 55, said. “My brothers and sisters all supported my decision to come here. In fact, they say that if things really work out for me, they would like to move to Africa, too.”

Mr. You said he had considered other African countries before settling on Ethiopia, including Zambia. “Luckily I didn’t decide to go there,” he said, explaining that he had been frightened by the recent anti-Chinese protests in that country.

His new business, ABC Bioenergy, builds devices that generate combustible gas from ordinary refuse, providing what Mr. You said would be an affordable alternative source of energy in a country where electricity supplies are erratic and prices high.

Mr. You’s partner here, Mei Haijun, first came to Ethiopia a decade ago to work at a Chinese-built textile factory and has since married an Ethiopian woman, with whom he has a child. “When I first came here you could go two months without seeing another Chinese person,” he said. “But it is a different era now. There’s a flight to China every day.”

The pickup in air traffic between China and countries like Ethiopia now has Chinese companies scrambling to add new routes, as the Chinese government and big Chinese companies increase their stake in Africa.

Much of that activity reflects an intense appetite for African oil and mineral resources needed to fuel China’s manufacturing sector, but big Chinese companies have quickly become formidable competitors in other sectors as well, particularly for big-ticket public works contracts. China is building major new railroad lines in Nigeria and Angola, large dams in Sudan, airports in several countries and new roads, it seems, almost everywhere.

One of the largest road builders, China Road and Bridge Construction, has picked up where the solidarity brigades of an earlier generation left off. The company, which is owned by the Chinese government, has 29 projects in Africa, many financed by the World Bank or other lenders, and it maintains offices in 22 African countries.

On a recent Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Beijing brimming with Chinese contractors, workers from Road and Bridge and other companies swapped notes on the grab bag of countries they work in, and debated about the difficulties of learning Portuguese and French in places like Mozambique and Ivory Coast.

Africans view the influx of Chinese with a mix of anticipation and dread. Business leaders in Chad, a central African nation with deepening oil ties to China, are bracing for what they suspect will be an army of Chinese workers and investors.

“We expect a large influx of at least 40,000 Chinese in the coming years,” said Renaud Dinguemnaial, director of Chad’s Chamber of Commerce. “This massive arrival could be a plus for the economy, but we are also worried. When they arrive, will they bring their own workers, stay in their own houses, send all their money home?”

In Zambia, where anti-Chinese sentiment has been building for several years, merchants at the central market in Lusaka, the capital, said that if Chinese people wanted to come to Africa, they should come as investors, building factories, not as petty traders who compete for already scarce customers for bottom-dollar items like flip-flops and T-shirts.

“The Chinese claim to come here as investors, but they are trading just like us,” said Dorothy Mainga, who sells knockoff Puma sneakers and Harley Davidson T-shirts in the Kamwala Market in Lusaka. “They are selling the same things we are selling at cheap prices. We pay duty and tax, but they use their connections to avoid paying tax.”

Although Chinese oil workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria and in Ethiopia, where nine were killed by an armed separatist movement in May, the growing Chinese presence around the continent has produced few serious incidents.

Misunderstandings are common, however, and resentments inevitably arise. Africans in many countries complain that Chinese workers occupy jobs that locals are either qualified for or could be easily trained to do. “We are happy to have the Chinese here,” said Dennis Phiri, 21, a Malawian university student who is studying to become an engineer. “The problem with the Chinese companies is that they reserve all the good jobs for their own people. Africans are only hired in menial roles.”

Another frequent criticism is that the Chinese are clannish, sticking among themselves day and night.

In Addis Ababa, in what is a typical arrangement for most large companies, the 200 Chinese workers for the Road and Bridge Corporation live in a communal compound, eating food prepared by cooks brought from China and receiving basic health care from a Chinese doctor.

“After a day off you wonder what you’re doing here, so we like to keep working,” said Cheng Qian, the country manager for the road-building company in Ethiopia. He added that his family had never visited him during several years of work here.

African Ambivalence

Sometimes, the Chinese approach has created serious frictions with African workers. At a leading hotel here in Lilongwe, breakfast guests stared as an agitated Chinese traveling salesman, sweating profusely, screamed at his staff minutes before his pitch on nutritional supplements was set to begin.

“You say it is not your fault, but the way you are doing things is just stupid, stupid,” the man sputtered before a clutch of African assistants, who looked humiliated. “You people are unbelievable.”

When the salesman finally left the room, members of the restaurant staff gathered near the door and vented their disgust. “We don’t need people like that to come here and colonize us again,” one said.

After nearly seven years in Malawi, Yang Jie, the ice cream maker, seems to have learned better. Greeting his workers at the ice cream factory, he begins the day by asking, “How did you sleep last night?”

One quickly replied, “Very well,” sounding a bit formal.

“Don’t tell me a lie,” Mr. Yang answered with a sly, friendly smile. “It’s O.K. to tell me your worries.”

Howard W. French reported from Lilongwe and from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Lydia Polgreen from Lusaka, Zambia, and Dakar, Senegal.

[julie]

Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa


I think that it is a good thing that China trade with Africa. The fact that Chinese had created enterprises in Africa show that, even though Africa is an undeveloped country, it can easily develop with a little bit of help and money. Chinese thinks that it is an opportunity for Africa to trade with them, but some African are not agree. Because Africa is not well developed, when Chinese come with new goods it is interesting for them. However, some of the Africans do not like Chinese because they are sending goods with no taxes, so they take there job.

The trade between China and Africa play a major role in Africa’s development. I found out that trade between Africa and China increase of 39% over the last year. As the article says Chinese are interesting by oil in Africa, Sudanese oil in fact, 10% of this oil is bringing directly near to the Red Sea by a pipeline. I think that if china is continuing that way, it will increase a lot, Africa’s development, but it might affect Africa’s culture too.

I read on a web site that the Chinese interest for Africa was increasing the focus on this continent. I agree with it, if other country notices china’s benefits in Africa, they are also going to be interest by Africa and it will develop even more.

[keisuke]

Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa

It is good that the Chinese Entrepreneurs are trading things from China to the African people. That is because most or all the African countires are undeveloped.@by this trading I think that the African continent will be developed as other countries with some more help. Maybe the African people needs a lot of things to make their continent a developed continent, but the Chinese are only interested in the African oils.

However, while they thought their trades were going great some of the chinese oil workers were kidnapped and out of those some people nine chinese were killed this May.

But I think that if China keeps on trading with African countries it will help out Africa a lot for being developed. That is because the trading between China and the African coutries(continent) had incresed more than 40% from the past.

So in conclucion i think that China should keep on trading with Africa since that will help the African continent develope even more than they are now.

[nitika]

There are two ways to look at this event.

1. It is very good for the Chinese as they are getting more job oppotunities and it is also helping the ecocnomy of Africa to grow to a very high extent.
2.The Africans are getting less job oppotunities because mostly the Chinese are getting better jobs in Chinese companies and the Africans are getting poor paying jobs. They might feel that in their own country the Chinese dominate which is very bad.

Few africans might feel that the Chinese migrating to their country is a very bad thing to do, whereas the Chinese may feel that coming to a continent like Africa where the countries are still developing they have better chances of havning successful buisinesses as there is not much competetion.

I found out from a website that the Chinese are mainly interested in Africas's oil and that they have invested a large sum of money on African oil. I feel that China has made an indirect deal with Africa. It's like Barter system. China says that if they build roads, schools, railway tracks, airports,etc; mainly improving the economy of the country then Africa has to trade with China and give it oil etc; as before the Chinese came there wasn't a good education system nor good roads, railway tracks, airports, etc.

I feel that in the coming years more Chinese will migrate to Africa and the Africans will cause riots and go against the Chinese because it is in a way Black mail to Africa.

I think that the African government should make an intelligent deal with the Chinese government and make a law that Chinese should give more job oppotunites to africans.

So basically, the Chinese are increasing the economic growth in Africa but i think that they should just be more fair to the Africans.

[jiyoung93]

New but unpredictable power in Africa Ji Young Kim
Aug/25/07

Chinese Entrepreneurs Flourish in Africa
By Howard W. French: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
& Lydia Polgreen: Lusaka, Zambia, and Dakar, Senegal

This news about Chinese influencing the Africa sounded familiar to me when I read this article. For example, Yang Jie migrated to Africa to live a better life. But why Africa? I think that is because it is better to go to the country where the conditions are less developed. Therefore, within your own knowledge, we can make and use our technique for them. There are many advantages when you give old idea that has used, where their people never knew before. Similarly, I heard many prosperous stories about person after moved to other country. And I found the common characteristic, that is people who succeed are settled on Undeveloped countries. Not only to live happily in your own world, like my father and any other factory workers in India, Chennai also came here to sell and produce new products. Such as cars, motorbikes, cellular phones, and constructs. Why are they doing this? There can be tones of answers for this. However, I think the main reason is money.

One question came up to my mind when I read the first few paragraphs, why or what made people in China to move to other country? Therefore, I thought about it and came up with some essential answer. First, the huge amount of population increasing rapidly in China. (I even read the news about Chinese parent naming their newborn child as @ because they were out of name. In addition, most of Chinese has same names.) Second, economic, many people in China are suffering because of small quality of money and less jobs for working industry. At last, trading, to earn and gain more what they want. Trading is a big movement because it affects the cultural interaction between two countries. Information and detail on this article tells that even Chinese and Utopian were married and got a child too. This can bring a big change for Africans. It can spread the ideas too.





According to Mr. Yang¡¯s experience, he was aware of condition of Africa even though he was scared for the first time. This root starting with selling ice creams made him satisfy. By this small achievement, other Chinese follow his way to adventure something new. Now, the Chinese are spreading their idea for different countries for Africa. This act can be positive and negative at the same time; even it depends for different countries. Positive necessities are they can learn modern technology, the system of government or rules, and other required subjects that they should know about this world (like what¡¯s happening now? So that they can have plan for their country), and settled environment to develop their country by the help from other countries. The negative possibilities can be loosing their special taste of culture, not focusing own their own improvement that can come from natural resources, and trading and the high price for trade especially they can loose something very important in the that country, such as oil. By this various points, I think the people in Africa should confider every single problem that might affect because of this continuous act form Chinese. The country can be developed and undeveloped depending on the country. Maybe, some countries will not like the idea and decide to develop individually.

Now, the fast influence form China settled down and live their life. And they build pharmacy, massage paroles, and restaurant. Moreover, these shops you can find very easily. Once again, it is good opportunity for Chinese to go and support undeveloped country¡¯s ruin. Another benefit for them is that, there are no competitions or any other fights with other developed countries. It was Chinese¡¯s choice to come to Africa and work to start their company. I can picture that Chinese are all over the world, influencing their tremendous culture to every country in Earth.

Not only trading but also, the aggressive activity going on in air plane. Next, Chinese are constructing a major railroad in Nigeria, Angola. Not only railroad also, dam in Sudan and several airports in almost everywhere. Chinese governments are challenging Africa to control and use them wisely. Further, Chinese already made a plan of 29 projects associated by China Road and Bridge Construction Company.

[asifhilal]

New Power in Africa
Chinese Entrepreneurs Flourish in Africa
By HOWARD W. FRENCH and LYDIA POLGREEN


I think that it is very smart that the Chinese people are coming to Africa. Usually people go to developed countries because they think they have more opportunities to succeed, but the Chinese people have proved that those who come to less developed countries can also succeed. This is because there will be less competition for jobs.

People like Yang Jie have been emigrating in search of a better life overseas. The interesting thing is that instead of going to an advanced destination such as Europe or the U.S, he went to a small developing country in the southern part of Africa. In the past few years, hundreds of thousands of Chinese have started to go to Africa. “Even when Mr. Yang arrived here in 2001, he said, he could go weeks without encountering another traveler from his homeland.” But as the country became more popular among the Chinese people, more Chinese could be seen everywhere. A variety of Chinese businesses can be found there now. But not all people are happy that the Chinese are coming. Some Africans are angry that some Chinese workers are stealing their jobs. However, the Chinese people don’t think that it is their fault.

This reminds me somewhat of how the world is migrating to India for its IT needs. One would not have imagined a few decades ago that a developing nation like India would be on the IT map of the world. But cheap labor, low overheads and a hard working people have helped India to be on par or even better than developed nations. The software engineers who have migrated to the USA cause the Americans concerns about losing their jobs, somewhat similar to how the Africans fear losing their jobs to the Chinese.

It is true that a tremendous amount of projects have been started by Chinese companies in Africa. But the question on my mind is: Will Africa also prosper because of all the Chinese immigrants, or will is it only the Chinese who will make their money in Africa and take their profits back home? I think the African government should ensure that a certain amount of job reservation should be made mandatory for the local population. Also a certain amount of profits should be reinvested in Africa itself. If this happens, then Africans need not worry about Chinese immigration since the overall economy would improve resulting in more jobs for everyone.

[kwangsampark]

New power in Africa
By Howard W. French and Lydia Polgreen

This article's about Chinese people migrating to an undeveloped country,Africa, to succeed in their business and talks about the expension of Chinese through "business" and trades with africans.

Most people migrate to developed countries to succeed in their business. However they should know that the more developed the country is the more difficult to succeed. The reason is since it is a well developed country it will obvious have better technology and everything else.

Going to a place to invest which has better technology and more high quality of life? I don't think that is a good thing. Instead it is better to go invest on the countries which aren't developed yet. Like the guy from the article. Yang Jie he invested in Africa instead of going to the country developed.
He succeed in his ice cream factory.
Why? Africa is an undeveloped country, and people living there they can't afford to but the products that are being imported from other countries.

At this moment, people come in and make products which are less expensive than the products that are being imported. They will definitely earn lots of money. For example, I can give my father. He came here for his work. However his company's investing on India and selling their products to the people in India. Not only my father's company but also most of the migrants. They came here to invest, succeed in their business.

So i think that investing on undeveloped country's like the guy from the article is way better than to go to the developed countries. By invests the country will develop however on the other hand the country may be polluted. According to the book the more the country's developed the more it is polluted. So development is double sided.

Investors investing in an undeveloped country will make the country develop. At the same time the country will be polluted one day.

[sarah99]

[glow=red,2,300][/glow]This article discussed how Chinese business men are moving to Africa to find more opportunities to make their life better and make more money. It also explains how not all Africans are taking kindly to Chinese moving to their countries and working.
???Hmmmmmmmm. I don’t think that the Africans should make generalizations about the Chinese and think that all Chinese keep to themselves and are not helpful to Africans at all. In the article they give the example of Yang Jie, the ice cream maker, as being open and friendly to Africans. Another example is his Chinese partner, Mei Haijun, who is MARRIED to an Ethiopian and has a child.
Africans shouldn’t be angry if some Chinese establish businesses and companies in Africa. But I can understand them being angry when Chinese sell things for less without even having to pay tax because of their connections, though this might not even be a fact. If the Chinese aren’t paying tax however, it is not just. Everybody should be paying the same amount of tax regardless of their connections. Some Africans say Chinese are “clannish”. Could this be because some Africans act anti-Chinese? Or is it just because Chinese aren’t friendly?
Though if some Chinese act anti-African, like the salesman in the hotel in Lilongwe (he yelled at his African assistants, saying, “You say it is not your fault, but the way you are doing things is just stupid, stupid. You people here are unbelievable.”), that should undoubtedly be stopped. But how can we? We can’t stop racism. How can it be enforced? But if both the Chinese and Africans learn to tolerate and respect each other, it will be beneficial to both sides. If they do not, it could eventually hurt both sides.

[maimoona]

Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa

This article is about the Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa. It basically means that Chinese people want to go to Africa and get settled in Africa because the Africans has a better source of oil and mineral resources… it’s a good thing because most of the Africans countries are underdeveloped and if the Chinese get into Africa, then Africa can get a chance to get a bit developed with a little bit of money and help. the fact that most of the Africans don’t want the Chinese in their country because if the Chinese come then it would be like all the Chinese employs will take of the Africans work and the Africans don’t have any work, which is a bad thing for Africans.

So I think that china should still keep on trading with the Africans because if they did then the Chinese would get a little more developed and get more ideas of trading and so on… it was actually a good thing that the Chinese are trading with African… they should not stop this…

[sanjayvdasari]

Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa

The article is about the Chinese businessmen, who are coming to Africa to use their skills and ‘tools of trade’ to get good jobs in Africa and become rich people. That’s basically it.

It also emphasizes on how the Africans are reacting to such a big so-called ‘invasion’ of the Chinese businessmen that are coming to Africa and taking the jobs that a well-qualified African could do.

As quoted from the article after a Chinese entrepreneur had just left a restraunt after shouting at his African workers and insulting them, “We don’t need people like that to come here and colonize us again,” This shows that the Africans do not feel all that happy about the coming of the Chinese.

Though some Africans are OK with them, thinking that maybe the Chinese will provide them with new jobs or such. They might be disillusioned. Renaud Dinguemnaial, the director of Chad’s Chamber of Commerce. “This massive arrival could be a plus for the economy, but we are also worried. When they arrive, will they bring their own workers, stay in their own houses, send all their money home?”

This man voices just a few thoughts of the African people. Many of them are still wondering whether the coming of the Chinese will be beneficial to them, or will it be bad for them, by the Chinese taking jobs that should be theirs. That is what the article is mainly about.

[Gregory Hewett]

Hola Class!

I hope you had an excellent weekend.

Some very insightful and enlightening comments have been posted. Let's take 15-20 minutes to read through some of the comments, and then post a reply to one of them. Be sure to note which comment you are replying to.

Carpe Diem!

[keisuke]

kwangsampark said:

New power in Africa
By Howard W. French and Lydia Polgreen

This article's about Chinese people migrating to an undeveloped country,Africa, to succeed in their business and talks about the expension of Chinese through "business" and trades with africans.

Most people migrate to developed countries to succeed in their business. However they should know that the more developed the country is the more difficult to succeed. The reason is since it is a well developed country it will obvious have better technology and everything else.

Going to a place to invest which has better technology and more high quality of life? I don't think that is a good thing. Instead it is better to go invest on the countries which aren't developed yet. Like the guy from the article. Yang Jie he invested in Africa instead of going to the country developed.
He succeed in his ice cream factory.
Why? Africa is an undeveloped country, and people living there they can't afford to but the products that are being imported from other countries.

At this moment, people come in and make products which are less expensive than the products that are being imported. They will definitely earn lots of money. For example, I can give my father. He came here for his work. However his company's investing on India and selling their products to the people in India. Not only my father's company but also most of the migrants. They came here to invest, succeed in their business.

So i think that investing on undeveloped country's like the guy from the article is way better than to go to the developed countries. By invests the country will develop however on the other hand the country may be polluted. According to the book the more the country's developed the more it is polluted. So development is double sided.

Investors investing in an undeveloped country will make the country develop. At the same time the country will be polluted one day.

[olivia]

maimoona said:

Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa

This article is about the Chinese Entrepreneurs in Africa. It basically means that Chinese people want to go to Africa and get settled in Africa because the Africans has a better source of oil and mineral resources… it’s a good thing because most of the Africans countries are underdeveloped and if the Chinese get into Africa, then Africa can get a chance to get a bit developed with a little bit of money and help. the fact that most of the Africans don’t want the Chinese in their country because if the Chinese come then it would be like all the Chinese employs will take of the Africans work and the Africans don’t have any work, which is a bad thing for Africans.

So I think that china should still keep on trading with the Africans because if they did then the Chinese would get a little more developed and get more ideas of trading and so on… it was actually a good thing that the Chinese are trading with African… they should not stop this…

Replying to miamoona
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hi miamoona,
this is olivia and asif,
we agree with you, but you needed to explain your position a little bit more clearly and thoroughly.

You said that the Africans would benefit but you didnt say how they would benifit so therefore you needed to explain.....
but other than that it was pretty good. ;D

[keisuke]

This is a comment from Ji Young and Keisuke.


We thought that your comment was interesting. We agreed with your opinions. Your example of your father, migrting and success his buiness helped us to understand better. So, how did you find this article and your experience related? And tell us more about the advantages and disadbantages

[nitika]

This is a reply to Asif's and Jiyoung's article.
I think it was really cool what Asif said about India being on the It map of the world. I never knew that but it kind of makes sense since so many top companies have opened branches and their main factories in India.
Jiyoung got it all down to one point-MONEY.
It is a fact since now allmost everyone only cares about one thing-money. Business ultimately is making or losing money. Everybody wants a better life. So it all goes down ultimately to Money.

[keisuke]

This is from Ji Young and Keisuke

We liked how you specificall wrote down the percantage of increasing trade between African and China. We also think that trading is good between them becuaseu ot brings alot of benefits. But maybe you can add more informaiotns or details about it.

[julie]

This is a replie to sarah99. Sarah, I realy like your summary at the begining. I agree when you say that it is not fair that African pay more taxes than Chinese. It is not fair because then everybody is going to buy products in Chinese business and African won't have a job. That true that we don't realy know if Chinese are mean to African or if African are anti Chinese but I think that if those two country continu to work together that would be a great benefit for both of them.

[tamsin]

I personaly think that its great that chinese immigrants are going to mostly an undevolped country rather that going to a country that is well developed. it seems to me that the chinese are just trying help Africa by settling in with good buisnesss.
But becuase of the continous increase of chinese immigrants coming to africa, the Africans to me are feeling threatened becuase of there success in there buisness's, and are worried that the already existing companys will be takenover which they say will make Afrcian workers unemplyed,unable to satisfiy the needs of family members.

as I read the comment that the Chinese Salesmen said to the african workers at the hotel, i can understand the frustration of the Africans thinking that there country is getting taken over by people who have better supliments and resourses and the way they treat the people in Africa can be very intimidating .

Some africans may also see this as a positive thing for them, with new buisness,s coming through, means that they need employers.

Butat the end of the day, the chinese are slowly but gradually taking over the buisness,s this is either positive or a negitive thing and only the people of africa can decide.

[sanjayvdasari]

African jobs being taken-More Chinese in Africa than Africans-small town businesses stopped due to too many competition-Chinese things cheap so people will buy theirs and not the African materials that are a bit more costly

This is in reply to the article on Chinese Entrepreneurs posted by Keisuke.

All the Chinese are doing in Africa are taking the jobs that would have helped a few African families have a better life if someone in their family got the job. They're taking the jobs that that some African families really need! I agree with you that the Chinese may be only in Africa for the oils that they can find there, but then again, they might also be there for personal benefit. Maybe if there aren't enough jobs for them in China, they migrate to Africa and start their own personal businesses there, or even joining in an already started company that could offer those jobs, even thought that means taking the jobs that an African could have taken.

If Chinese keep coming to Africa in the numbers that they are coming today, then sooner or later, there will be more Chinese in Africa than there are Africans…well…that may happen in a few decades or maybe even a century or so, so I don’t think that’s exactly possible…ha-ha.

Also, Chinese people in Africa are selling their ‘goods’ or ‘wares’ in Africa for a lower price than the African materials. This will almost destroy the African small businesses and put many well-off people of Africa on the street. The people of Africa will naturally go and buy the Chinese goods, completely avoiding the African higher priced stuff. So, basically, I think that the Chinese in Africa is mainly having a bad effect.

[sarah99]

HELLO!!!!!!! ASIF!!!!! this is MAIMOONA and SARAH. we like ur icon. We didn't really understand what you said about "job reservation" so i think you should of been a little more clear because we couldn't really understand some of it. But it was generally put together pretty well and it was a good article! see ya lata

[hisu]

I think that China trading with African countries is a good idea. Since China is making good money from African countries other countries will start spreading their businesses to Africa and Africa will start moving up in the world. Africa is a continent where the unemployment rate is incredible and many people are jobless. If many huge companies such as Hyundai or Toyota spread their businesses into Africa the unemployment rate will decrease drastically and many more people will have a job. The African governments¡¯ income will also rise since the companies will be paying their taxes and the African governments will have more money.

There are also downs in Africa trading with foreign countries. If more foreign companies come and start giving their employees a bigger salary the prices of everything else will also rise. The price of things that we need for everyday life will rise and the people who don¡¯t work in those companies will suffer trying to pay their bills. The rent fees for house will also rise and everything will start being more expensive. It is also bad for the business men from those countries because the foreigners will start selling the same things cheaper and it will be hard for them to compete with the foreign companies. This is also a reason that some Africans don¡¯t like foreign companies in their countries.

More countries are spreading their business toward African countries and African countries will soon be on their path to being developed.

[hisu]

This is a reply to Julie

We agree with this because it is true that China is helping Africa develop. If the Chinese keep investing and spreading their businesses to Africa, the African governments will have a bigger income and more trade with other countries. Some Africans might object this because the prices of things will rise, but it is for the better. As the Chinese are now moving into Africa, the African countries will slowly become developed countries.

From both Jung Kyu and Hi Su

[zachghaderi]

[glow=Navy,2,300]Chinese Entrepreneurs Flourish in Africa

There are many different ways to look at this issue, if you even want to call it an issue. The chinese have come to Africa to prosper, to have a better life. That is good for them. There are already many Chinese people that hav made a living in Africa, just like Yang Jie, the man who went to Africa to start an ice-cream factory. He has a pretty good success story.

But, its the chinese workers who go to Africa and take the money back to China. They are the ones who take advantage of Africa, who go to developing nations and make money and not let the nation they are in prosper. It was said in the "current event" that some of the chinese merchants use there "recources" and get out of paying taxes.

It is in that sence that the chinese workers going to Africa is a bad thing. Its GOOD for the chinese, BAD for the Africans, and an UGLY way to make a living....





Ps: tht was a realy long article......v.v [/glow][/color]

[niranthara]

when i read this article, i was very impressed with the way the chinese are trying to enhance the world, and make it a better place for everyone.
Chinese, from all parts of china, are moving to Africa; in search of a better life. Although it sounds like progress, and can help for further development, it can affect both china and Africa.
Considering that over 750,000 Chinese have moved, it’s likely that more of them will immigrate . China will lack people and support for a steady economy, forcing it to fall considerably as most entrepreneurs will find it easier to excel in terms of business (in Africa). Even though Chinese business will help the African economy boom; it will not be because of the Africans and their hard work. Most of the natives will be forced to take jobs in Chinese companies, because of the rewards; which would force all African based companies to shut down. Most of them will be given jobs in very low levels due to their lack of exposure and differences with the Chinese. I guess it never is a good thing to see to many people of the same nationality; but having too many Chinese in Africa, may give them the idea of dominance and therefore control. Since the Africans may not like idea of being controlled on their own land, it will make them rebel for their own freedom. Relationship between countries is an extremely important thing, especially between developing nations, and this endeavour may cause unwanted conflicts.
One could say, at the look of things, that people are using the condition of every country, to their advantage. The Chinese have proven that they don’t need to approach a developed country, of wealth and diversity to find inspiration to do well. Even a place like Africa, one of the least developed countries, has so much to encourage an individual to do well and help develop it. When people transfer to another country, they always think of going to an already developed place, but the truth is that is doesn’t need as much support as a place like Africa or India.
As a result of this endeavour, people will start transferring to more third world nations, in an attempt to do well for it and themselves. I believe that the Chinese have actually taken a large step to help others with their ideas, even though it may not be the best for their own nation.

[elizabethw]

There seems to be a difference between the Chinese migrants and migrants from the other developing nations. While all migrants usually leave their homeland for better prospects and future. The Chinese usually go with a clearer focus. Usually they look at some form of trade and seem to adapt well with foresight. The example of Mr. Yang’s ice cream factory is so very typical. He looked at what was required for that place and provided what the place / Africa demanded. That helped his factory grow to be the biggest. One thing so different about the Chinese is that success stories travel back home, attracting people in hundreds and thousands- everyone starting a new trade on his / her own. This creates a new economy in their newly adopted home.

All this shows that Chinese are prepared to take risk and do something totally new – where immigrants or developed nations do not want to take risk. Their interest in building roads and working in oil companies shows that they are prepared to do hard tough jobs and some of these African companies exactly needs such hard workers. All this results in more and more Chinese filling places in Africa with their own people to work and do business. This causes a bit of fear – the local populations usually envy the cheap prices that Chinese trade their goods for. This envy can grow into enimity, causing serious trouble like kidnapping of Chinese workers. End of the day it is they who adopt quickly and they survive better.

Elizabeth Wycliffe

[rmanu]

This article is about Chinese entrepreneurs settling in Africa and starting business.

Chinese people are going to Africa because it is easier to start a business and it is easy to become popular. It is easy because there will not be competitions. The thing which the company sells will only be in that company so it is easy to become popular.

The advantages and disadvantages starting a business in Africa. The advantages are there will not be competitions in business and the disadvantages are that there will not be enough technology, so if we want a particular mission in Africa it is very difficult to get.

This event is almost the same as when the British people came to India and they starter business. India was the same, there were no business and there was no technology. British companies easily became popular and became much wealthier.

This can Devolope Africa because New companies will start and so there will be new technology.

[jungkyu]

Current Event Discussion Forum

The overview of this current event can be simplified into the facts that Mr. Yang (Chinese) had made a success in migrating at Africa, and running his ice-cream market, and the other Chinese settlers moving in to Africa for job. I think this current event has connection to developing nations in a way that China is one of well developing country, and Africa has a few of developing countries. I think the Chinese are now moving in to Arica, because there are a few countries that are developing, which can be a good market. I can see that the Chinese has over-flowing population that now, people are spreading all-over the world. The targets could be developed and developing nations.
For further prediction that I have made, the Chinese population will keep increasing, spreading all over the world that later, Chinese will take the major industries. The other thing I can think of is that Mr. Yang will be quite successful, but later, other competitors might make him harder.

[olivia]

I have never heard of chinese imigrating to africa, so this was an interesting article for me.

Why did the Chinese people choose to emigrate to Africa? Why didn't they emigrate to countries such as America, Australia, Canada, and other countries in Europe?

This article states that the Chinese are emigrating to Africa because no matter what buisiness they start, they have little or no competition. However, the Chinese are "are clannish, sticking among themselves day and night." Usually foreigners stick together until they feel a sense of safety and home. But in Addis Ababa, the situation is really extreme. "The 200 Chinese workers for the Road and Bridge Corporation live in a communal compound, eating food prepared by cooks brought from China and receiving basic health care from a Chinese doctor." If the Chinese don't start trying to communicate with the locals the locals could stage an anti-Chinese protest like they did in Zambia. Also, I believe that the Chinese could play a big role in the development of the African countries if they are involved with them. Also, the Chinese should start hiring some of the locals and train them if they need it. They shouldn't only hire Chinese workers.