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the National Endowment for the
Humanities bringing you the stories that
Define
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us
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25 years ago while working in Acra the
capital of Ghana I bought a knife at one
of the
markets the knife was locally made with
a hand Forge blade and a plain wood
handle for years it was my favorite
kitchen knife
on a recent reporting trip to Ghana I
went shopping for another knife but this
time everywhere I went everything was
made in
China I couldn't find a Ganan knife or
Ganan knife maker
anywhere once again it looked like
another local trade had
disappeared but where I saw lost jobs
and bad news for Ghana's economy it
seemed like people around me saw
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opportunity promotion enter the
price
it looked like the trade in Chinese
Goods was booming some Market vendors
told me they even made buying trips to
China every few
months I wondered could China possibly
hold the key to African
prosperity
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every year half a million Africans
travel to Guang XO also known as Canton
Southern China's famous trading
City it's here they buy the Chinese
Goods they sell back in
Africa
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most of these Africans spend only a few
days or weeks in China but some have
decided to stay and this is their
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story these are the Africans who believe
that China is the new land of
opportunity a place where anything is
possible and they're all here chasing
their made in China
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dreams
this is B Mountain you can see the hole
of gu on the top of the
mountain I'm here I cannot jump down
from here I have I have to close my
eyes I'll be at the top you know but
it's
scary the more higher it goes you know
see like he going to break up on his on
on the top
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oh we're
out I first met Emmy at the Nigerian
Community office where he works like
most everyone here Emmy came to China
for business but emy's a dreamer who
wants to make movies in
China go to any African event in town
and you'll see him with his video
camera for now it's PR for the Nigerian
Community but Emmy says wait and see
anything is possible in
guango from here you can see the
beautiful place especially the te H
district and baying District it's very
nice very very good there's good
air it's a nice
view it's a nice view is very very good
you
know in
Nigeria when I was in
Nigeria the kind of view I have for
China is not the kind of view I'm seeing
today when I when I was young those
years we used to
watch some Chinese movies on the
television then the kind of things they
show on the television is what I think
China was this actor called Bruce
Lee even Jaan they used to you know
fight you know you somebody doing
K but when I came down to China for the
first day I came to
China by the time we we landed from the
aircraft we about to land I look from
the window I think this is not I think
maybe this is somewhere else maybe we've
not arrived in China that's what I'm
thinking it was totally different light
is everywhere the roads sa signs the
roads everywhere
good so
I was happy then I'm happy to be
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here Emmy has been living in China since
2006 back then there weren't so many
Africans living in guango but today
there's a sizable African Community with
people here from every region of the
continent
my name is am from Sudan hello I'm
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Froman hi my name is Ryan from
Kenya
my name is Paul Abu I am from
Nigeria in Nigeria I am from East andam
Bry we are the people doing
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business back in the
1990s African Traders traveled to guango
and loaded up their suitcases with
mobile phones and other gadgets to sell
back
home
as trade grew African entrepreneurs
began setting up their own businesses in
guango in places like Bay Market one of
the city's commercial centers that cater
to African
buyers I met favor Prosper who's also
Nigerian in Bay
Market don't have buy my don't have
money every time I buy from you
after I
my who
called for nursing
shop I came to China in
2004 fish or egg brother fish you know
China is a land of business so I grabbed
the opportunity and I started doing
business in
China at about
2008 I opened a restaurant here
with a Nigerian man and a Chinese man
also at a time my Visa was expiring and
there was no place for me to extend it
so I had to travel back to Africa to get
another
Visa but unfortunately for me while I
was in Africa I learned that they closed
the restaurant so when I came back to
China 2009 it was really very difficult
very hard it turns out that fav's
Partners had ripped her off and she had
no legal
recourse so favor had to scramble that's
when she started selling clothes and
food in the
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markets M the is a local name the
Nigerians call it mainly the eura people
but everybody in Nigeria when you say mo
they know what you are talking about bad
but if you want to put it in the English
way you know you call it the bean cake
it's prepared with a beans today know
what hello sweet my mind
here anybody that sees me then they just
say a do you know this woman that used
to own unique restaurant how come she's
selling this oh this woman is very good
she's very very humble if she can humble
herself to this extent after losing the
restaurant I must patronize her so
people started buying the food for me
and I won't regret it I'm okay with
it first thing every morning favor makes
the rounds of guang's African
markets Market is a bit of an
understatement these these are
multi-story buildings crammed with
hundreds of African and Chinese run
retail and wholesale shops all selling
products destined for African
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consumers you can shop eat ship your
goods get your haircut call home the
markets are the Hub of Afric life in
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Guang Emmy comes down to buy the latest
Nigerian Nollywood
DVDs this is also the place to pick up
specialty food items from back home I'm
I'm selling African food stuff I have a
yum I have a stock fish I have uh this
uh call it
meron meron have a um Nigerian people
call
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this China is a commercial place I have
to say most things in China is
Industries factories and you know shops
they can sell and buy you
know
the the old system of life in China have
been bushed out you know they practice
communism but it's not full communism
their communism is better than some
democracy this place is a new world it's
a lot of
opportunity where the West once stood as
a beacon of opportunity today China the
world's Factory
beckons
give me your buyers your Shoppers your
consuming
masses Liberty it's for sale here along
with the chairman ma
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t-shirts
[Laughter]
I met students in the markets too they
also see opportunity in
China
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Reg
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okay
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no jobs that's something you hear a
lot you see besides teaching English
there are really no jobs for foreigners
here maybe you can work under the table
for an African business owner and earn a
few dollars but that's about it by
choice or by circumstance everyone here
is an entrepreneur no
don't
fish from what I saw it's not easy to
make it here but people kept telling me
there is opportunity if you're ready to
hustle
but you can see I'm eating it it's sweet
thank you very
much back in Nigeria emy's cousin heard
about business in guango and decided to
try his luck you have a just married
to
Chinese lady and I have a very beautiful
baby
girl I'm very happy for him his business
is going very well you can see before he
doesn't have sh but once he comes here
his business be going going going going
going up you know then he can be able to
marry and when since have get married to
Chinese business is going going going
going up you know so I believe this
place is very good place for business
you know I think the world is becoming a
global village it's becoming a smaller
and smaller dealing with people
from Far places brings the world
closer yeah that's what I believe and I
think I want to be part of that uh
philosophy
how is the business very well very this
is your husband yeah
oh it's long been said that love is the
international language money speaks too
foreign business owners are required to
have Chinese partners and in the markets
you'll meet lots of African men who run
businesses with their Chinese
wives many of the women who marry
African men are originally from other
parts of China and they too came to
guango looking for a better
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life before uh I don't know African
people you know my city know have maybe
how one how two small small small I come
I see Min media Africa people I'm very
very scared you know before I know see I
see very black moon Lely who is Catholic
met her Nigerian husband at
church their shared Faith helped them
Bridge cultural
differences but in the markets where
Chinese and Africans interact daily
misund understanding and distrust remain
widespread
foree
I heard a number of comments like this
while I was in Guang show but what else
is new anti-immigrant sentiments are
hardly unique to ch
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CH but walking around the markets I see
shopkeepers security guards travel
agents drivers Porters money changers
lots of locals who seem to benefit from
the African
presence
okay okay okay Michael I who was the
manager at the hotel where I was staying
told me that Africans are good for his
business and the
City
for
Africans aren't just buying stuff here a
number of African business people have
set up factories around gu show
providing jobs for hundreds of Chinese
workers this is for for
Cameroon you find those these are carons
all with this with these carons they all
suits inside suits for my factory so
this suit a Caron would take about 150
suits so they all going to Cameroon
Dua Kingsley AIA from Cameroon is not
even for years old and already owns a
men's clothing Factory a paper Factory
and King's cargo an international
shipping
company annually I do about 200
containers a year 40 fot and there also
personal containers that will just load
from the factory directly for personal
for personal Goods but groupage annually
200 containers a year uh groupage it's a
it's a kind of service that we offer to
customers that cannot buy a full CH so
these customers they will buy fewer
goods and they will pack the goods in my
warehouse when they pack those goods we
will now call for a container and we put
those goods of different customers in
that
container these are customers shipping
to camon are all Africans are C they're
parking their goods they parking their
goods and after they Park the goods you
write their names and telephone numbers
and then they go and wait for their go
in Cameron this is our warehouse
whenever we want to sell any anything we
come here all of us working in China and
who are from Banda we send our things
through the Kings I'm has been a very
good a good service to us Kingsley AIA
is the perfect antidote to the tired
Western stereotype of the Hopeless and
helpless African in the 10 years that
he's been in China Azia has built all
this from the ground
up after school I was working for One
Bank in b
and uh one of my friend called me that
he was in Beijing that he was teaching
so he called me I should come over so I
came over and then I went over to shansi
Province and then I was here for like 2
years uh teaching some kids and after
that I moved over to Guan a Nigerian
told me that it was a business City I
could do a lot Asia started out as a
Trader buying clothes in China selling
them in Cameroon today based in China
he's cameroon's largest suit
manufacturer I'm supplying about 80% of
the market in Cameroon suit so all the
all the all the suit sellers in the m s
especially M that's a wholesale Market
they all buying from me since
2007 so they have other customers coming
in from central Africa
Chad Gabon to buy from them also and
other other parts of of Cameroon they're
buying from them so they buy from me and
then they
sell it's no accident that AIA first
learned of business opportunities from a
Nigerian Nigerian Traders were the
African Pioneers in guango and they now
make up the largest and best organized
of the African
communities the Nigerian Community
Association where Emmy works assist any
African having business legal even
marital troubles with the
Chinese the Nigerians definitely know a
thing or two about surviving
here so it's not surprising to discover
that they've hired a local businessman
Jackie Leo to smooth relations between
Chinese and
Africans
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for
Jackie may be perplexed by Nigerian
culture but he's seen Nigerian money in
China and wants in on the
action some of Jackie's friends think
his idea is a little crazy
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let me check my list for Chinese
entrepreneurs like Jackie Africa is the
land of
opportunity they can sell the Chinese
Goods directly and C cut out the African
middleman for Africans it's getting a
lot harder to stay
competitive not surprisingly the
Nigerian efforts to protect their
interests have inspired others like Aunt
rahima she's the founder of a Ugandan
community group who runs a restaurant in
guango we cook East African food we use
this
one most of uh African East African
people especially my my country people
they don't eat hot and most of the
Chinese food has hot
M we make it like a cake I wonder if you
have ever seen it make it like a c and
then the Irish potato nor more Irish
potato
this so that's what it is and also is
this one is very sweet this one is from
Africa we get it from Africa it's from C
it's made from milk and then we make it
as Oil locally very
nice but it's not easy to work outside
on your
own the the rent is high and you must
have a Chinese partner actually needs a
lot of money because you know you have
to pay license you have to have a
working Visa and uh a lot of
things only he went to University and
came to China so he doesn't enjoy
cooking but he wants money so he he has
to put his his di down there and cook
that's why he doesn't like
cooking let me talk about my country my
country is a poor country when you sit
back there you see somebody who's coming
from out he has nice shoes he got a car
he ni house how did you make money
my dear I went to China then the person
will tell you the story you do this and
you think it is very easy that when you
go to China you all pick dollars from
maybe a tree and get a car as he's doing
then what you do when you have a small
piece land of land from your mother's
side or your father's side you go and
talk your mother you know mother I have
an opportunity now I've got a friend who
is taking me abroad so what we are going
to do we are going to sell this piece of
land to our neighbor when you give me
that money I'll travel when I travel
I'll build you a very good house I'll
buy a car won't stay in this poverty
again then the mother will listen and
say oh that's it my daughter okay let me
see what I can do he will sell the land
thinking that way when you go out maybe
you get better life and your family will
get better life so you come to China
it's not
easy you have to have to a lot of brains
to make something in China it's not easy
at all to make a coin in China
and Visa is another problem now they
have brought a new policy so you know
you have money you have everything you
would like with all your power all your
money you have worked for to get a Visa
in China but you cannot it's not easy at
all it's not easy at all you have to go
back to where you came from and you
cannot go back because you came to look
for something you cannot go back go back
you promised your mother that I'm going
to build a house for you and sell a
small land down there and then you go
tell her mother I'm back there's nothing
like money empty-handed empty-handed so
you have to struggle that's why most of
the people you meet here they have
overstayed they don't have
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paper
some years back ladies used to come to
here for
prostitution women who used to do that
kind of job in other outside countries
they made M before those who started the
business made money when they made money
they decided to come and see look around
China so they so many businessmen came
here to do business and maybe that kind
of prostitution can work around here so
they decided to come here and invest
inside that kind of job they started
bringing girls to come here and do
slavery I'll I'll tell you come here I
mean I'm taking you abroad taking me
abroad the next morning I'll be dressed
I'll be waiting for the day to come when
you come here I will tell you you know
the kind of job you're going to do there
is nothing like job here you're going to
be I mean you going to get M men will do
this you get money and there's no way
turning back some of them knew but some
of them didn't know then they will
come suffering we are
here they are corn men all over the
world they will come to you seduce your
parents or you you have small business
they will tell you to sell the business
you go to China there are jobs in China
when you teach for a month they will
give you maybe $3,000 they will tell you
their are factories and you know there
are factories in China when you go to a
factory you get 5,000 a month when you
hear that you have to sell off the small
business you're having Down in Africa to
come and get that big money when you
reach here you're [ __ ] up
you don't have anything you I mean you
cannot go back some of them come with
one way ticket you cannot go
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back rahima knew several women who died
in guango without ever seeing a doctor
she wanted to help Ugandan women get
medical care and that's what led her to
set up the Community
Association that little boy rahee is
taking care of him he's an an orphan who
was found in a rented room next to his
mother's body no one seemed to know who
the woman was or where she was
from just another anonymous sex worker
who died in
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China
East African women in particular have
been lured to China by
criminals Eva from Kenya paid a small
fortune to get to China all she wanted
to do was provide a better life for her
son and she risked everything to do it
uh before I came to China I was a sales
lady I was told by an agent they are
well paying jobs in China teaching jobs
in
China and that's how I decided oh I
should leave whatever I'm doing and go
for teaching job in
China uh as I arrived here in China the
the agent he had instructed me once you
Le in China you be received by a certain
lady there who will take you to a school
but on my arrival I was chocked the lady
asked for
$650 us so that he can get me the
job so at first I
declined but he told me if you feel you
are to sleep in this house if you feel
you have to get a to secure a job in
China you have to pay that much so I had
to part with
that I paid her but she never secured a
a job for me she sent me to North part
of China just to get rid of
me on my way from you to Chang I saw a
drama a big drama it's like you are the
only black person in the train they
leave their seat they come they surround
you they talk they the Chinese people
want to to have ch snaps of you cuz you
are so strange you know it it was very
strange to them to see a black person
some are excited they want to touch you
they want to feel how your skin is they
want to stare at you they can anyway you
can be stared like a full hour somebody
can sacrifice his or her time to just
start there and look at you know it's
very funny yeah in northern China Eva
met another another Kenyan agent who
told her to sit tight for 2 months she
stayed in a hotel on her own dime
waiting for
work then one day the agent simply told
her that she would have to find her own
job I didn't know the Chinese I didn't
know anything I couldn't go around
looking for the job it was very hard for
me Eva hit the road and after knocking
on doors in a half a dozen cities she
realized that she didn't actually have a
valid work visa so instead of getting me
the work visa I was given a business
Visa me I paid that
250,000 Kenya money just to be secured
that Visa but this Visa that I was
issued with is the F visa for
business that is a crime cuz now he was
supposed to look for a proper document
the Z visa for
me I've lost my job I have have lost one
full year I have a boy who is in school
I have my siblings who had High Hopes
when I was coming here he would support
the family but now you see the they've
supported me I can't help
them I'm not alone in this they are many
they are here suffering they don't know
even what to
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do Eva was reluctant to be filmed but
finally agreed to tell her story so that
others would not fall into the same
trap there's been little reporting on
the ordeal of Kenyans who pay fraudulent
so-called employment agencies to secure
jobs the victims pay exorbitant prices
for phony work visas then pay more money
to Kenyan agents in China who are part
of the
racket in the end they're left high and
dry in some remote corner of China
Eva managed to get back to Kenya jobless
and in debt but at least
safe these scams are
widespread Emmy says that just about
every African in guango knows someone
who's been
conned he can't even count the number of
crazy sad stories he's heard at the
Nigerian Community
office Em's even working on a movie
script inspired by the Nigerian version
of the Visa scam it's called
bus11 and one day we filmed Emmy as he
acted out the opening scene for
us a boss I I I want to go to
Tokyo I'm going to Japan Japan Japan
Japan I don't know anybody boss one one
one do you
know boss one one one there are this
people who call theirself
agents that they they walk around
embassies most of the embassies in
Nigeria most any European embassies or
whatever so people will just come and to
agent I want to go to Europe I pay you
money for Europe you know they collect
tomorrow you see they G this is the next
Visa we can get for you if you go
directly from here to from Nigeria to
Europe they can make the might Deport
you but if you go through
China they will not Deport you back to
Africa so you go to China you stop it
now take boss boss 111 boss 555 boss
anything anything they remember they
don't tell
anything sometimes they will not find
the boss they ask people see an African
man a black man say excuse me excuse me
are you an African say please can I help
me I'm going to Japan know man there's
no way out from here you have been
D and for him to go back to Niger is
just not not possible because he has
spent a lot of money coming to
China they no money nothing to buy
nothing to do no money nothing they will
say their
passport they just say the passport to
people who have been here want to go
people who have already said the
passport before I want to go back maybe
they want to go back they say the
passport maybe $500 or $700
$1,000 then with that money they can
start
life they use the money to buy you know
those years they buy a mobile phone
those years mobile phone was invol M
phone laptop was invol you know buy
laptop Buy Mobile phone buy suit men
wear suit you know buy some things then
send it to
Africa the guy will be here roasting the
guy will be here stranded no money
waiting for the money from African to
come money will not come you understand
what I'm saying you call them please I
need my said what are I talking about
you're in abroad there's money
there nobody going to help you in China
Chinese is not going to help you with
one
cent in China when you in trouble you in
trouble you must
shout when you come here you don't see
anywhere you can sleep he starts
sporting from mcdonal to KFC from KFC to
club from Club to
anywhere you don't have food you don't
have Club to change even though clothes
are very cheap in China you cannot even
afford
anyone you don't have any business to do
the next thing to do is just to find a
way can't go you know you start working
for somebody somebody bring go you ARR
the goose you make you tie the goose for
him send to Africa get some little money
people do cargo people do shipping
people do bar baring hair saloon people
do a lot of
things so that is
it b11 have been the story of things
that people do when they come here when
they find out that this is not the right
place there's no job and how people
survive each time I take my B I take my
haircut here
I look different I look handsome when I
go on the stre I see many baby how are
you
don't Emmy is the eternal optimist so
naturally his script has a happy
ending after a rough start his
protagonist launches a successful
business marries a Chinese woman and has
lots of
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kids Emmy says his story is isn't just a
fairy
tale despite huge obstacles Africans
figure out how to survive and for some
life can be good in
guango my friend innocent he's a nigeran
married to Chinese his wife had a baby
girl so he called
the neighbors and Friends near the shop
in my country when a a woman had a
baby the the
husband bring out the powder for him
just like this is you are a man now this
is a
responsibility you are you know you are
we are happy with you we are sharen
Nigerians often told me their young
children were the Chinese Obama half
Chinese half African with so much
potential but will they find their place
in
China China is not a country of
immigration it never has been and even
today the number of foreigners living
here is no more than a drop in the
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bucket
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over the past decade China has attracted
a growing number of Africans but they
have not been welcomed with open
arms new immigration laws are making it
more and more difficult for foreigners
to remain here
legally even those with Chinese spouses
and children the Chinese Obamas are not
guaranteed residency
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here
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she's my daughter her name is cherish I
had her November 22
2007 she speaks English and Chinese
languages very
well she started speaking Chinese right
from the shops before before she started
going to school and in the school they
speak Chinese all through so it became
very easy for her to flow and speak
Chinese very
well not everybody this boy is not
wearing his she behaves like Chinese
people she behaves like them sometimes
sometimes I tell her you are not a
Chinese you are from Nigeria go back to
the house was born here she has been
living here so they when you are in Rome
you act like the Romans so she's acting
like them I'm not
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surprised drink your water and come and
make
up before she started attending the
Chinese school with been in the market
know she used to she likes playing with
the Chinese children more than the
African children
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ch
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for isn't this the classic immigration
story immigrant parents struggle make
sacrifices and their children are able
to integrate and
succeed cherish seems to represent this
promise but does she have a future
here all the teachers they love her even
the principal of the school loves her so
much I would have loved her to continue
studying here if if only the immigration
would give us valid papers to remain in
China but immigration did not give them
papers a few months after we Film
cherish's School play favor was caught
in a police raid on foreigners and
jailed the Nigerian Community helped get
favor out of jail and both of them back
to
Nigeria it could have been much
worse Africans without resources or
support can spend months even years in
prison before getting a deportation
hearing I will tell you in China before
anything is Visa even you you fight with
a Chinese you fight with anybody the
first thing they will ask you passport
some people come here you come here
after one month your Visa will die you
take your passport to anywhere Nigerian
passport passport they will tell you oh
we are sorry we cannot extend your paper
you have only 30 days to go if you don't
go you overstay and when you over stay
police catch you you know what it mean
10,000 fine and you will be sent to
prison from prison you will be deported
talking to this shopkeeper Matias I
learned that he studied economics at
University in
Nigeria he got his degree but couldn't
find a job he left and eventually ended
up in Guang show all of these problem
started 2008 during the
Olympic blocked everywhere before
getting Visa was very easy with $200
with $300 but I'm talking of
$3,000 so the most important thing we
are suffering here is Visa and you see
this a
secret many are
living because of this Visa issue there
is no business now everywhere everywhere
in the market even chese people they are
complaining last time One Security man
was asking me now there is there are no
people say is good everybody seeing if
you go to the market like for example
where there is what place they call Guan
Shin is meant for Africans too I was I
was there today most of the shops were
empty I foresee China in 3 years guano
you might come to guano you might not
meet anybody to even
interview although Matias still has a
valid Visa staying in China China no
longer makes
sense he and his cameroonian wife are
planning to leave on the Move in a
globalized world they're looking at
India Thailand or Vietnam as the next
stop on their journey in search of
opportunity sometimes I imagine if
African leaders can put what they have
together can put that
resources we shouldn't be
here
when I first came to guango I was struck
by the energy the bustle the business it
all seems so
positive but after a while I began to
see another side of the
story The factories the jobs the
economic development it's all in
China rather than making things Africa
exports raw materials just as it did
during it its Colonial
past oil minerals Timber rubber cotton
coffee cocoa all transformed outside of
Africa creating jobs and wealth
somewhere
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else today Africans are buying clothes
in China including cheap Chinese
knockoffs of African style apparel many
many how many if I want to buy many many
piece how
many 5 piece for this 58 yeah how can
you say
58 5 piece I give you
400 yeah 5 P these mass produced
embroidered dresses are going for about
$10 a piece how can African tailor
possibly compete with prices like this
this is nothing new years ago I was in
Ghana researching the influx of cheap
secondhand clothing from the United
States Gans call these clothes ooni Wu
dead white man
back then no one could believe that
people would throw away perfectly good
clothes the owners must have
died this stuff was arriving by the
container load flooding local markets
and putting Gans out of
business today's cheap Chinese Imports
are just the latest blow to African
manufacturing and gh's not
alone [ __ ] Nigeria's once flourishing
textile industry is long gone and most
of the clothes for sale in Nigeria today
are imported from
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China ironically some of Africa's
biggest clothing manufacturers are
located in
China remember Kingsley AIA the
cameroonian suit maker his factories
aren't in Cameroon they're right here
but how long will African manufacturers
be able to stay in China AIA is
successful but even so his future here
is
uncertain uh visas the Chinese Embassy
in my country they're not issuing visas
to many cameronians and they want
cameronians to go and buy to Chinese
people doing business in my country and
because of that it has
reduced the the customers coming in
here with the VISA issue it's really
it's really affecting a lot of business
people it's really hard to get a a
permanent resident for for people like
us living here you have to apply for
visas each time extending visas and it's
not very comfortable for a businessman
like me or others because you are scared
that one day if you have your investment
Investments here and they tell you okay
go what are you supposed to do I have a
friend before inang and D him 10 days
and they had to leave to Canada so he
had to sell his house his car and stuff
so with most of those things most of us
are scared to to stay here we don't
have we don't have those rules those I
mean that you can follow and do things
by yourself you know extend your Visa or
whatever you know things are very very
difficult of for foreigners living here
in
China so somebody like me I'm trying to
to see if I could remove most of my
investments here keep some here and
invest some back in
Cameroon but investing in Cameron I
don't invest in factories but other
things like real
estate but Cameroon needs
jobs I know kingsley's Hometown Benda
and a factory there would be a godsend
so why wouldn't he open a factory in
Cameroon back in Cameroon uh a lot more
difficult to open a factory first the
taxes and people also want to accept a
lot of bribery money before you could
open that kind of a factory and if you
don't give them they will just try to
shut you down and
secondly Road electricity raw
materials so it will cause a lot of
problems if you really want to open a
factory back in
Cameroon
the numbers of Africans living in China
that owns a factory are many if they all
set in Africa Africa will be another
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planet the main point which everybody is
waiting for is one thing power we have a
lot of Nigerians
owns Factory here in China who employed
a lot of Chinese as workers big
factories this Factory should have been
placed in Nigeria in our country but due
to the power section I'm talking about
they have no alternative than to start
doing it
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here most people are ready to go back
home today tomorrow
one of them was telling me that if today
there is there is power in Nigeria
definitely he's taking everything back
home China does not have anything to
compare with Africa the natural
resources we
have we have the capability we have the
ability we have the
youth but the government the government
is is the is is the problem we are
having
I went all the way to China only to find
out that this story is really about
Africa I kept thinking about a
conversation I'd had with alhasan andani
a Ganan Banker who I first met at a
Ghana China friendship event in
Acra it was one of those polite Affairs
where one happy speech blended into the
next until and Donnie took the podium
and gave a talk that grabbed everyone's
attention we African leaders going to
get smart and harness Chinese investment
for African development or would they
simply squander this
opportunity I wanted to hear more so I
caught up with him a few days later
andon told me he looked to Ghana's
history the post-independence years for
inspiration you saw a lot of industri
set up in Ghana just at least to meet
local demand you know from shoe
factories to I mean textile factories to
um you know beverage everything that you
know a normal basic economy will
require you know all these industries
were s and this was in the
1960s quam ncuma G's first president
called for African industrialization
more than 50 years ago saying there
could be no real freedom without
economic
independence the ports were were were
set up the motor wave was already being
started to be
constructed he even introduced the
atomic energy plant in 19 and probably
that was one of the most certificated
you know Atomic development programs
outside of uh of Europe and it was it
was all build on
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nation that was another
era African countries were freeing
themselves from their colonial Masters
and for a brief time the mood across the
continent was one of
optimism kwami nakuma even signed a
friendship agreement with another
developing Nation
China at the time the agreement was
signed in 1961 China was a developing
country so Ghana and inuma found it
necessary to sign up this treaty with a
view that hopefully they could develop
in tandem now um 5 years aftera signed
the agreement um he was
overthrown but since after 66 most of
those um Industries went you know uh
were not properly managed and eventually
today most of them are non-existent and
we needed them more today than ever
before and the fact that they are not
there just speaks to kind of the vacuum
and the retrogression in that
area so that is it you know so China has
in a consistent manner developed it
economy it scientific base and the
people we after inroma have kind of
landed from one thing to the other and
the result is there for everybody to to
see you can go around and and mourn and
go as much as we want nobody's going to
give it to us we just have to shift our
thinking on Donnie would like to see
African leaders leverage foreign
investment for African
development why not encourage Chinese
investors to set up factories in
Africa factories that can kick start
African manufacturing and lead to real
economic
growth the people here he says are ready
and
waiting you don't have to come to bonju
to buy the goods I'm going to put the
factory here you can manufacture your
suits you can manufacture your toys you
can manufacture whatever here employ the
local people those are the real
development Pro things that should be
happening
when I returned from China those
comments took on a new
significance I think of the African
entrepreneurs I met in guango their hard
work their perseverance all they have to
offer I wonder when will the factories
the jobs and the dreams come back to
Africa
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