All I can say semi first hand.. is we have a new dude from Algeria at work.. He says the number Chinese is plentiful...
He thinks Algeria has eh most .. Google thinks South Africa
at any rate ..So many posts like this
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Theophilus E.Daniel-Kagbare
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Student of Africa Updated Sep 8
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What do you make of the influx of Chinese people in African countries?
The Chinese are here. There is no ignoring them. They are a force. They either come to us or we go to them.
Good God, here they come for business and trade. Behind all that cultural intercourse and exchange. That's the stuff of civilization. The opposite is cultural inbreeding.
Cultural exchange and intercourse, on the conveyor belt of trade, with the oldest continuous civilization on earth, can only enrich Africa and African life.
What we get out of it depends more on us than whatever they, the Chinese, do.
Western culture, for all the vilification of colonialism, has benefited - and limted - Africa. Add Chinese culture and civilization to the mix. Indeed, policy direction and attitudes, in Africa, can only be enriched by the Oriental view. Our political and economic models are a mimicking of Western ones. They can only be enriched by alternative models, and worldview.
The Chinese, as far as I can see in their history, are not a war-like, winner-takes-all, people. They have a history of learning, trading and peaceful co-existence.
More than anything, the Chinese are a bridge to the East - the Koreans, Japanese, Indonesians, etc. There is a lot we have learned and need to unlearn from the West, and there is lot we must learn from the East. We need them as much as they need us. That's civilization, not romancing some African traditions and past, but enriching those traditions with knowledge from outside. That comes through interaction.
What's the track record of the Chinese in Africa?
Surely beats Africa's experience with the West. The Chinese can hardly do worse.
Make no mistake, they are not philanthropists, and trade and exchange certainly serves better than aid. Life is a risk, we should not expect them to watch our back for us.
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Anthony M Anderson
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Afrophile ????????Upvoted by
Justin Wong
, PhD Music & International Relations and
Derek Cheung
, Living in China 18 years and counting 1y
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Is China colonizing Africa?
As an african, I would give you an answer.
The answer to this question is no, this is just propaganda by anti chinese and western media to discredit the chinese. China isn't colonizing any country in africa. The western media is just jealous because they only want africa to be in neocolonialism by western countries.
China is helping to develop africa which has been going years of undevelopment due to its resources being plundered by western countries, corruption, wars and instability.
China has helped built roads, railways, buildings and so on. The chinese helped built the Mombasa Nairobi Railway
As well as the addis ababa urban railway
The Chinese are in africa to invest in infrastructure while foreigners from europe and america are plundering africa's resources using the free market capitalist value to force africans to open the continent in order to get our resources and export them.
and
Victor Shi
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Lives in China 4y
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How is your life as a Chinese person in Africa?
I used to work in Ghana, West Africa as a representative of a Chinese company for 7 years. I will try to answer from my view. Chinese usually divide life into several aspects like clothing, food, residence, travel, entertainment etc. So I will answer respectively.
Clothing: Most part of Africa located in Tropical area. So clothing issue can be solved easily. Blue collar staffs from big companies normally wear uniforms given by the employers. They tend not to pay much attention to their appearance because they don’t mean to attract or please anyone on a foreign land, while when they return to their hometown, they will be well dressed.
White collar/ managerial / government officials bring their suits from China. Ladies often need to bring clothes from China too, because there’s few size fitting them in local market, as well as they are not accustomed to the styles. Individual merchants often buy them from local market casually. Those who wish to blend even wear local traditional clothing.
Food: Chinese rarely get used to other cuisines. Many medium and big companies bring cooks along. Others either cook by themselves or hire a maid and train them to cook Chinese dishes. In the early years, the variety of vegetables is limited to cabbages, potatoes and onions because they are easy for long storage and many are imported from Europe. Nowadays many Chinese farm on African land and supply dozens kind of vegetables, including cucumbers, spring onions, rape sprouts, spinach, coriander and fragrant-flowered garlic etc to their fellow countrymen as well as the locals. Thanks to globalization, almost any food material you have in China we can also enjoy it here.
Residence: Of course construction workers live in temporary dorms at their project sites. Those working in entity industry often live in dorms in the plants/ factories guarded by armed police and they are not allowed to go outside without a proper reason considering security reasons. The security situation is getting worse year by year in Ghana but still relatively ok compared to Nigeria and South Africa. At least during daytime as a man walking on the streets is safe. Others rent compounds in down and commute daily.
Travel: Chinese companies or individuals in Africa normally own private cars, either new or second handed due to the underdevelopment of public transportation. Many hire local drivers driving for them because they are very affordable. According to my colleagues in Nigeria and South Africa, they have to take an armed policeman along when going even to the market.
Companies usually entitles their Chinese employees one month paid leave, back to China for once a year and the air fare and other travel expenses are bore by the companies.
Yet Inter-city public transportation is an exception. It’s in good shape and the buses are quite new and modern at least in Ghana. Many of the vehicles are supplied by Chinese bus maker: Yutong and KingLong.
Entertainment: Though Chinese coming overseas are known as workaholics, they still need entertainment to relief pressure and boredom. A lot like to drink after work. Some companies also have sports facilities like basketball field, billiards and table tennis tables. Some Play mahjong in weekends. On Sundays, football lovers from different companies may organize a match. Also playing mobile games, watch entertainment programs and video chat with families are also methods to kill time like any other places. Of course sightseeing and tourism are also options especially for those in heavenly beautiful East African countries.
Actually the biggest threat and headache for Chinese to face is health care. Many doctors are incompetent and irresponsible. One of my colleagues once suffered from stomach pains and was sent to a private hospital in early morning. There is no on-duty doctors to treat emergency patients. He had to waited to working hours and still the doctors didn’t know how to judge the causes of the pain. He was given some pain killers and left unattended for 2 days. Then finally we transferred him to a Chinese clinic. It came out as simple as kidney stones. The country just doesn’t have the equipment to diagnose and the sickness. That clinic has the first and only ultrasonic stone crusher. I am not saying these Chinese doctors are more professional. Good doctors can earn a very good living in China. They won’t leave their families and travel across oceans. I heard some of them diagnose via google. There are some local doctors trained in the West and they are expertise. But the lack of basic equipment and unprofessional doctors and nurses at primary level are serious.
My colleague attended arguably the best hospital in Ghana-37 Millitary Hospital for allergy. And they call this Intravenous injection. Excuse me? Please forgive my limited knowledge to the world. My mind had been blown away to the Atlantic Ocean. I tried to persuade him and myself that’s the way they always work. We should trust the doctors profession. It turned out I was optimistic too early. The nurse couldn’t find his veins for more than 5 times. It was injected into his muscle or instead of the vein. Soon his hand was as swelling as bread. Then she had to do it again. Luckily the allergy was cured finally though.
For those who are considering coming to Africa, I hope my answer can give you a rough outline about how Chinese work and live in Africa that helps you to make decision. Africa is neither heaven nor hell. It has its pros and cons just like any other counties. The chances are many for the ordinary especially for the adventurers. The industry vacuum can allow a lot talented and ambitious people to develop their enterprises.
Some very interesting non US posts on Africa/China ? |
