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The Story of One Man’s Journey From Hunan Province to Driving Trucks in the Republic of Congo

by Eric Olander
Tan Shunqing (right) moved from Hunan province in 2007 to drive trucks in the Republic of Congo capital Brazzaville.

Even though hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals now live in countries across Africa, very little is known about the personal stories of these individuals who’ve often taken significant risks to set up new lives far from home. From time to time, though, profiles of these migrants in Africa are shared on WeChat but only in Chinese for Chinese audiences. These stories provide important contextual information about the Chinese experience on a more personal, individual level.

The Nigeria-based media outlet Huafei News (华非传媒通讯社) published a fascinating story on its WeChat channel last week about Hunan resident Tan Shunqing who moved from Hunan province to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo after he was fined $15,000 by his local government for violating China’s strict family planning policies after this third child was born.

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