Chinese law magazine "Rule of Law Weekly" interviewed six Chinese people who are working in Africa. Each individual works in a different country and they all have a story to tell. The following is the fifth installment in the six-part series.
Angola
Rule of Law Reporter Ji Dongye Translation by Erik Myxter
Du Qing (pseudonym) is one of Beijing Construction Group's electrical engineers. Since the beginning of 2009 until the end of 2012 he was in West Africa's Angola. Because the project was completed, 32-year-old Du Qing came back from Angola to China. Because of his family he does not plan to come back to Angola again.
Du Qing's company's project was in a suburb of Angola's capital. After more than 27 years of civil war, the inequality between the rich and the poor has become a huge phenomenon. "Here there are many Chinese people. It is said that the local population (of Angola) is around 20 million people, where the population of Chinese people here is 260,000. But the foundation of the Chinese in Angola are people who come to work on a project, do business or are migrant workers, there aren't any people who are immigrating here to stay." He said, "There are many engineers and also some people who engage in foreign trade."
The rhythm of live in Angola is not particularly fast. Here the local people go to work at nine in the morning and get off of work at three in the afternoon. That being said, many of the Chinese people will work overtime.
Some Chinese people find it difficult to accept Angola's leisurely lifestyle. "At customs, the workers inspect baggage in a laid-back manner. This will make the Chinese people who are eager to go home very worried." Du Qing says.
Every time he goes to the supermarket checkout Du Qing must sort out his money and put it on the counter. "In the past some Chinese people did not head to this custom and they threw money at the worker, if you do that the (Angolan) people will be very angry."
Working in Angola is hard, but the salary is comparatively higher so there are many people who still come here. "Chinese people are very hard working, they especially can eat bitterness and worked tirelessly. Chinese people can easily take all of these jobs in Africa."
Before he went abroad, Du Qing's company gave him relatively good amount of training, but now there is less training available and it just mostly covers safety.
Xie Fei (pseudonym) and Du Qing worked for the same company doing office administrative work for almost two years. Xie Fei told Rule of Law reporters "before I left, the company would be united in giving anti-infectious disease vaccines."
"In that company and at China Iron and CITIC we usually could not go out alone. We don't have much contact with other projects Chinese people are doing. Most often we are focused on doing our work." Du Qing said.
Du Qing genuinely felt that Chinese people have made a large contribution over there. "For example we have constructed basic infrastructure, residential areas, roads and railways.”
"The economy is developing quickly over there, there are large supermarket chains and tons of infrastructure has been built up." Du Qing said.
In Angola, most of the local people are very friendly towards Chinese people. Xie Fei says: "Most of the people are very enthused about China's attitude. I have heard that some other Chinese company's host parties with their local African employees; everyone gets together and has a great time.
"Local traffic police enforcement is relatively strict, they can stop you to see if you have a fire extinguisher inside your car or if you brought your passport or if you broke one of the traffic rules.” Du Qing said. “But on the other hand, they are not as strict with the local population." Xie Fei said.
In Angola, personal safety is always Du Qing focal point. "You must rely on yourself to be safe." Du Qing told the reporter, "When you go outside you want to go with someone else, do not go out alone. Also before you go out you want to tell your company. Let your leaders know where you are going and if they need to how can they get in contact with you."
A normal day's work is very hard, Xie Fei and Du Qing both only had one day off a week. "The company's organization structure is like a small island, where the scenery was beautiful, and I could eat all the shrimp I wanted. I also had the chance to go to Moon Bay, which was naturally formed by crater landscape." Xie Fei said.
安哥拉
法治周末记者 汲东野
杜清(化名)是北京建工集团一名机电工程师。从2009年初到2012年年底，他在西非国家安哥拉待了近四年时间。随着一期工程完工，32岁的杜清从安哥拉回国。因为家庭原因，以后不打算再出去了。
杜清公司的项目在安哥拉的首都郊区。经历过27年内战，首都存在贫富差距现象。“这里的中国人很多。据说当地一共有人口两千万左右，中国人就占到二十六万。不过基本都是过去做项目或经商的流动人员，没有移民过去留下的。”他说，“工程类的多，还有一些搞外贸生意的。”
安哥拉人的生活节奏不是特别快，当地人上午九点上班，下午三点就下班了。不过，在那的中国人还是会加班干点活。
对于安哥拉的悠闲，有些中国人还是很难接受。“在海关的时候，他们会不慌不忙地检查你的行李。这就会让回家心切的中国人很着急。”杜清说。
每次去超市，结账时，杜清都要把钱整理好，把手放在柜台上，“板正地给”。“以前有些中国人不注意这个，扔给人家，人家就会很生气。”
在安哥拉工作也很辛苦，但相对于更高的工资，还是有很多人来到这里。“中国人很勤劳，特别能吃苦耐劳。这些在非洲的活儿，中国人干起来得心应手。”
以前出国时，杜清的公司会给比较多的培训，现在少了，主要都是讲安全方面。
谢霏(化名)和杜清就职于同一家企业，她在非洲做办公行政工作接近两年时间。她告诉法治周末记者：“过去之前，公司会统一打一些防传染疾病的疫苗。”
“在那边的公司还有中铁、中信等。不过，我们一般不会一个人出去，和别的工程的中国人接触的也不太多，平时主要还是以干活为主。”杜清说。
杜清打心眼儿里感觉，中国人在那边的贡献挺大。“比如基础设施的建设，社区、道路、铁路建设。”
“那边发展得很快，大型连锁超市啊、很多基础设施都建起来了。”杜清说。
在安哥拉，大多数当地人对中国人是友好的。谢霏说：“大部分人对中国态度都挺热情。听说，有其他中国公司还和非洲当地人一起办晚会呢，一起玩得很开心。
“当地的交警执法也比较严，他们会注意到你的车上有没有灭火器，是否带护照，是否违反交通规则。如果出现问题，会有金钱上的惩罚。有时候移民局也要查护照。”杜清说。
“不过，他们对于当地人或许没有这么严格。”谢霏说。
在安哥拉，人身安全一直是杜清所重视的。“靠自己注意安全。”杜清对记者说，“出门都要结伴，不允许一个人出去。而且出门前要跟公司报告，让领导知道你去哪里了，必须得能联系的上你。”
平日工作辛苦，谢霏和杜清都会期待一周一次的休息日。“公司组织去过一个小岛，风景很美，还可以吃龙虾自助餐。还去过当地的月亮湾，有天然形成的大坑地貌。”谢霏说。
On 19th June 2012, the day this blog entrance is being written, “more than 100 Africans protested…outside a police station in China's southern Guangdong province after an African man died in police custody”, 
The 
Now, let’s return to the Sicomines agreement in the DRC. I argue that it should not be understood as the result of a direct order by the Chinese government. Yes, it is a result of the Going Global strategy, but less directly so than is often believed. This has to do with the dynamics of state-company relations in China that I mentioned earlier. Indeed, the large companies involved in the agreement are owned by the Chinese state. Yet the Sicomines agreement was not initiated by the Chinese government, but by the state-owned enterprise China Railway Engineering Corporation, or CREC. CREC is one of the world’s largest construction companies, and it identified the concessions in the DRC as it was in the process of implementing its diversification strategy to expand into resource extraction activities. There are two links between the Sicomines agreement and the Going Global Strategy. The first is that CREC’s pursuit for global markets was triggered by it at the onset. The second is that the credit lines extended by China Exim Bank are one of the most important tools to implement the Going Global Strategy. The credit line extended to the DRC was of major political importance in ensuring that CREC got access to the concessions in the DRC, where decisions to allocate concessions are taken on opaque grounds. China Exim Bank’s support indicates that the Chinese leadership regards CREC’s expansion into the DRC as a highly important strategic move.
Johanna Jansson is a PhD candidate in International Development Studies at the Department of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University, Denmark. Her PhD project explores the DRC’s relations with its emerging and traditional development partners. Prior to resuming her studies, Johanna worked as a researcher for the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Johanna holds an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Umeå University, Sweden, a BA with Honours in Political Science from Stellenbosch University, and a BA in Political Science from Lund University, Sweden. Johanna has conducted field research in the DRC, Gabon, South Africa, Uganda and Cameroon.
![[VIDEO] Angola’s Labour Pains](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/video-angolas-labour-pains.jpg)
![[VIDEO] China Faces New Scrutiny in Africa (But This Time It’s Different)](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/video-china-faces-new-scrutiny-i.jpg)
Both China and France share a common frustration with the international media and that their country’s “story” is not being accurately conveyed via the CNNs, BBCs and Al Jazeeras of the world. After years of bitterly complaining about the injustices of international (read Western) news reporting, they both came to same conclusion: “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.” In December 2006, 
language audiences around the world to “see the world through a Chinese perspective.” The other two networks, CCTV 9 (
China’s multilingual media outlets, FRANCE 24′s english and Arabic services are staffed by native speakers. In China, by contrast, CCTV9, China Radio International and other channels are often staffed with Chinese employees whose english skills are quite strong relative to other mainland Chinese however nowhere near international broadcast standards. Subsequently, there are significantly higher levels of on air and online mistakes that are often directly associated with language abilities. In an extremely competitive news markets, these kinds of mistakes are unacceptable as it undermines the credibility of the product and encourages consumers to seek elsewhere for similar information. There is ample evidence of poor language and copy editing skills of China’s international media editors. On three separate occasions over the course of a single week, the home page of CNTV (left) featured prominent spelling errors and template layout mistakes that, once again, indicate China’s media products are just not competing at the same level as French and other international media outlets.
submit “open bids.” Before “open bidding,” governments and international organizations evaluated proposals using various criteria beyond just price (e.g. quality of materials, labor sourcing, etc…). Yet as the transparency drive forced open the bidding process, price naturally became the dominant issue. And as we know, when it comes to price, the Chinese are hard to beat. While there is ample evidence in Chinese construction and manufacturing industries to illustrate how Chinese companies employ substandard labor practices and production methods to keep their costs as low as possible, there is an important alternative perspective that should be considered as well. The Chinese construction firms in places like the DRC work harder, longer and cheaper than their Western counterparts:
It may be hard to believe but half of all construction work underway in Kenya is now being done by Chinese firms, according to the U.S. public radio program “The World” (audio link below). It appears the Chinese infrastructure building juggernaut in Africa is showing no signs of slowing down. 
The Canadian Broadcast Corporation sent their Beijing correspondent to do some rather extensive reporting on the surge of Chinese investment in Africa.
For some perspective on these issues, I came across a fascinating bulletin board site (BBS) that offers remarkable insights into the inner-workings of Chinese business on the continent: 
If you are interested in importing “Angola” brand toothpaste to Africa, then this post will be of interest. The author of this post appears to be seeking business partners in Africa to import this toothpaste. What’s most interesting about this post is the advertised price of the toothpaste at just 1.2 RMB per unit. This sheds some light on China’s low-cost export strategy that we have been discussing on CTP. At just 1.2 RMB per unit, this toothpaste is affordable for a wide-spectrum of consumers at the lowest end of the economic spectrum.
If you happen to live in the small West African country of Togo and want to either purchase a Chinese-made vehicle or get your “Great Wall” car repaired, then Togo Sinocar is the place to go. The author of this post, seemingly the owner or manager of Togo Sinocar, explains how this venture is the first Chinese auto sales and repair company in the country. Togo Sinocar has 10 employees and two Chinese engineers to serve the community. What’s most interesting here is the range of services they offer. In the U.S. or Europe, an auto repair or sales dealer does just that, whereas with Togo Sinocar, the list of services is much broader. In addition to emergency tow services they’ll also help you secure either your Togo or international drivers licenses as well.
By any measure China’s awe inspiring embrace of Africa is impressive. Let’s put aside the staggering financial statistics on how many billions of dollars Beijing is spreading across the continent or even the scale of its natural resource haul. Honestly, there is no comparison because no other country or countries come close to the breadth and depth of China’sengagement here. While the Americans and Europeans meet in conferences and write report after report on the dismal political and humanitarian conditions in Africa, the Chinese are building deep roots here as part of a century-long investment. From Algeria to Angola, tens of thousands of Chinese construction crews are laying the foundation of that investment with the building of countless roads, bridges, hospitals and other desperately needed infrastructure. For that, there is widespread appreciation across many levels of society for Beijing’s ability to persevere where both national governments and international donors have largely failed. Not far away, though, from those construction sites, problems are beginning to simmer that if go unchecked could severely compromise Beijing’s long term agenda in Africa.
cities like right here in Kinshasa. These immigrants,
Mister Chen is one of those thousands of new arrivals to Kinshasa. He and his family moved from China’s southern Fuzhou province three years ago to come to Africa. When he first learned of the opportunity to come to the DRC he admitted that he knew nothing about the country as was made clear by their decision to settle in the eastern Congolese city of Kivu. Traveling over land from the Rwandan capital of Kigali, they arrived in Kivu unaware that it is the epicenter of Congo’s violent 10-year war. Hundreds of thousands of people, possibly millions, have died in the region surrounding Kivu and after three weeks he packed up his family to move west across the country to the relative safety of Kinshasa. Upon arrival here he was introduced to a “Chinese association” that would provide him the logistical and financial support for him to open a small shop in one of Kinshasa’s vast, densely populated neighborhoods. These associations are critical to understanding the success of the Chinese, both here in Kinshasa and the world over. Just as Chinese immigrant associations in San Francisco and New York, the Chinese associations in the DRC provide what is essentially a micro-loan to new immigrants and the necessary logistical support to open a small business. The association handles the legal paperwork, ensures the necessary bribes are paid to relevant neighborhood police and government authorities; connects the shop owner with a distribution network of Chinese importers to supply their business. Mister Chen said he arrived from China with “only a few dollars” but was able to get his start through the help of the association. In turn, as his business develops, he re-pays the association back in small increments until the loan is fully paid. The association also plays another critical role that insulates the shop owner from the volatility of daily life in Kinshasa. When the police or some other government authority comes to his store for bribes or extortion, he simply calls the association who then quickly respond to handle the situation. This rapid response and protection from the association is an immensely important aspect of the Chinese entrepreneurial success here as it offers a level of reliability largely unavailable in a society as unstable as Kinshasa.
cheap, low quality Chinese-made knick-knacks that range from one-dollar headphones to shoes to plastic tableware. Although business in his 1,500 square foot (estimate) shop was brisk during my 45-minute mid-day visit, not once did I see him sell a single product. Instead, locals would approach the counter, throw down a $20 or $50 US bill and he or one of his local staff members would hurl a wad of Congolese francs and dollars back at the customer. In addition to selling low-cost Chinese imports, shop owners like Mister Chen have also established themselves as among the most reliable money changers in the city. ”I trust the Chinese more than I do Congolese,” one customer explained when I asked why he changed his money with Mister Chen and not at one of the countless money changers on the street. ”They give us a fair price and don’t cheat us.” By selling low-cost products along with doing a brisk currency trading business, Mister Chen said he is able to squeeze out a small profit. ”It’s not a lot because the Congolese are very poor but I earn more here than what I was making back in Fuzhou,” he said.