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The News Feed is a curated selection of the most important China-Africa news edited by CAP’s editors in Asia and Africa.

FOCAC 6: China At a Crossroads in Africa

The 6th Forum on China Africa Cooperation is coming at a crossroads in the China-Africa relationship. China’s shift from a manufacturing to a consumption economy means that it is importing fewer African commodities. On the African side, this shift has led to fears about repaying Chinese debt, and a general downsizing of African growth expectations. Coupled with a reported plunge in Chinese investment on the continent, the current situation seems to invoke warnings from the boom era, when figures as diverse as Lamido Sanusi and South African President Jacob Zuma called the relationship problematic and unsustainable.
However, being at a crossroads isn’t the same thing as being on a cliff. FOCAC 6 has the potential to move the China-Africa relationship to a more sustainable path. However, a more sustainable relationship will also require African governments to get out of their comfort zone.

Ivory: China was widely praised for announcing possible bans on the importing of ivory earlier this year. Since then, the world has waited impatiently for details and the enactment of actual policy. If Chinese leaders announce a comprehensive ivory ban at FOCAC 6, it will act as an acknowledgement that wildlife trade has become a central problem in China-Africa relations. Taking it seriously won’t only attack demand on the Chinese side, it could also force African governments to address their own lapses in governance that allowed poaching to flourish.

Investment: The 84% plunge in Chinese investment in Africa is indeed alarming. With it comes indications that the the fall pushed China back to its core investment strategy: African raw materials. Chinese investment in African minerals, metals and oil actually rose during the first half of 2015. That said, the shift towards domestic consumption has the potential to open up new forms of demand for African raw materials, which could fuel new investments. This is particularly true if Chinese customers embrace greener technologies that demand African rare earths and platinum. The challenge for African governments is finding a way to move beyond trading raw minerals.

Trade: While investment has plunged, Chinese trade with Africa is on the rise, despite its recent downturn. Trade is expected to hit $300 billion this year. While the influx of Chinese-made goods worry African producers, African consumers are gaining. This isn’t only good for African household budgets, it could be good for African societies generally. China exports cheap mobile phones and solar power generators. These two products alone can radically improve connectivity and power independence in societies wits faulty infrastructure. As China increasingly offshores production, this trade can lead to Chinese companies setting up manufacturing and assembly plants in Africa to serve African markets.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Q&A: Africa’s Role in China’s Global Military Expansion: Defense Expert Unpacks a Thorny Issue

The head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, on Tuesday added to the growing alarm in Washington DC defense circles about the global reach of China’s military. 

Speaking in front of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Aquilino said China is building capacity to seize Taiwan, and: “The PRC also seeks to establish a network of overseas military installations that would extend its reach, allowing support for an increasingly global People’s Liberation ...

Postcards From Beijing: Defying Stereotypes in China

By Hannah Ryder, Deputy Country Director for China, United Nations Development Program
A few days ago I arrived in Beijing to begin a new job as deputy country director for UNDP China. In this job, I’ll be heading a team that advises the Chinese government and other Chinese counterparts such as businesses how to cooperate effectively with other countries and further develop their international positions on issues such as climate change and what comes after the Millennium Development Goals.
It’s my first week so I’m obviously still learning a lot about what my job will entail, but one thing is crystal clear… It will involve defying stereotypes.
The mere mention of China tends to invoke a lot of stereotypes. For example, typical blogs by people who visit China for the first time, from America to Jamaica – are often about how different Chinese food and culture is. The stereotype of Kenyans coming to China – such as myself – is that we’re coming to do business. And the stereotype of people coming to China who have worked in OECD aid agencies – again like myself – is that we are here to tell Chinese counterparts how to deliver aid "properly".
But China is a country that defies stereotypes. For example, in July this year, the Chinese government released its second ever White Paper on Foreign Aid. This extended China’s first Paper (published in April 2011) by providing detailed information about Chinese assistance to poorer countries over the three years from 2010 to 2012. Since the publication of the White Paper, my new team here at UNDP has been reviewing it, and their analysis can be found here.
One of the key messages that comes through in my team’s analysis is that while the stereotypical understanding of Chinese aid is big infrastructure projects built by Chinese companies, China has actually diversified the kinds of projects it is undertaking to support development. China has also broadened its partnerships – especially regional organizations such as the African Development Bank – and these diverse programmes are delivering real impact – from reducing the incidence of malaria to creating jobs. China is defying stereotypes to save lives in poorer countries.
Similarly, my team also point out that China’s practical approach to supporting development often differs from stereotypical approaches used by OECD aid agencies, even if the underlying principles are very similar. For example, China mentions in the White Paper how reducing trade tariffs for imports by poorer countries to China has contributed to their development. My fellow Kenyans that do business with China would certainly share this view, and although OECD country governments would too, very few OECD aid agencies actively report on changes in trade policy as means of delivering development (NB: In 2014 the UK was an exception – see Chapter 5 of the Department For International Development's Annual Report here).
This defiance of stereotypes is why I’m excited about the next few years in this job. I'll be advising my Chinese counterparts, but I’ll also be learning a lot and helping to defy stereotypes all over the world by providing better information and more understanding. I’ll certainly try to avoid those stereotypical blogs about food and culture!

How to Stop Ivory Trade with the Chinese Connection?

After investigating the Chinese connection with the ivory trade in Africa for the past three months, below is my own conclusion about how it is possible to break the Chinese-ivory link.
Experts have estimated that China is responsible for about 70% of world ivory market. Beyond statistics, I have witnessed it with my own eyes in Africa. In some countries the phenomena of Chinese buying/smuggling ivory is more prosperous, such as Mozambique; in some countries the level is very preliminary, such as Namibia. However, it is there without sign of weakening. The problem next is what could we do to stop it.
"You can't change them by moral appeal," a Chinese resident in Africa told me, those ‘blood-ivory campaigns’ are not going to work.
Somehow it is true. It is not accurate that Chinese people are all unconcerned about the disappearance of Africa’s elephants. However, when we consider Chinese education, it is those relatively affluent who have the most awareness on the issue while the vast majority of Chinese migrants in Africa are generally lower-class, less well educated. Given how difficult life is for many Chinese migrants in Africa, there’s now a widely-held perception that only the poor and desperate leave China and “if you have choices, you don’t come to Africa.”
There are basically two groups of Chinese people in Africa: the self-driven small businessmen --- most who do not speak English and possess only a primary-school level education. The second group often work for Chinese state owned enterprises (SOESs). This group tends to be much better educated than their working-class compatriots.
This composition of these two groups of Chinese migrants is the key to understanding the booming ivory trade in Africa. First, as not highly educated Chinese, this group has relatively low awareness about conservation; second, those Chinese who would come to Africa have their sole goal in minds: to make as much money in as short time as possible, therefore they are very active in seeking personal gains from the time in a place that many do not actually like.
So now that we recognize the problem, what can we do?
First, implement much stronger legal punishments and customs enforcement in both Africa and China. Most Chinese purchasing ivory in Africa are only buying a small amount, often thinking: "it is not difficult to get out of African customs (what’s the worse that can happen, pay a few bribes if I’m caught?), and in China, there is a very high chance that your contraband will not be found if you hide them well -- even if found, if the amount is less than one or two kilograms, just give them to the custom and you are fine." Therefore, in China, customs enforcement needs to become much stronger: the tolerance about ivory products should become "zero-tolerance" instead of "no punishment under the value of 10000 yuan" --- even if you just bring an ivory bangle, you should be fined heavily. Moreover, not only should the penalties should be raised, the intensity of searches should also be increased as well. On the African side, cracking down on widespread corruption among customs and government officials is what could help lead to major change --- although I think this will be more difficult to achieve than increasing the smuggling penalties on the Chinese side.
If both of the above are done, although there still would be a high level of smuggling by those who want to make a quick fortune, the huge number of small buyers' behavior would likely change significantly.
Second, the influx Chinese in Africa need to be better selected, registered and managed. From the host countries side, there should be certain thresholds of allowing Chinese to immigrate, especially to stay for long time. Such thresholds should be education, language skills, and a clean criminal background. There should also be a registration system of those Chinese so there is some record of illicit behavior. In China, there should be an immigration bureau (China does not actually have a formal immigration service as is common in many countries) to manage and register outbound Chinese. Moreover, Chinese embassies in Africa need to change their function from "service" to "management". For example, Chinese would have to register at their local embassy or else that embassy will not provide assistance or other services in the future. Therefore, Chinese in Africa could be managed by such a registration system managed by the Chinese government, which would ultimately improve the quality of the migrants that come to Africa by virtue of the higher-standards imposed.
Third, there should be programs to attract better-educated Chinese to Africa. In order to change the composition of Chinese in Africa, other than reducing the problematic ones, there should be ways to increase the number of skilled and educated migrants. Therefore, both African and Chinese governments should create incentives for highly-educated Chinese to come to Africa, perhaps by student exchange programs, salary bonuses or other kinds academic/professional fellowships.
Fourth, anti-poaching awareness campaigns should involve as well as target Chinese migrants living in Africa. Instead of broadcasting campaigns to Chinese back in China, campaign organizers need to engage the Chinese community on the continent and use them to influence others. Chinese in Africa often live in close-knit communities making it easier to reach a large number of people within that target demographic. In order to do so, NGOs should recruit some Chinese who already live in Africa to design and implement anti-ivory campaigns. Yes the market is in Mainland China, but without the Chinese in Africa, the transportation channel for that ivory would become much more complicated.
Over the past three months, I have seen a few of the Chinese who are better integrated into local communities, better connected with non-Chinese and who have generally assimilated themselves to the larger culture s--- and those people are much less likely to participate in ivory trade.
Finally, there should be more constructive cooperation of Chinese and African journalists. On one side, Chinese journalists are necessary for local media outlets to explore the "how" and "why" regarding the Chinese-ivory problems, like who are the players and what are they thinking, rather than simply exposing "what", like who has been caught smuggling how much contraband? On the other hand, African journalists could do more to help Chinese people understand what the consequences are of the ivory trade on all people, particularly Africans and Chinese. Even African journalists just feeding the Chinese media with more compelling elephant poaching stories would be helpful because it is rare that such stories make it into Chinese mass media.
Of course these things are always easier said than done, but after months of investigating this problem, including extensive on the ground interviews with both buyers and smugglers, I believe change can happen if some or all of these policy changes are implemented.

How to Understand Chinese-Related Environmental Problems in Africa

By Huang Hongxiang, Special to The China Global South Project
Rhino horn, ivory, shark fin, lion bone, abalone, pangolin, turtle, timber... You could make a really long list about the Chinese-related environmental problems in Africa. Why? Here's a primer on how to best understand the Chinese side of this increasingly important environmental problem:
First of all, we should look at the profit-risk balance of each specific product in question. Fundamentally, the root of the problem is that the profit far outweighs the risk for almost all of the products derived from African wildlife.
From my investigative experience, in order for an African natural product to become a Chinese-related environmental challenge, the bottom line is that there has to be enough demand from the Chinese side. Since China's market is so large, these controversial products can be used in any number of different ways ranging from food to medical to various commercial uses. Here's how it goes for Chinese consumers to determine the value of any of these wildlife-derived products:

  1. Is the demand big enough, which means enough Chinese people are willing to pay above market rates for the product in question?
  2. How dangerous it is to try to supply this demand, is it a worthwhile risk?

Depending on the answers of question 1 and 2, those challenges could be small scale or large, and Chinese could be active operators(ivory) or passive receivers (rhino horns). Indeed, Chinese are very risk-sensitive. Based on the nature of Chinese culture, it is easy for them to take advantages of loop-holes in the law, but not easy to become serious life-threatening criminals (which is why my undercover investigation among Chinese communities is not as dangerous as many non-Chinese think). Most of them would tell you: "cha bian qiu (in grey area of law) is ok, but we don't want to commit a crime."
Let's take rhino horn as the first example. There is demand for rhino horns in China. However, the demand is far less than in Vietnam and where it is mistakingly believed to be a life-saving treatment for cancer and other terminal illnesses. This fuels the demand for rhino horn among a few rich and desperate patients, which is ultimately a small but highly lucrative market. And the risks of involving in rhino horns are very high --- you could be easily put in jail. Therefore, today most Chinese have quitted rhino horn business and left the space for Vietnamese.
But ivory is different. Although the per kg value of ivory is far less than rhino horns, the demand from Chinese side is more about ornaments, souvenirs, art, rather than life-saving medical treatments, which means the market size is huge. Moreover, the risk of smuggling small scale ivory is extremely low: you may have some trouble with African customs and need to pay a bribe, your ivory may be confiscated both in Africa or in China. However, considering the potential value of ivory in China, the relatively low price of ivory in Africa, and the unlikely heavy law punishment, smuggling small scale ivory becomes an extremely profitable business.
Secondly, we need to understand what kind of Chinese people we are talking about. People easily think Chinese in Africa are one group of people, which is a vast oversimplification. Not all Chinese smuggle ivory regardless of the profit to risk ratio.
"If a Chinese has other ways to thrive, he would not have come to Africa," a Chinese businessman in Maputo explained to me. He used to have successful small business in a rural town of China. But he lost everything because of gambling. In order to make money and look for new personal development, after hearing stories about easy riches in places like Angola, he went there in what was his first ever trip abroad. He arrived without any foreign language skills in either English or Portuguese. Nonetheless, like thousands of other Chinese migrants, he started small and began to build his wealth, one project at a time. First he started as a helper for another Chinese businessman, where he lived in terrible conditions. Still, despite the hardships, he learned from his fellow migrants and pulled himself out of his once desperate conditions. Nowadays, he sells solar panels in Maputo, while at the same time managing a guesthouse business, crocodile belt business and a few other small enterprises that generate additional income.
This gentleman's profile is typical of the kind of Chinese migrant that often contributes to environmental problems in Africa: poorly educated, mostly from rural or a third tier city background, barely speaks a foreign language or  understands foreign cultures. Ultimately, this individual solitary focus is about making money, often to send to his family back home. However that happens, it often doesn't matter to this kind of individual.
When we are talking about Chinese investment in Africa, actually we are talking about two kinds: large scale investment made by Chinese companies (mostly national) and private businesses (usually small scales but sometimes could be large as timber business and real estate). The former one usually concentrates more in energy, mining, construction; the latter one would be more related to seafood, timber, real estate, import & export.
And the Chinese businessman we mentioned above belongs to the latter one. As long as the profit is higher than the risk, this group of people is likely to engaged in illegal business, and issues like the environment is just not a priority. So in the ivory business, these are the kinds of individuals who often operate behind the scenes.
But even the first group, which consists of Chinese expatriate employees, environmental issues can also arise. Since an assignment in Africa is far from the first choice for most of employees of Chinese state owned enterprises operating in Africa, these companies are usually fail to attract the most educated or successful college graduates. Despite the fact that most of the managers of Chinese companies do have university degrees, and they are definitely more educated than those in the second group, they are still far from the most well educated. It would be very difficult to find any graduates of the prestigious Beijing University or US ivy-league universities among the Chinese management ranks operating in Africa.
And... as if often the case... an individual's economic, academic and cultural background frequently influences his/her worldview, values and behavior.
It is worthy to notice as well, in some cases some highly educated Chinese would come to Africa as the leaders of Chinese national companies, and today more and more highly educated young Chinese start to come to Africa. They are the ones who are going to change the Chinese-in-Africa situation. However, currently they can't change the group atmosphere of Chinese in Africa.
Thirdly, we need to understand what the Chinese experience in Africa.
Most Chinese in Africa would complain to you that local Africans are greedy, irresponsible and lazy.
Most Chinese in Africa would complain to you that the government is so corrupt and the police always make trouble in order to extract bribes.
Most Chinese in Africa would complain to you that the cities they stay (even capitals) are so underdeveloped and there is nothing to do here and it is too dangerous to go out.
Most Chinese in Africa come to Africa not because they like Africa, but because they want to make money. In such situation, how could you expect them to care about sustainable development of African countries? If you can't make them like Africa, you can't make them care about Africa.
Moreover, from their experience, most Chinese would think it is the local black people who are ruining their countries. Therefore, since the locals are ruining their countries anyway (such as cutting down all the trees to sell to Chinese timber companies), it is not their responsibility to correct such social problems. Instead, they are just making money out of a dying tree --- as everyone else is doing.
The nature of business, the nature of people, the nature of environment, those are the levels we need to understand China-related environmental challenges in Africa.
This investigation by the Oxpeckers Centre for Investigative Environmental Journalists was supported by the Forum for African Investigative Reporters and the Wits China-Africa Reporting Project
This post was edited for grammar and style by Eric Olander.

How Social Media Impacts China-Africa Relations and Migration

By Jinghao Lu and Cobus van Staden

Why is the Internet so important in the lives of Chinese migrants to Africa? Many scholars have pointed out that the Chinese employees of Chinese enterprises in many African countries are willing or encouraged to live an isolated lifestyle away from interaction with the local community. As compensation, the companies usually provide fast internet connection allowing the Chinese staff to download video and to stay in contact with their families at home.

If online communication becomes many Chinese workers’ only outlet outside of their work community in Africa, scholars should pay more attention to the role the internet and social media play in shaping the Chinese migration to Africa. However, the main barrier to conducting extensive research on this topic is language, as Mandarin is the major language used by the Chinese internet users, or so-called netizens.

Understanding the unique social media tools Chinese netizens use is also important. Due to the fact that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are not available in China, a number of products were developed to specifically accommodate more than 500 million Chinese internet users. Tools such as Tencent QQ (including QQ instant message, QQ Groups), Sina Weibo, Renren, and many topic-oriented web forums are used by many Chinese workers in Africa.

In February, we (Jinghao Lu and Cobus van Staden) conducted initial research on how internet forums influence the decision made by many Chinese to travel to Africa. This research was published in the African East Asian Affairs, (Issue 1, March 2013), published by the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University. In our research, we try to categorize the general conversation topics on Chinese web forums used by the Chinese communities in Africa or related to Africa.

We revealed three broad themes in the Chinese netizens’ discussions about Africa.

  1. Business Information Exchange

The most popular use of social media by Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa is to produce, source or integrate business information relating to Africa. The huge business potential shown by many African economies has attracted hundreds of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs seeking opportunities to fill gaps in the market. Social media is playing a crucial role in creating links among Chinese traders in Africa. Tencent QQ and Alibaba (a leading e-commerce platform for small businesses around the world) are two of the most widely used web tools for manufacturers or wholesalers in China to look for, negotiate and partner with Chinese merchants overseas.

A list of some main themes of business-related conversations on those Chinese web forums includes:

Seeking Collaboration and Partnership: Chinese buyers and sellers use the web forums to seek partnership in the context of China-Africa trade and commerce. The products range from textiles to electronics and building materials. In most of the cases, conversations initiated on the web forums will continue through buyers and sellers exchanging their QQ numbers, which allows the negotiation to be conducted in private.

Introducing Business Models: Chinese web forums provide a platform for businesspeople to learn from each other through discussing business models and techniques, including handling customs, transferring money / remittances, avoiding fraud and dealing with local authorities. Even Chinese illegal miners in Ghana use Chinese web forums to share their experience, stories[1] and ways to operate[2] the small-scale illegal gold mines.

Hiring and Job-seeking: Chinese web forums have served as a de facto job portal for recruiters and job seekers to find each other.

African News: A number of Chinese web forums are dedicated to updating and translating news about African macroeconomic environment, investment opportunities, government policies and local sentiments towards the Chinese communities.

  1. 2.     Perception Towards Africa and Africans

Due to cultural and language gaps and a lack of opportunities to socialize, life in Africa is typically not easy for recent Chinese migrants. Therefore sharing personal experiences and feelings online has become an important part of their social life. Some of the main topics shared on Web forums, QQ and Weibo are listed below:

Perception of Africans: On web forums, a number of Chinese have posted threads complaining about the living environment, security issues, difficulties they experience in managing African workers and other culture-related issues. These sentiments generally receive a lot of support from other Chinese, who chime in with similar experiences.

Interracial dating and marriage: In recent years, an increasing number of threads have started to reveal an important new phenomenon relating to the lives of the Chinese community in Africa – dating and marriage with Africans. Threads dedicated to such topics often attract a lot of discussion. Sometimes they develop into fierce arguments on whether a relationship with an African is reliable and long-lasting.

  1. Tourism related Information Share

To the majority of Chinese readers Africa is a continent of desert, forest, traditional civilization, poverty, disease, warfare and corruption. Web forums allow Chinese travelers and residents in Africa to upload photos and to share their travel stories with a wider readership that desires to read about the realities in Africa. These stories, from the beautiful scenery of South Africa[3] to local women in Ethiopia[4] and traditional African festivals[5], have encouraged more Chinese travelers to explore the continent. Some Chinese travelers also launch threads to seek travel companions. A number of Chinese tourist companies have started to utilize web forums to promote their travel packages to Africa. The role these forums play in stimulating travel to Africa presents many opportunities for future research.

PS 1: A list of Chinese internet forums we surveyed

  1. Baidu PostBar[6]

Baidu is the largest Chinese-language search engine in the world. Baidu PostBar (or Baidu Tieba), allows its users to create a bar (forum) by typing a keyword. The largest bar related to Africa on Baidu is the “Africa Bar”, but country-related bars such as “Tanzania Bar” and “Ghana Bar”, also host a many threads and discussions.

  1. Tianya Club[7]

Tianya Club is a popular Chinese web forum with one of the most vibrant online communities in China. By January 2013 there were more than 78,297,000 registered users on Tianya. Tianya has the reputation for hosting fierce debates on Chinese social issues and international relations. Its sub-forum “Africa” contained 3,040 threads with 53,758 posts by 6 February 2013.

  1. Chinese in Africa[8]

"Chinese in Africa" is a web forum with more than 65,000 threads and more than 80,000 members by 2013. The forum was especially active in 2007-08, but since 2010 the volume of the threads and responses has declined. However, it contains records of a large number of conversations documenting the lives, feelings, experiences and business interaction among the Chinese in Africa. The forum is divided into different sub-forums dedicated to topics such as "Life in Africa", "Business Opportunities", "Job-seeking", "Touring in Africa", and contains region-specific forums such as "West Africa", "East Africa” and “Southern Africa”.

  1. Qufeizhou[9]

Qufeizhou is targeted to Chinese who intend to go to Africa, or has been living or working in Africa. Launched in 2011, the forum is relatively new, but offers an integrated platform containing news, country-specific information about Africa, business, entertainment and opportunities to make friends. By January 2013, there were more than 25,000 members in the community.

  1. Fob Business Forum – Africa Market[10]

The Africa sub-forum of the Fob Business Forum has generated over 10,000 threads dedicated to information about trade and investment in many African countries. Topics frequently discussed include trade procedures, dealing with African merchants and companies and sharing personal stories.

  1. Sohu[11]

Sohu’s Africa Circle mainly contains stories and pictures of unique culture and scenery in Africa.

  1. Country-specific forums

The relative size of the Chinese communities in particular African countries such as Ghana[12], Nigeria[13], Tanzania[14] and South Africa[15], has led to the development of country-specific web forums. These forums are not exclusive to those who live in these countries. For instance, the “Chinese in Nigeria” web forum has become an important online community for Chinese across West Africa to exchange information and opinions.

Former Kenyan PM: Africa Must Set Terms of China's Engagement

Former Kenyan Prime Minister and current MP Raila Odinga addressed a full house plus overflow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 18.
Odinga’s talk addressed many issues including Chinese involvement on the continent as well as Africa’s role in the world economy and the advancement of the African Union.
In regards to China’s trading presence in Africa, Odinga did not see it as threatening when Africa controls the operation. The Chinese, he said, are ready to help and Africans should be prepared to accept such help as long as it’s on Africa’s terms.
“I think governments in Africa should define the relationship with China,” he said, “because China is, of course, interested in a number of things in Africa.”
Odinga said petty trade or buying and selling of small (petty) goods should be reserved for Africans. The Chinese, he said, should not control what goes on in African markets.
“We’re not going to import retailers,” he said, “people who are coming here with textiles and so on to come and sell here because we also have got an abundant labor force in our country, which is able to do all this petty trade in our country.”
African raw materials, Odinga said, are of high interest to foreign investors, China included. However, these resources are of no use to Africa “unless they are exploited and used for development.”
In essence, Odinga wants to see Africa take charge, not just in its trade operation and relations with China, but in many areas. Odinga referred to himself as an “Afro-optimist.” According to Odinga, Chinese involvement is welcome, but Africa should be the party leading the conversation on the continent and not relegating itself to casual observer.
“Africa needs technology. Africa needs to develop its infrastructure,” he said. “China is ready to come [to Africa] and help develop infrastructure, but it must not be at China’s terms. It will be at Africa’s terms.”

"Shanglin County Clique's" African Gold Rush: Get Rich or Die Trying (translation)

Translated by Erik Myxter
On May 15th The 21st Century Business Herald out of Guangzhou published a thrilling article about Chinese illegal gold mining activity in Ghana.   The following is a translation of that article.
“上林帮”非洲淘金记：身家上亿或埋骨他乡
21世纪经济报道 梁钟荣 南宁、深圳报道 2013-05-15 00:57:39
"Shanglin County Clique's" African Gold Rush: Get Rich or Die Trying
21st Century Business Herald   Reporting from Nanning: Liang Zhongrong   Shenzhen reported May 15, 2013
In the first picture a Chinese man is holding a big piece of gold, while his black bodyguard stands behind him holding an AK47;  In the second picture a young Chinese man holds his black wife in his arms while joyfully laughing.
These two pictures were sent from Tan Xinhua.  Mr. Tan introduces the photos, saying that the people in the picture all come from the same village in Shanglin County, Guangxi.  They also are all investors in Ghanaian gold mines. Some people say that in Ghana there are about 50,000 people who come from Shanglin County.  Often called "The Gold Coast", Ghana's  small-to-medium sized gold panning mines are almost all run by people from Shanglin.  They all mine nugget gold.
"There are restaurants where there are only Chinese people, if there is a place with gold, you will find people from Shanglin (county)." explains Tan Xinhua.  Mr. Tan is part of the post-80's generation and like many young people from Shanglin County, he never finished high school before he left for Ghana.  In Kumasi, Ghana, there are many independent panners of gold, Tan Xinhua is one of them and for three years he has never returned home.  His only connection back home is through calling his parents.  His three-year goal is to become a millionaire.
The Shanglin Clique of gold miners first arrived over eight years ago.  The sweat and toiling of the miners, the instant riches, the armed fighting and the constant struggle which occurred in the American 18th century gold rush is now happening in Ghana.  Some people who are responsible for the fighting are deported, some have lost their lives to gang violence, others have contracted terrible diseases and been buried in this foreign place.
Most of the people who go to Ghana come back home;  Some people come back home with only a handful of gold to give to their loved ones; while others on their layover from Hong Kong to Guangxi, give a call to order their Nanning villa and a Ferrari.  In the last eight years, more than three people from Shanglin have shown actual proof that their net worth has been valued at over 100,000,000 yuan ($16 million).
At the same time, there is a seemingly irreconcilable, love-hate relationship between the Ghanians and the people from Shanglin.  From the view of a local, Shanglin businesses employ many workers,  but at the same time they burn an excessive amount of fuel; they contribute greatly to local taxes, but they also pollute the rivers greatly and the machinery used in mining devastates the land.  Moreover people from Shanglin have bought over 10,000 guns in Ghana, while at the same time they often get robbed.
From October 2012 to the beginning of this year, Ghana implemented an interdepartmental effort to deport many Chinese people. The Chinese government have participated in talks and negotiations regarding the matter.  But in this tense and unsafe atmosphere, the workers from Shanglin have continued their gold mining non-stop.
A Special Eye For Gold
Tan Xinhua left China for Ghana for the first time in 2010  and for one year he worked at a gold mine run by a fellow Shanglinian. On November 2011 he started his own venture.
The Shanglin area has a tradition of gold mining.  In the 90s there was a gold rush in Shanglin that brought peasants from all over China to Shanglin to mine gold.
Recalling that time Tan Xinhua explained,  "The people from Shanglin, although small, have a strong group mentality, and a willingness to struggle against difficulties, that even makes the big and tall people from the north (of China) scared.  At that time, some North-easterners got involved in violent incident at a gold mine with some Shanglin people. The local police didn't dare interfere, they had to bring in the Armed Police."
Starting in 2005, one story quickly spread across the citizens of Shanglin and it started a rush to Ghana.  In this story one Shanglin man brought his entire savings of 5,000,000 yuan ($806,000) to Ghana and three years later was able to turn that into 100 million yuan ($16 million).
In Ghana, Shanglin people are concentrated in small gold mines located in Kumasi, Obuasi, Dakui city, and Jiaokui city. "The people who can come here, almost always also bring their relatives or friends along with them."  says Tan Xinhua.  These days, Mr. Tan has around 30 relatives, classmates and friends in Ghana.  These people mostly come from three villages in Shanglin county; Mingliang, Dafeng, and Gangxian.  In total, these villages have a population of 30,000-50,000.
Ghana has the nickname of "The Gold Coast", and gold panning in the area has over 100 years of history. Recently about 985 tons of gold has been discovered in Ghana, which makes it about 3% of all the world's gold resources.  With this amount of gold, Ghana is behind South Africa as the Continent's second largest gold supplier.
The earliest Chinese people to come look for gold in Ghana came from the city of Hei Longjiang.  It was then in the late 90's when the atmosphere changed, people from Shuzhou, Hunan started coming over but met little success.  It was not until the people from Shanglin County came that Chinese people mined gold successfully.  "Ghana-China's mining cooperative secretary Su Zhenyu explains, Shanglin gold mining groups only mine nugget gold, to wash this type of gold one cannot leave water, because of the business of mining nugget gold is concentrated in Oder or Tano River banks.
Ghana's Gold Coast has many large gold mines, the earliest being Newmont, Gold Fields, Anglogold and Ashanti that were run by British and American gold mining companies.  This type of beach-side gold was not fitting to the large gold mine company's machinery, and the local Ghanian people's panning methods were inefficient and the output was small, working this way was no good.
Then in 2005, Shanglin people took their pumping skills and brought them in Ghana. This completely changed Ghana's gold extracting structure.  The way Shanglin people use the nugget pump is only something people from Shanglin County understand, and they do not transfer their knowledge to outsiders.  Because of this China gold workers exist in their own circles. Here, there is a popular saying, "People who are not from Shanglin cannot run the machines."
In Ghana, most of the Shanglin business people cooperate with the local tribal chief (landlord).  In order to find a new place to mine and a place to live one must pay 20-30 thousand Ghanaian currency for an "entering the market fee".   Tan Xinhua bought 25 acres of land for 25,000 Cidi ($12,500), this amounts to about 80,000 yuan.  If the land is used for growing crops, one just pays the average yield price for the year multiplied by 20.
The laws in Ghana regarding large mines and small mines are different: Mines that are less than 25 acres are suppose to be limited to local Ghanaian people to open, but Shanglin people have found a way around this law.
"All one needs to do is be on good terms with the local tribal chief and you can start working."  Tan Xinhua says. "Because all the land belongs to the tribal chief, thus the mining rights are also in his hands, we could say, this is the tribal chief's mine, we just help him extract (the gold)."
To strengthen the alliance with the local landlords, Shanglin people and the landlords sign a contract.  Often the landlord holds anywhere between a 10-12% stake in the mine.  Then everyday after mining, the landlord comes by to take his share and leaves.  There are also some other methods used, for example, every month the miners will give 10,000 Ghana currency to the landlord, this way the miners do not have to give the landlord mining rights.
How can one be sure if they land they bought has gold?  The man with only a middle school education, Tan Xinhua explains that the Shanglin people already have deep experience in finding gold, we can look at the land formation, wash a small bit of land and "In one casual look, know if there is gold here."
Tan Xinhua's mine employees five of his home village's people and two local Ghanians. The local people's salary are all set in stone; 1 day / 12 Cidi ($6) and have an average monthly salary of 280-300 Cidi ($140-$150) 3x times salary of the average Ghanian.  Many of the people who come from Shanglin are of the Zhuang minority group in China, and have cooperated with the local people for a long time, so much so that some of the local people can speak a little of the Zhuang people's language.
This is in contrast to workers from Shanglin, who have a base salary of about 6000 yuan ($970) a month and on top of that they receive a commission of 2-3% on their findings.  "In three years I have just been a laborer and have taken in about 300,000 yuan ($48,000) in income" says Tan Xinhua.
Ghanaian mining data shows that in 2011, the entire country of Ghana extracted 3.6 million ounces of gold, among this 30% came from small mines.   Su Zhenyu estimates, Shanglin people control about 40% of all small gold mines in Ghana.
Because of this, Shanglin has become an important town.  Many kinds of excavators, water guns and other machinery for excavating and sold and transported to Shanglin.  It is there where the machines are equipped specifically for gold excavation and finally they are sent through Shenzhen ports to Ghana.   This March has been the largest ever shipment from Shanglin to Ghana. This past March, Shanglin County has shipped over 100 cargo boxes full of equipment through Shenzhen's Yantian port to Ghana.
The Soaring Gun Trade
With the development of Shanglin gold panners in Ghana getting rich, there has been a coinciding increase in the amount of armed robberies against them.  Last March, one person from Shanglin was robbed by the gunpoint of an AK47, in the end he was shot 27 times.
"In 2011, us gold workers in Kumasi used our guns twice." Shanglin gold worker Li Zengquan said.  Both times they used them were in gun fights that happened during the day.  All in all, two Chinese and two Ghanians were killed in the firefight.
"While living in a foreign place, the most important thing to consider is preserving your life, making money is secondary." says Shanglin gold collector Hu Xiongshi.  Mr Hu's mining site often finds over 200 pieces of gold.   "If a few dozen robbers come, holding a few dozen guns, of course we have no way of fighting back, if we can give them some gold and some money, and nobody is hurt, this is fine."
As for reporting crimes to the authorities, Shanglin business people have no hope.  "What's the use? You really think they could solve the case?" Tan Xinhua remarked.  If they report a crime, the police are more likely to come to the work site and extort them for money.  Mr. Tan explained that before when the police would come they would give them a a little money and they'd leave, now they have to give hundreds of yuan.
In order to keep safe, the Shanglin gold panners in Ghana often have three to four project teams live together and when they go to sell their gold they will also do it as a group, with seven or eight body guards watching their backs.  Many of the Shanglin gold panning teams have a few AK47's on hand.  Where as gold miners often carry handguns and a few hunting rifles.  Often one can hear news broadcasted about a gun fight between Shanglin business people and local gangs.  It is estimated that there are over 10,000 guns in the hands of Shanglin gold workers and Chinese business people.  Going along with the increased demand the local price for a hunting rifle has risen from 1800 Cidi to 3000 Cidi or about 10,000 yuan ($1500).
In the Ghanaian forests there are many alligators, types of birds, tigers, and snakes. All of these animals the local people do not eat, but the people from Shanglin have guns and often upon enter the mountainous or lake areas they will go hunting.  Everyday they eat ant-eater meat, alligator soup, tiger soup; eating this food shocks the local people.
Shanglin gold panners also face another enemy in Ghana, the prevalence of diseases.  Ghana's transmittable diseases are plenty and the mining areas are often in the deep forests, far away from the big city's hospitals, if a person gets sick there is no chance to heal them, they will just become an exotic corpse.
Lately another major problem are visas.  Shanglin People in Ghana almost all use travel or non-work visas,  both coming from the third world country of Ghana.  These visas are not sufficient to work in Ghana, and often Ghanaian immigration bureau will deport workers.
In the past, when the immigration bureau authorities would come, you would just give them a few coolers of spring water, and a few hundred of the local currency and they would leave." Tan Xinhua complains,"Now they will lock you up, exhort you for bail money and then let you go, or even worse they will deport you."  And if the Shanglin people go and hide in the deep forest, the immigration bureau can take away the work sites' machinery and equipment.  With one machine being worth more than 1 million yuan ($161,000), that's a terrible loss to take.
Kumasi Becomes "Shanglin World"
It is said that with high risk comes high rewards.  "In Ghana, only about 50-60% of gold miners end up making money."  explains Hu Xiongshi.
Shanglin people's investments into Ghanaian gold projects total at over 1000. If one would guess that each project is around 3 million yuan, that means Shanglin business people have invested over 3 billion yuan in Ghana.  These gold mining places most often have two excavators that in one day can find between 200-300 grams of gold.   If one is having a lucky day they can find over 1k, of course there are also those who fall into bad luck, where one day they only find 30-50 grams, even worse sometimes they end up with nothing.
If on an average day, in an average gold site miners find 300 grams of gold, and the international price of gold is 280 yuan a gram, that means in one day's work they will make 100,000 yuan ($16,000), this of course does not factor in expenses. Although in one day a site can have tens of thousands of yuan in revenue, average yearly intake often does not amount to 10's of millions of yuan.
Once Shanglin people extract their gold, they often sell it to people from Hunan, Zhejiang and Fujian, there are also some Indian and local buyers of the gold.  The buyers bring the gold to the international market to sell, where the price is set in accordance with that day's international gold prices.   The end buyers earn the least amount of money from the transaction.
If it is people from Zhejiang or Fujian who buy for the international market, they rarely use local banks to remit their money, the majority of them transfer money by using their Chinese bank account to transfer money to a Shanglin person's Chinese bank account.
A source from the Industrial and Commercial bank of Guangxi revealed that in May-June of 2011 Shanglin county financed over 1 billion yuan ($162.2 million) in foreign deposits, this grabbed national attention as Shanglin county's 2012 fiscal reserves just surpassed 300 million yuan ($48.3 million).
To support the newly rich Shanglin people, cities like Kumasi are starting to resemble Chinese cities.   In the city there are Chinese restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, hotels, and KTVs. Although the local Ghanian people do not eat Chinese vegetables, but some grow these vegetables in order to meet the new demand.
Tan Xinhua complains that most of the goods come from China and are the same products that you would find in any Chinese cities but the price is 3x that of in China.   "Master Kang ramen noodles are 4 yuan ($.60) for on packet back home, but here they are 12 yuan ($2) each!  Lettuce is also 20 yuan a jin (1.1 pounds / 1/2 kg)"
Even though the business people from Shanglin mostly use machinery and equipment from China, the major brands all have service stations in Ghana.  "Parts for our machines are also 3x the price as back home, using Chinese products is a love-hate relationship"
Chinese doctors are also very welcome here, as here you can make over 20,000 yuan ($3225) a month, some make even more.
Other service enterprises have also came to the area.  "There is a boss from Fujian who started a large restaurant here, he just got over 100 servers from China to come with him." says Tan Xinhua, "Of course, the servers monthly salary are all a few times more than what they could get in China, if they weren't, how could they get them to come here?"
In Ghana, the majority of people from Shanglin are male, some of them simply marry local women, and have mixed children together.  There are even some Ghanaian wives who can speak fluently in the Zhuang people's language.  As their children get older some people get a headache trying to decide whether or not they want to go back to China  for their children to receive an education.
Shanglin's business people's gold money has also made the local casino's flourish.  In Shanglin gold panners are concentrated in Dunkua city. Some professional casinos have set up gambling games for the gold workers.  It is said that at least 20% of panners income enters into the casinos, some people have even lost their entire family fortune.
Tan Xinhua does not go to the casinos.  He hopes that in three years time he can accumulate at least 10 million yuan ($1.6 million).  With that money he could give his parents a big and safe place to spend their later years.  At the same time he wishes to buy a nice house in Nanning for himself, where he can live with the beautiful wife he will find.  Finally he hopes, "To open a tea house and sometimes talk to my customers about my experience panning for gold in Ghana."
*From their own requests, Tan Xinhua and Hu Xiongshi are not the interviewees real names.
第一张照片，一个中国人捧着一大块黄金，背后站着手握AK47的黑人保镖；第二张照片，一个年青中国男子搂着他的黑人妻子，肆意地欢笑。
这是谭信华发来的两张照片。谭介绍说，图中的中国人都是他的广西上林县同乡，在非洲国家加纳投资金矿。有一说法称，在加纳，约有5万上林人。素称“黄金海岸”的加纳，现在几乎所有中小型淘金矿都是上林人的天下。他们以做砂金为主。
“有餐馆的地方就有中国人，有金子的地方就有上林人。”谭信华形容说。谭是80后，和许多上林的年青人一样，高中没读完就去了加纳。他在加纳的库玛西有自己的淘金生产线，他泡在那里，已经3年没回国，只用越洋电话和家中父母沟通。他的目标是未来3年内跻身千万富翁。
“上林帮”过去8年的加纳淘金旅程，像是美国18世纪西部淘金史的翻版：血汗、暴富、枪战，以命相搏。有人负债累累被遣返，有人在与黑帮的暴力冲突中丧生，有人患虐疾一病不起，埋在了异国他乡。
更多衣锦还乡的传奇也在上演：有人回乡一出手就送亲戚一块金砖 ；有人在香港转机回广西途中，用电话下单订购了南宁的别墅和法拉利跑车. 不下三位上林商人证实，这8年，他们的圈子中产生了6到8个身家上亿者。
大量被雇佣的工人，巨量的石油消耗，可观的税收，被污染的河流，被挖得千疮百孔的土地，上万支流落在上林商帮中的枪支，此起彼伏的抢劫，这一切使加纳人对于上林帮形成爱和恨两个矛盾的极端。
自2012年10月底到今年初，加纳发起数次遣返中国商人的多部门联合行动，中国政府已介入谈判，与加方交涉。在紧张不安的等待中，上林帮的采金作业仍在继续。
肉眼探金的绝技
谭信华2010年第一次出国就来到加纳，在上林人自己的金矿里打了一年工，2011年11月开始创业单干。
上林素有采金传统，上世纪90年代曾上演过“万名金农闯关东”。“上林人个虽小，但团结，敢斗狠，把牛高马大的东北人都打怕了。”谭信华描述说，“当时东北一些涉及上林人的金矿暴力案，当地警察都不敢管，要出动武警。”
从2005年开始，一个广为流传的故事又使上林人涌向了加纳。这个故事称，一个上林老乡带了全副身家500万跑到加纳，3年后就变成了1个亿。
在加纳的上林人多集中在库马西市、奥布阿西、打夸市、敦夸市，而这些是小金矿的集中地。“能出来的人，一般都会把亲戚和朋友都带出来。”谭信华说。谭目前就有30多位亲戚、同学及朋友在加纳。这些人主要来自上林县的明亮、大丰、巷贤三个镇，总数约在3－5万人之间。
加纳素有“黄金海岸”之称，黄金开采已有百年历史，目前探明黄金储量约985吨，占世界黄金总产量的3%，为仅次于南非的非洲第二大产金国。
“最早来加纳采金的中国人来自黑龙江，上世纪90年代末，湖南株洲人相继进入，但真正做成气候的是上林的采金者。”加纳·中国矿业协会秘书长苏震宇介绍说，上林采金群体以砂金开采为主，洗砂环节离不开水，因此砂金生意多集中在加纳的澳芬河、Tano River等河流沿岸。
加纳以岩金为主的大型金矿，早先被Newmont、Gold Fields、AngloGold Ashanti等英、美大矿公司圈走。只有河滩边的砂金，不适宜大型采金设备，而加纳本地人对砂金采用挖坑、搬料、淘金等人力方式，效率低、产量少，一直做不好。
直到2005年，上林人将砂泵技艺传入加纳，才彻底改变了加纳砂金开采的格局。上林的砂泵技术只有上林人才懂，技术不外传。因此在中国采金人圈子里，流传着“非上林人不组机”一说。
在加纳，上林商人一般和当地地主NANA（村庄酋长）合作，寻找持有采矿许可证的地主，缴纳2-3万塞地（注：加纳货币）的“进场费”。谭信华买的地是25英亩，交了2.5万塞地，相当于人民币8万元。买的地上如有农作物，则按农作物价值一次性赔偿20年。
加纳法律将金矿分大矿和小矿两类：25英亩以下小矿仅限加纳本国人开采。但上林人自有绕过法律关卡的办法。
“只要和酋长们说好条件，就能采。”谭信华说，因为土地是酋长的，矿产证也在他手里，我们可以说，这是本国酋长的矿，我只是帮他开采而已。
为了强化和地主们的利益联盟，上林人会与地主签约，地主占矿区股权的10-12%，每天产完金后，地主会在晚上过来将属于他的份额拿走。也有不同的方式，比如一个月给地主1万塞地，那就不用给地主矿权。
如何确定你买的土地有金？只有初中文化的谭信华介绍说，上林人已形成看金的独门经验：看地形，在开采前清洗一小片土地，“一看就知道有没有金”。
谭信华的矿雇有5个上林同乡、两个当地人。对当地人工资都是现结，一天给12塞地，平均月工资是280-300元塞地，是当地工资的三四倍。上林人多为壮族，与当地黑人相处久了，当地人也会说一点壮话。
至于上林籍的工人，则有6000元/月的底薪，外加每天产量2-3%的提成。“三年下来，就算只是打工，也有30万左右的收入。”谭信华说。
加纳矿业商会的数据显示，2011年，加纳全国黄金产量为360万盎司，其中30%来自小型矿场。苏震宇估计，上林人控制的小型矿场，实际的产量占比可能达到40%。
家乡因此成了上林人的设备重镇。众多挖掘机、钩机、水枪等被采购后运到上林，按金矿的需求重新改装，再通过深圳海关运往加纳。今年3月份最多时，上林县通过深圳盐田港发往加纳的设备就有100多个集装箱。
暴涨的枪支行情
随着上林淘金者在加纳发财，针对他们的抢劫案此起彼伏。3月份，一位上林人遇劫身亡，劫匪用AK47在他身上打了27枪。
“2011年一年，我们在库玛西的采金工地就被抢劫两次。”上林采金者李增全说，当时在白天发生了枪战，中加两方人员互有死伤。
“异国生存，首先是保命，财是次要的。” 上林采金者胡宏石说。胡的工地上常留有200克金子。“如果几十个劫匪来了，几十把枪肯定没法反抗，那就把这些金子和钱拿走吧，不伤人就好。”
对于报案，上林商人从不抱指望。“有什么用，能破案吗？”谭信华说，报了案，警察来工地敲竹杠会更频繁，先前每次塞给几十元人民币就会走，现在要给数百元。
为保安全，在加纳的上林淘金者常常三四个工程队住在一起，或是共同出去卖金，这样可以集中七八名保镖。很多上林淘金队手上都有几支AK47，金矿工地常备有手枪和八连发猎枪。经常有上林商人和匪帮枪战的消息传出。据估计有上万支枪支掌握在以上林淘金队为主的中国商人手中。由于需求水涨船高，当地8连发“来福”猎枪售价已从先前的1800塞地暴涨到3000塞地（约1万人民币）。
加纳森林盛产鳄鱼和其它各种鸟类、老虎、蛇，当地人从来不吃。上林商人们因为有枪，就经常跑到湖里和山里打猎，天天吃穿山甲肉，喝鳄鱼汤、老虎汤，把当地人都惊呆了。
上林淘金者面对的另一个大敌是加纳盛行的虐疾。加纳热带传染病多，矿区又多在森林深处，距开在大城市的医院较远，病了医治不及，就只能埋尸异国。
而最近才出现的威胁是，由于上林人在加纳绝大多持的是旅游签证而非劳务签证，都是从第三国进入加纳，签证先天不足，故常遭遇加纳移民局驱逐。
“先前移民局的官员过来时，拿几箱矿泉水，给几百塞地就可以把他们打发走，”谭信华抱怨，“现在会把你关起来，交更多的保释金才能放人，或是遣返。”如果上林人躲进丛林，移民局会将工地上的机械等物资都拿走，机器一台上百万元，损失惨重。
库玛西的上林小世界
与高风险相对应的是高收益。“在加纳的上林淘金者赚钱的几率是50-60%。”胡宏石说。
上林人在加纳投资的采金生产线超过1000条，以每条300万元成本计算，上林商帮在加纳的投资多达30亿元。这些淘金工地，一般一个工地配两台挖掘机，一天产200-300克黄金算是平均水平。运气奇佳者一天能采到1公斤；当然也有倒霉的，一天只有30-50克，甚至挂空挡。
一般工地如果每天采300克，按当前国际金价280元/克算，一天收入接近10万元人民币，扣除费用，一天仍有数万的收入，年入千万并非神话。
上林人在淘出金后，会把金矿转手卖给湖南人、浙江人和福建人，甚至还有印度和当地的购金者，买家多带到国际现货市场出售，售价按照当天国际金价下浮一定幅度后出售，买家吃的就是其中的利差。
如果是以浙江、福建人为主的国际买家，只有少部分通过当地银行汇款方式到卖家帐上，大部分的做法是直接在国内转帐到上林人在国内的户头中。
一位工商银行广西分行的人士透露，在2011年5、6月份，上林县曾经在半个月内金融系统涌入10多亿外来存款，引发国家层面的关注，因为上林县2012年财政收入才刚刚突破3亿元。
围绕着暴富的上林人，在库玛西等数个加纳城市里，出现了大小不一的中国城。城里中餐馆、酒店、超市、医院、KTV一应俱全。由于加纳当地人不吃蔬菜，甚至有人专门到库玛西种菜，供给上林商人。
谭信华抱怨，由于大多是从中国国内空运而来，中国城里的商品，价格一律是国内的3倍以上。“康师傅方便面国内是4块钱一包，这里是12块钱，而青菜则是20元/斤。”
由于上林商人多采用国内的机械工程设备，故此三一、柳工、力士德等都在加纳有服务网点。“零部件价格也是国内的三倍，爱要不要。”
中国医生在这里也极受欢迎，待遇可以达到2万元/月人民币甚至更多。
就连性服务行业也被带动起来。“有一个福建老板开了个酒楼，直接从国内带了上百个小姐过来。”谭信华说，“当然，小姐的月薪也是国内的几倍，否则谁会跑这来？”
在加纳的上林商人绝大多数为男性，有的直接娶当地女性为妻，生个黄黑相加的孩子，讲着一口流利的壮话。随着孩子长大，有的人开始头疼要不要带孩子回去接受国内的教育。
上林商人的金钱还带来当地赌场的繁荣。在上林采金人聚集的敦夸，一些赌场专门为淘金人设置赌博游戏，据传至少20%的淘金收入投进了赌场。有人为此倾家荡产。
谭信华从不光顾赌场。他希望在3年内积攒起千万的财富，然后给父母盖一个很大而安享晚年的大宅院，同时在南宁安家，娶一个漂亮的媳妇，“开一个茶庄，偶尔给客人讲讲我在加纳淘金的故事”。
（应受访者要求，谭信华和胡宏石为化名）

Chinese People in Africa: An Inside View Into Their Daily Lives (Translation) Part 6 – Kenya

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 sixth installment in the six-part series.
Kenya
Rule of Law Weekly reporter Gao Yin   Translation by Erik Myxter
"First I wanted to gain more knowledge and experience.  Secondly I was young and thought that maybe in the future I will not have the chance to go to Africa, so why not go and have a look?" With this kind of a mindset in the end of the 2011 Liu Yu (pseudonym) went to the East African country of Kenya to work for the company Zoomlion.
Initially he came to this country famous for its top-class long-distance runners and was surprised to find out the country's weather was like a continuous spring with temperatures at 25 degrees Celsius a year.  When he went to the local Chinese supermarket and was able to buy Wang Shou Yi (a famous Chinese brand) seasoning, his initial strangeness to the country was cut in half.  With everything going in his favor, he adapted to live in the "Kenyan mode"
Liu Yu mainly works in sales, irrigation building and trade.
While speaking with customers, Liu Yu received much of his information about local laws, procedures and news.
"For example I learned about clearing customs, the products under law that are subject to taxes and information about duty and VAT.  Another example of some news he learned was when the new president of Zambia took office he issued a decree that bound the customs and Inland revenue Department and now all data can be directly linked to customs in effort to prevent corruption." He said.
As for Kenya's law environment, Liu Yu thinks highly of it saying, "Kenya's law environment is loose, as long as you comply with the law and behave yourself, don't kill people, and don't start fires then no one gives you any trouble."
In a blink of an eye, Liu Yu found himself to have already been in Kenya for over a year.  During this time he occasionally goes to Tanzania and Zambia.  In these three countries the local people say Chinese enterprises are very good.  "They will point at a road and say, 'This is a road Chinese people built, Very good!’"
During Liu Yu's time in Kenya there has been one man who has given him a deep impression.
"Before there was man who was a cleaner at a hotel I was staying at.  He was very enthusiastic and brought me to many markets where I could buy things in Nairobi.  He didn't take any money for his help and he didn't often say ‘we are friends’ in a fake manner.  He was very caring and honest."
As for the future, Liu Yu is sure to consider himself as someone who likes to create the foundations for the benefit of future generations.  "If I start getting close to 30 years old, and am still in Africa starting a business, this will be hard to accept for my personality."
Liu Yu feels that relative to Europe, America and Asia, Africa is a little child with a massive amount of space to grow in the future.  "So in order to evaluate Africa, I think you must start by understanding the continent and to be inclusive to its development perspective."
肯尼亚
法治周末记者 高欣
“一是多见识、多历练；二是考虑到现在年轻，以后年纪大了，总不会去大非洲旅游吧？于是先去看看。”抱着这样的念头，2011年年末，刘宇(化名)被中联重科股吧)派至东非国家肯尼亚。
最初来到这个盛产顶级长跑运动员的国度，刘宇有些惊讶于这里“全年25摄氏度、四季如春”的气候。当他在当地的中国超市买到王守义十三香时，最初的陌生感消融了一大半。而自从带了象棋去杀遍四方无敌手后，他正式适应了“肯尼亚模式”。
刘宇的工作主要是销售、渠道、市场。
在和客户的聊天中，刘宇获得了许多国家法律法规的信息。
“比如海关清关，法律规定该产品需交多少税，duty和VAT的比重各占多少；又比如赞比亚总统上台后就颁布法令，将海关, 税务局绑定，以后税务局能直接关联海关所有数据，以防止贪弊之风。”他说。
对于肯尼亚的法治环境，刘宇评价很高：“肯尼亚环境相当宽松，只要安分守己，不杀人、不放火，自然没人找麻烦。”
一转眼，在肯尼亚已一年多。期间，他还偶尔跑坦桑尼亚和赞比亚。在这三个国家，当地老百姓都说中国企业“顶呱呱”。“他们会指着一条路对你说：这是中国人修的路，顶呱呱！”
在刘宇的肯尼亚生活中，一位本地小伙儿给他留下了深刻印象。
“这个小伙子之前在我们酒店里打扫房间。他很热情，给我介绍内罗毕哪些地方可以买到好东西，还专门带我去看过市场。他也不收钱，也很少会有‘we are friends’这种大路话。他善良、正直。”
对于未来，刘宇直言，自己比较喜欢当“前人栽树、后人乘凉”的后人。“如果要一路筚路蓝缕30年，在非洲热土开创事业，这依我的性格比较难接受。”他说。
刘宇觉得，相对于欧美、亚洲，非洲还只是一个蹒跚学步的小孩儿，未来发展空间巨大。“所以要评价非洲，我觉得要先理解这片大陆，要用包容的、发展的眼光看。

Chinese People in Africa: An Inside View Into Their Daily Lives (Translation) Part 5 – Angola

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。

Chinese People in Africa: An Inside View Into Their Daily Lives (Translation) Part 1 – Intro / Nigeria

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 first installment in the six-part series.
Chinese People in Africa: An Inside View into Their Daily Lives (Translation)
April 24th 2013 1:27am   Source: Rule of Law Weekly Reporter: Gao Jin Translation by Erik Myxter
Although it acts as a major transportation hub for several continents, today the Dubai airport feels a bit like a Chinese airport.  Look around and about 80% of who you will see are Chinese business men, company employees, government officials and workers.  Their next stop: Africa.
On March of this year the newly appointed head of China, Xi Jinping arrived in Africa to make visits to Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of Congo.  He also was one of the major leaders to attend the fifth ever BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa.
Although Africa's economy has a weak foundation and its infrastructure is in need of improvement, however the area is rapidly developing and the potential market is huge.  With each passing day Chinese-African relations are becoming deeper, and more and more Chinese people are choosing this completely wild and hopeful land to work and live.
But for many people who have not been to Africa, Africa still is somewhat of a mystery.
Where in Africa are there Chinese people? What do they do for work? How do they live? What kind of "African Rules" have they encountered?
Nigeria
Rule of Law Weekly reporter Gao Jin
Five years ago, Zhou Yifeng (pseudonym) was sent to work for a company in Nigeria.  Before this time he had already gone to Egypt, Kenya and a few other countries for short vacations, so when he was preparing to go to Nigeria, he wasn't very worried.
When he arrived, Zhou Yifeng still felt the same: "It has been a little better than I expected.  I hadn’t had any culture shock."
More differences started to become apparent in his experiences with customers and his living environment.
As an employee of a major Chinese automotive parts company, Zhou Yifeng's work in Nigeria made him often have to deal with other local businesses.  "The local people have respect for big Chinese companies”, he said.
Outside of his time at work, Zhou Yifeng likes to hang out or stay at his home. In his eyes, Africa is like a semi-virgin land. "If it is a country with a good environment, and has law and order, I can lead a long life here”, he said.
作为几大洲的交通枢纽，如今的迪拜机场有些像中国国内机场，到处都是中国人的面孔。商务人士、公司职员、国内官员、务工人员……80%的中国人，下一站会是非洲。
今年3月，新任国家主席习近平也来到了非洲，并出访坦桑尼亚, 南非和刚果(布)三国，还出席在南非德班举行的金砖国家领导人第五次会晤。
非洲经济底子薄，基础设施待完善，但却是一个快速发展的地方，市场潜力巨大。在中非关系日益深化的今天，越来越多的中国人选择来到这片充满野性和希望的大陆上，工作、生活。
而对于许多并未到过非洲的国人来说，非洲却依然显得有些神秘。
那些在非洲的中国人，怎样工作、生活？他们遭遇过怎样的“非洲规则”？
法治周末记者采访了6位在非工作、生活的国人，他们在不同国家、从事着不同职业。每个人都有一段真实而独特的非洲故事。
尼日利亚
法治周末记者 高欣
5年前，赵一峰(化名)被公司派往尼日利亚。之前，他已去过埃及,肯尼亚等地做短期旅游，所以赴尼日利亚之前，他并未有太大担心。
到了当地，赵一峰还是感觉到：“比想象中要好一些。没有文化冲击。”
更多的差异，体现在客户和生活环境上。
作为国内某大型汽车零部件企业员工，赵一峰在尼日利亚的工作经常需要和当地企业及有关部门打交道。“当地人对来自中国的大企业多是尊敬的。”他说。
工作以外的时间，赵一峰或闲逛、或宅在家。在他看来，非洲就像是一片半处女地。“如果是环境好、治安好的国家，是可以长期生活的。”他说。

Chinese People in Africa: An Inside View Into Their Daily Lives (Translation)Part 4 – Gabon

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 fourth installment in the six-part series.
Gabon
Rule of Law Reporter Yi Li  Translation by Erik Myxter
May is just around the corner and Li Qiang (pseudonym) an employ at a large state owned company is busy packing her suitcase.
Her destination is Africa's Republic of Gabon. This country is located in the middle of Africa's east coast.  On August 17, 1960, Gabon declared independence from France.  On April 20th 1974 China and Gabon instated diplomatic relations.
Li Qiang's reason to go to such a distant land was because of work.
"We can choose to go to Africa, South America or the Middle East." Li Qiang said.  Because he wanted a larger salary so he could prepare to buy a house on his returns home, he chose the cost-effective option of going to Africa.
In fact, Li Qiang is no longer a stranger to Gabon because last summer he spent a year's time in the rural areas of Gabon, doing the same type of work he is doing now.
In order to make sure of employees safety, the company employees a teacher who teaches close-combat skills, fortunately on his last trip to Africa he did not have to use these skills.
Gabon has two points that took this young Chinese man by surprise. "First although there are a few rich people, the local countryside is still relatively backwards.  Secondly, people are very friendly towards Chinese people."
Li Qiang explains, in Gabon he has seen many houses, many of them are made of wood, he rarely sees buildings that have reinforced concrete.
Because Li Qiang works in a company with closed-end management techniques, he is not able to freely go on vacation in this tropical country.  "Our passports are all with the company for safekeeping". Li Qiang said.  The main reason behind doing is for the consideration of staff safety.
"Gabon's police enforcement is very strict." Li Qiang told our Rule of Law reporter.  In his view, the local order was good.
When Li Qiang's company hired some local young people he saw, "The contract must be signed on a month-to-month basis, this showed me there is a strong local awareness of the protection of worker's rights.  Also when you terminate a contract, not only does one must go through some troublesome procedures, but the company also has to compensate the local workers."
On a normal day, except for eating and sleeping, the company's Chinese and Gabonese staffs are always together and get along very harmoniously.  After the two groups became harmonious, Li Qiang found Gabonese people's personalities have special characteristics.  "They are very content with their lives, this is very unlike doing business with local Chinese people who are always working actively to make more money."
However, the content Gabonese people also can very easily smell a business opportunity when they see Chinese people.
Many street peddlers’ can speak a few words of Chinese.  Li Qiang said; "On the one hand they are envious of China's ability to develop so quickly, but on the other hand they are very willing to work with Chinese people do to business.
In accordance with Gabonese's law, it is forbidden to trade Ivory.  In 1981 the central African states wrote legislation forbidding the killing of elephants.  However, today there are still many foreigners who take the risk because of the potential earnings they can make.
Li Qiang disclosed that Chinese firms have banned employees from buying ivory products, and his company has never had an individual try to buy ivory.  This is related to how thorough Gabon's custom's inspection handles affairs where the consequences can range from "fines to not being able to re-enter the country."
One could easily sum up Li Qiang's life in Africa as being very relaxed. Outside of work he has a lot of free time.  The other young workers are the same as him in often watching movies from their removable hard drives during their free time. "I rely on this (watching movies) to pass the time."
In rural Gabon, people mainly rely on collecting plants, fruits, roots and hunting to get food.  Most of everyday living products are "made in China", but the availability of them is limited and the prices are high.
For example, the local villagers consider cameras, cell phones and other electronic goods luxury items.
"You can sell a feature phone in China from 200-300 Yuan, but in Gabon the price for a phone converted into RMB would equal more than 1000 Yuan. " Li Qiang said.
Outside of State Owned Enterprises, there are a good amount of Chinese businessmen who are in Gabon panning for gold.  Some others run small convenience stores and some others come to Gabon to buy wood to export to China.  The Gabonese people see the same thing as the Chinese people.  Chinese people see this African country has much room for development and is "full of hope".
For his own reasons it has been a more practical option to come to Gabon to work in order to scrape together a down payment to buy a house in China.  Li Qiang hopes that his time in Gabon won't last too long.
加蓬
法治周末记者 尹丽
五月渐近，某大型国企工作人员李强(化名)开始忙碌地收拾行囊。
他的目的地，是非洲加蓬共和国。这是一个位于非洲中部东海岸的国家。1960年8月17日，加蓬脱离法国统治独立。1974年4月20日，中国与加蓬建交。
而李强之所以要前往这个遥远的国度，是因为工作需要。
“我们可以选择去非洲、南美洲还是中东地区。”李强说，自己因为希望有更多收入，好为回国买房做准备，于是选择了“性价比”相对较高的非洲。
事实上，加蓬对于李强而言，已经并不陌生。去年夏天，他就曾在加蓬农村地区呆过大半年的时间。同样是因为工作。
公司为了确保员工的安全，请人教授赴非洲的员工近身格斗技巧。但在上一次的非洲之旅中，李强庆幸自己没能用上。
加蓬有两点让这个中国青年人感到意外：“一是当地农村还比较落后，虽然也有一些人富裕起来了。二是人们对中国人挺友善。”
李强介绍，在加蓬，自己看到的多数房子，都是木头搭成的简陋住所。很少看到钢筋混凝土的建筑物。
由于李强所在的公司采用封闭式管理，他无法自由地在这个热带国家游玩。“我们的护照都是公司统一保管”。李强说，这也主要是为员工的安全问题考虑。
“加蓬的警察管理执法很严格。”李强告诉法治周末记者。在他看来，当地治安还不错。
李强所在的公司在加蓬当地聘请了一些青年，“合同一个月一签。当地保护工人权益的意识很强。如果中途解约，不仅手续麻烦，还需要赔偿当地工人”。
平日里，除了吃饭睡觉，公司的中国工人和加蓬工人都在一起，相处也很融洽。与他们接触后，李强眼中的加蓬人的性格特点是“很知足常乐，不像在当地做生意的中国人，总是很积极地努力干活挣钱”。
但是，知足常乐的加蓬人，也很容易就从远道而来的中国人身上嗅到了商机。
很多当地的小贩，都会说几个中国词。李强说：“他们一方面羡慕中国能发展得那么快，一方面也很愿意和中国人做生意。”
依据加蓬法律，象牙是禁止交易的。1981年，这个中非国家就已经立法禁止捕杀大象。然而，在利益的驱使下，还是有不少外国人铤而走险。
李强透露，中国公司明令禁止员工购买象牙制品，公司也从来没有人会购买象牙。因为如被加蓬海关查获，后果“轻则罚款，重则不准再次入境”。
总的来说，李强在非洲的日子还算轻松。工作之外，他有大把的闲暇时间。公司的年轻人和他一样，人手一个移动硬盘，里面都是各自喜欢的电影。“就靠这个打发时间了。”
在加蓬农村，人们主要靠采集植物的果实、根茎以及捕猎来获得食物。生活用品多是“中国制造”。但是不仅数量很少，价格也贵。
而相机、手机等电子产品，对当地农村人来说，更是奢侈品。
“一部2G手机，中国可能也就卖两三百元。但在加蓬，价格折算成人民币要一千多元。”李强说。
除了国企之外，不少中国生意人也在加蓬淘金。他们有的做日用品生意，有的从加蓬买木材出口到中国。就像加蓬人眼中的中国一样，中国人眼中的这个非洲国家，也有很大的发展空间，“充满希望”。
对他自己而言，更为实际的是，能够顺利争取到再次赴加蓬工作的机会，接着凑在中国买房的首付。李强希望，这一次的加蓬之旅，时间不要太长。

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