We talked to these three Chinese youths who entered Africa about the story of "seeing the world"
Africa is seen as a new path for young Chinese people seeking development today. The overseas manager of a well-known domestic construction company mentioned that "graduates from 211 and 985 universities, which were difficult to recruit in previous years, can be selected this year.". In fact, Chinese youth groups, including college students, have already set their footprints in Africa.
The thriving Africa can certainly be seen as a platform for providing employment opportunities for Chinese youth, but the challenges of cross-border mobility such as language barriers, security threats, and cultural differences are clearly the thresholds they will inevitably encounter. For the new generation of overseas Chinese youth, finding employment to make a living is not enough to showcase the full picture of their foreign life.
What is the ultimate consideration for Chinese youth choosing to travel to unfamiliar Africa? How is the local work and living situation? What are your plans for the future? These questions need to be returned to their firsthand experiences of being overseas to find answers.
"Working is life, it's the same everywhere"
Even at night, Tema, Ghana's second largest city in mid July, is still full of enthusiasm. Shen Bing, who had finished a hard day's work, was having a drink with a few buddies on a makeshift square table next to the construction site. Several homemade braised dishes were scattered on the table, and at the corner of the table stood several bottles of local beer called "Club", with many empty bottles already beside them. As a construction worker, Shen Bing specializes in water and electricity installation and has been busy with the interior decoration of the commercial city in recent months.
Shen Bing, born in 1990, comes from a rural area near Jinan City and his home is not far from the city center. Shandong is a province that attaches great importance to education, but Shen Bing is not a typical "good student". At the age of fourteen or fifteen, Shen Bing, who had not yet graduated from junior high school, dropped out of school and went out to work. "I have been to many places, all over the country, such as Chengdu and Changsha," he recounted.
Since childhood, "wandering" has become a theme of Shen Bing's life. When Shen Bing was very young, his mother passed away. Even though his father loved him deeply, it was difficult for him to be as delicate as his mother. For a long time, he stayed at his aunt's house. It is precisely because of these childhood experiences that he has become accustomed to mobility and drifting, and even he is too lazy to tell his family about coming to Africa to work. He thinks it's very normal. Before the COVID-19 at home and abroad stopped, Shen Bing, together with several friends, followed the pace of business expansion of engineering contractors to Ghana.
When it comes to why he chose to come to Africa, Shen Bing said he didn't think there was anything special about it, it was just a change of place to work. "A few good buddies can be together, they are all working people and living wherever they are." Even if they are not proficient in English and can only speak a few simple words, they are not familiar with the local society, and Shen Bing is not afraid of living overseas.
The construction party provides accommodation, and besides working every day, Shen Bing does not have much contact with the local society. He doesn't have much interest either, like a stranger hiding in the local area. When he inevitably encounters trouble, he mostly uses the experience he has heard from other Chinese people to deal with it. One night, Shen Bing and a Chinese driver drove us back to our residence when they happened to encounter a police stop for inspection on the way. Sitting in the co pilot's seat, he muttered, "Give them some money, just leave." He instinctively took out the fifty blocks of land he had prepared in his pocket, rolled down the car window, reluctantly but naturally handed it to the police. According to him, this skill of interacting with local police or customs personnel is his usual way of dealing with similar troubles.
For Shen Bing, who has a low educational level, a disabled family of origin, and a low professional status, coming to Ghana and working across provinces in China are similar types of labor "exports". Even though there is not much social presence in the local area, Shen Bing does not want to stop the footsteps of cross-border labor. This project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. I met a boss who said there is a project in Canada and asked me to go there. I am planning to go there, and he is planning a follow-up itinerary.
The block next to the construction site where Shen Bing is located.
"I want to earn higher income and see a bigger world too"
In July and August, Ethiopia was in the rainy season, and besides being damp, it was also a bit chilly. Wei Yu, wearing a thick coat, only walked out of the company office building at around 8 pm, and his accommodation was in the neighboring building. Several employees have recently returned to China for vacation, and as a newcomer, he has been assigned more unrelated work, making overtime the norm.
There is a five hour time difference between Addis Ababa and Beijing, and it is already late at night in China, so it is obvious that one cannot call their girlfriend who is far away in Chengdu. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh.
Wei Yuxue majored in National Economic Management. He graduated from the School of Economics at Sichuan University in 2020 and later joined this well-known domestic construction company. At the end of the year, he moved to an overseas branch located in Ethiopia. When I first joined the company, I promised that my overseas salary would be more than twice that of my domestic salary, and I would receive a monthly salary of over 20000 RMB in one year.
Income return is a factor that many college students consider when choosing overseas employment, and Wei Yu is no exception. However, the opportunity to travel to different countries is a more important driving force. "Our generation has decent living conditions, and we can't go hungry without work. Salary income is indeed a factor, but 70% of the motivation is to see a bigger world.". When looking for a job after graduation, Wei Yu considered either foreign enterprises or state-owned enterprises with overseas business. In his view, only enterprises with such a large scale can have the opportunity to go abroad.
After arriving in Addis Ababa, he would observe and experience the local society whenever he had time. Wei Yu is willing to learn about urban construction, traditional festivals, dietary habits, cultural beliefs, and other knowledge in foreign countries. Although he only has over two years of local living experience, he has become a "local expert".
Coincidentally on the weekend off, he took the initiative to be our guide and take a look at the well-known local park. On the way back and forth, he not only introduced us to how to taste local coffee, but also talked about the ceremony for ordinary people to celebrate the local New Year. He also gave a detailed explanation of the history and production process of the Ethiopian national cuisine, Yingjila. In him, the image of a contemporary Chinese youth who strives to learn and understand local culture is vivid and vivid.
Recently, after several years of "going abroad to see the world", Wei Yu is hesitating whether to stay overseas or go back early. Affected by the global pandemic and fluctuations in the international political situation, the performance of the overseas construction industry has not been good in the past two years. Wei Yu's salary has not increased this year, and it is even lower than last year. The company's previous promises have been shattered.
If you continue to stay overseas, the immense work pressure does not match the rewards you receive. "As a finance professional, I have to run banks and project sites every day, as well as manage logistics and contact the fleet. I have to do too much work."
However, if you return to China early, not only will the original intention of saving money not be achieved, but the pressure of employment competition in the domestic accounting industry will also be considerable. At present, the income is not high, but it accumulates over time and cannot be underestimated. "In the future, the expenses of buying a house and getting married will not be of much help to the family, and we will have to save them ourselves. After all, if we are stationed abroad, we can save up our salary.".
The Addis Ababa Park that Wei Yu took me to visit.
"Chinese people are like flowing soldiers, while local talents are like iron camps."
In a high-end office building in downtown Rwanda, Feng Ke, dressed in a straight suit, warmly introduced us to the key directions for the company's business development in the future. The industry jargon that occasionally emerges is enough to demonstrate his exceptional professional level. Less than a month ago, he was just transferred from the Dubai branch to Rwanda. One is the Middle East, and the other is Africa. Although there is a significant difference in conditions between the two regions, it does not create a significant sense of difference. Throughout his studies and work, "not taking the ordinary path" has become the norm.
Feng Ke was born in Chongqing and is a typical urban middle-class family born in the 1990s. He, who wanted to venture abroad, graduated from high school and was admitted to Nanyang University of Technology to study English. Unlike the vast majority of his classmates who either settle in Singapore or continue their studies in Europe and America, his choice after graduation is to return to China to work. He does not favor state-owned enterprises or foreign companies, but has entered a growing private electric vehicle enterprise in Shenzhen, which is not well understood by his family and classmates.
"Although staying in Singapore at the time allowed for a more comfortable life, I believe that the protagonist of the global economy in the future will be Chinese companies," he said. After working for a few years, he switched to a globally influential communication company. After working for two years, he showed an international perspective and was valued by the company. He was sent to Dubai, and it was only after four years that he came to Rwanda to continue his management work.
Before coming to Africa, a friend who had similar work experience warned Feng Ke not to trust the locals too much and to keep a distance, otherwise these people would "make progress and demand more.". In fact, whether in Ghana or Ethiopia, we have heard many Chinese people working overseas have similar feelings or complaints.
Feng Ke also acknowledges that there are still differences in language use, religious beliefs, lifestyle habits, and many other aspects between him and the locals, making it difficult to integrate into the local community. However, as a young generation of highly educated overseas management talents, he has his own unique insights into African society. "We need to be wary of stereotypes about locals. Most of the employees who enter our company have received university education in Europe and America. Among us educated individuals, there are more similarities." In daily company management, Feng Ke highly recognizes the need for local employees to "self actualize", respects their choices, and also tries to provide them with more opportunities.
As an overseas management talent of Chinese enterprises, Feng Ke often thinks about the sustainability of international operations, especially the localization of employment and management. In Chinese companies going global, Chinese people are like flowing soldiers, and local talents are like iron camps. In his view, building a more professional management team is the fundamental.
From studying abroad but not settling down, to actively seeking employment overseas, Feng Ke has always maintained an independent thinking attitude along the way. He, who is not on an ordinary path, plans to travel to more countries and continue to develop into a senior international management talent while working abroad.
The street view of Kigali from Feng Ke's office.
Due to different opportunities, family backgrounds, educational backgrounds, and professional positions, three Chinese youths went to different African countries and wrote their own colorful youth stories. Although Shen Bing's family conditions were not good and his education was not high, he went to Ghana to work in the construction industry with low technical content. However, he showed the courage to venture overseas, viewing work as life itself and creating the future through labor; Wei Yu, a recent graduate from a 985 university, followed the footsteps of China's infrastructure construction going global and arrived in Ethiopia, facing the dilemma of whether to stay or not. However, his desire to visit a larger world has also been preliminarily realized; Feng Ke, who has studied abroad and had work experience in multiple countries, has accumulated a lot of life experience both domestically and internationally due to his unique personality, and is making great strides towards becoming an international management talent who understands both domestic and overseas.
Three Chinese youths who set sail to Africa showcased vastly different brilliance, searching for meaning in life and positioning themselves in cross-border mobility, documenting the different epitomes of Chinese youth's internationalization stage in the new era.
