Beginnings of a Chinatown sprouting in Algiers
2006-09-22
A large number of new Chinese shops have appeared in Algeria over the last couple of years, suggesting a significant Chinese community may be taking hold in the city. Chinatowns are a rarity in Arab nations.
By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 22/09/06
 [File] Shop selling Chinese items in Algiers |
Algiers may be seeing the beginnings of a Chinatown as Chinese shops are springing up throughout the city. Restaurants and stalls selling goods at discount prices are appearing in central Algiers districts, along main roads, Martyrs Square, the Meissonnier, 1 May Square, and working-class suburbs.
The prevalence of Chinese people is most noticeable in the eastern suburbs, which are rife with markets selling Chinese clothes and household items. These markets are run by Chinese traders who appear to have quickly adapted to life in Algeria
Chinatowns are a relatively new phenomenon in the Arab world, with Dubai -- a city predominantly populated by foreigners -- being the only Arab city to have one.
Chinese immigrant communities are experienced at establishing themselves in foreign countries. The Chinese people have been migrating overseas since the Ming Dynasty of the 14th century. Chinese migration reached its peak in the 19th century during the age of colonialism. The opening of shops and restaurants with products from their home country eventually evolved into today's Chinatowns.
For Algeria, the recent influx of Chinese began early in the decade when a project to build 100,000 homes began. Chinese companies won a number of contracts under the project and made a name for themselves with their swift work. Since then, the Chinese community has grown steadily and invested in the sale of textile items.
The fledgling Chinese community in Algiers sells authentic Chinese cuisine and low-priced clothing, which is particularly welcomed by Algerians. T-shirts sell for approximately $7, trainers and shoes for $10 and traditional kimonos from between $21 and $28.
A visit to more than a dozen of these shops revealed that they are also well stocked with household, decorative items, arts and crafts, and linens. Young and old Algerians frequent them daily to find inexpensive items with which to adorn their homes.
Amina Soufi, a 25-year-old Algerian woman, says these shops will help her decorate her future home. She is planning to get married this summer and has decided to buy place mats, tablecloths and embroidered tea towels from Toung, who owns 'Charme de l'Orient' on Rue Didouche Mourad.
Toung has built up a clientele by helping customers give their living rooms a "facelift". Ines, his Algerian assistant, interprets for him and also acts as a go-between.
Apart from "Bonjour" (hello) in French and "Saha" (to your health) in Arabic, these merchants often speak no language other than Chinese, but attempt to communicate with their customers by all possible means.
"After handicrafts, we plan to invest in the restaurant business to introduce people here to our wonderful Chinese specialities," says Toung.
Many Chinese people open shops on the main streets to take advantage of high foot traffic. Shopping outlets include "China", "Le Vogue Chinois", "La Rose", and "Mordjane".
Liang, a young Chinese woman from Suzhou, chose Martyrs Square as a location to sell sheets.
"This shop was rented to me by an Algerian", adding, "Algeria is huge and needs our business experience, which has been famous the world over since time began."
The latest trend in Algeria is for foreigners to work for Algerian figureheads or to trade on the black market. Several Chinese merchants told Magharebia they are renting their premises and hope to buy them, if a good opportunity comes up to offer new collections of clothes at low prices.
Mohamed Boulenouar of the National Union of Algerian Traders and Craftsmen (UGCAA) finds current trends worrying.
"Unofficial trade is widespread – according to some estimates, there are around one million such traders throughout the country. If nothing is done about it, it will cause chaos, which could affect Algeria's chances of joining the World Trade Organisation."
The unease is shared by Mustapha Bendjaber, president of the Sahel Chamber of Commerce and a member of the national headquarters of the Entrepreneurs' Forum.
He asserts, "It's important for us not to stir up xenophobia, but it's a shame things don't work both ways; it's very hard for an Algerian to start up a business in China."
He added, "We need to re-examine the way in which foreigners are allowed to settle in Algeria. A foreigner of any nationality can create a company with US $1,250. Figures from the Ministry of Trade provide some evidence of this activity.
By law, Chinese citizens, like other foreigners residing in Algeria, are only allowed to stay for three months at a time. In order to continue their extended stays without violating Algerian immigration law, many Chinese leave and then quickly return to the country four times a year.
Neither Algeria nor China are considered traditional "immigrant countries". But while starting a business in Algeria is not easy for a foreigner, the informal climate can be much easier than the highly-regulated market of China. Algeria is especially attractive since it is starting to shed its image of crime and poverty and is slowly but surely opening up to foreign investment, street traffic and shopping.
A report published in 2005 by the Boston Globe says Chinese stakes in infrastructure projects in Africa have increased dramatically over the past several years. According to the newspaper, "Trade between Africa and China was at $18.5 billion in 2003 -- an increase of 50 percent over the previous year."
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khalid Posted 2006-09-24
Excellent reportage on something that is really happening in Algeria. Best wishes for continuing coverage.
borjihen Posted 2006-09-29
In my opinion, this sort of move on such a scale is serious on the part of the Algerian authorities and that is because the population is still poor due to the high unemployment rate.
biman Posted 2007-05-11
Unfortunately, the despots of the Maghreb don’t give a damn about their people, who are literally dying of hunger. This is truly sad.
Jamel Posted 2007-10-11
Chinese immigration is a good thing for Algeria. Given all the future real-estate projects in Algeria, it would seem that it will resemble Singapore or Dubai in 15 to 20 years. Moreover, Daewoo and Matsushita (micro processor) are looking to set up businesses in Algeria. Asians, just like all other immigrants, are welcome in Algeria, and I more than definitely invite them to live here. Just like Europeans, the immigration of workers and intelligentsia is necessary to economic and technological development of a nation.
anissa Posted 2007-10-11
There is one thing I do know, and that is that the Chinese are hard workers. The proof is in the fact that since they came to Algeria there have been tons of changes. If we Algerians had done this kind of work beginning at Independence, we would not be asking who is eating our bread. We have such little hope for the current president, who is frankly getting things moving. May God protect us from the envious.
rostom Posted 2007-12-19
Everything depends on the nationalist thought as everyone has noticed that our common belief, we might reject our reality and current conditions, but it was us who caused this as a majority or minority. Because there are some who try to evade and say I don’t belong to the group as if he were a victim. But the reality shows the opposite. We are all responsible, what about a society which was educated on deceit and treachery. Everyone tries to take more than he gives. Let’s just look at work in companies and administrations. We all receive a salary but we don’t work full hours, this is considered a deceit and treachery against the nation, believing that we should behave so because our rights are stolen. We have the culture of taking instead of the culture of giving unlike other developed societies. Some say that our regime is corrupt, but I can’t make a difference in conditions. I say that any person can make the difference at his level. Now the governor is like the governed, they’re part of us and we’re part of them, and we’re in our nature. God do not change the inside of the people until they change themselves, God say the truth. Change begins with us as a society and in a mechanical way the regime changes on the detriment of the nation. But why are, for example, all Chinese skilled and quick in their work; it is education, civilization and national thought. This means that their thought is common about what was the cause of their progress. We also share the same thought about the cause of our backwardness from other nations. Unfortunately, up to now, everyone is still entangled and trying to find an issue for our situation, we have gone far away from the solution while the solution is close; we should change what’s inside of us as communities and individuals. The first path to this is the cultural revolution. As everyone knows, in order to get a job, there should be training; the training for the nations is the cultural revolution which changes our concepts and our vision to everything. Then we can stop for a while and contemplate that the public interest guarantees the interest of the individual and not the opposite as it is common among us. After that we will begin on the first road towards progress if we prioritize the interest of the nation before anything else, then we will become a society and a nation which has a foundation, entity, reputation and weight among nations by its knowledge, culture and education as a result of these two important components for building societies.
sognia Posted 2008-01-04
Yes, I think Algeria should open up, but not at any price. The foreigners who are coming here need to be submitted to a restricted immigration law. So what are you doing, Algerians? You need to make the law.
mehdi Posted 2008-11-09
This was a simple yet realistic investigation. However, under no circumstances should we allow for xenophobia, especially of the racist type. We cannot defend our compatriots who live abroad and, at the same time, refuse to allow foreigners to move to our country. That would be absurd!
Amine Posted 2009-01-02
Hi- Personally, I deeply believe that the arrival and settlement of the Chinese in Algeria en masse is, from a commercial point of view, a blessing in many lights. But, there is also a flip side of the coin. The Chinese immigrants in Algeria offer, in my opinion, a boost to business at the global-economic level. The Algerian people have always had difficult accepting foreigners who do not have the same culture and, more particularly, the same culture as them. Therefore, if this ends up working out with the Chinese, then this could open other doors, that is: contributing to changing the Algerian mindset. ;) As a second point, I agree when it comes to saying the Chinese have a good sense of business, but, more importantly, they have good experience in craftwork and trade. So, if Algeria is smart enough, it will take advantage of this. I do not think that we need to forget that the people themselves suffer from unemployment, especially with regards to the young. They see this in a bad light because they themselves suffer from unemployment. In this sense, I understand the young people’s anger: they do not understand why the Chinese are preferred over them, the Algerians, when it comes to giving out work. But, their skills, know-how and speed could be beneficial to Algerians (if they seize the opportunity to learn this know-how). In another sense, we also need to five the Algerian youth the opportunity to be trained, to learn. This is why it would be very intelligent to create training centres, schools and infrastructure to educate Algerians in know-how coming from the East. There is also one recurrent issue: the Chinese have begun their conquest of the world and that may even scare Europe. There are a lot of fakes and imitations out there.
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