Wang Linyan, China Daily (Beijing), August 5, 2009
Tang Yiguang, a 33-year-old from Fujian province, was shot in the head on Sunday morning, apparently by armed robbers attempting to hold up his store in Vryheid, a town 400 km from Johannesburg.
Embassy officials are already liaising with investigators and warning that Chinese business people are becoming targets in the country.
“I contacted the police this morning,” said Lou Xiandi, counselor on security at China’s Embassy in South Africa.
“They have caught five of the eight suspects, including the suspected gunman. They have also found guns.”
Lou said the robbers also shot dead a local security guard before taking cash and goods from the supermarket, which specialized in the sale of Chinese products.
Tang’s father is on his way to the country and Tang’s brother-in-law is running the business.
“We will do what we can to help his father,” Lou said, adding that officials have visited Tang’s wife and relatives to express their condolences.
Police concluded on Monday that the killing was carried out by eight people, including Tang’s cashier and her relatives, said Liu Yantao, chief of China’s Consulate General in Durban.
Original article
(Posted on August 5, 2009)
Comments
It is going to be interesting to see how China deals with the unique problems that doing business with and in Africa presents. Especially since ordinary Chinese seem to think that they can just move in and set up another store or restaurant as they do in the West.
Even here in North America if a Chinese person is robbed and killed it will probably be by a black man. If a chinese person is robbed and killed in Europe it will probably be by a black man. Black = Robbery, Rape, Murder. How long will it take for people to figure this out?
I’m guessing that the Chinese will find an effective way to deal with this kind of situation.
Check out how they’re handling the Tibetans and Uighurs.
The Chinese are hell-bent on colonizing Africa’s resources, and are not concerned one bit with “promoting Christianity,” “fostering diversity” or “fighting racism” like Europeans are. They are unabashedly nationalistic and will do everything in their power to maximize the return on their African investments.
Gotta get rid of those worthless dollars somewhere!
“Police concluded on Monday that the killing was carried out by eight people, including Tang’s cashier and her relatives, said Liu Yantao, chief of China’s Consulate General in Durban.’
Wasn’t there a recent article about Chinese being bad employers?
Labor relations African style.
“It is going to be interesting to see how China deals with the unique problems that doing business with and in Africa presents.”
Probably some kind of apartheid? Aren’t there numerous Chinese workers already there in other African countries, building this or that? I bet they don’t live with the natives. It wont be called ‘apartheid’ however. On this Earth only white folks can be bad, and are in fact cause of all problems in the past and evils continuation into the present.
Come on, John Liu, give us your diplomatic lecture about “sewing discord” among the Chinese and Africans.
Your rule as stated :
“We welcome comments that add information or perspective, and we encourage polite debate. Statements of fact and well-considered opinion are welcome, [B]but we will not post comments that include obscenities or insults[/B], whether of groups or individuals. We reserve the right to hold our critics to lower standards.”
and then you guys do not follow your own rules, witness these sentences from the comments :
“[b]Wasn’t there a recent article about Chinese being bad employers[/b]?”
“[b]Especially since ordinary Chinese seem to think that they can just move in and set up another store or restaurant as they do in the West[/b]”
“[b]Check out how they’re handling the Tibetans and Uighurs.
The Chinese are hell-bent on colonizing Africa’s resources, and are not concerned one bit with “promoting Christianity,” “fostering diversity” or “fighting racism” like Europeans are[/b]”
Dear Editors,
Is this a Chinese bashing site?
This is a story of a Chinese being shot dead by a South African, and you guys posted comments that blame the Chinese (and China) for that Chinese being shot dead ???
I like you, the editors, to answer this question: [i][b]What is the purpose of your site ?[/b][/i]
The truth is that sooner or later blacks will turn on anyone.
In liberal S.A, the blacks will get away with it. Once S.A collapses into another failed afro-state… the africans wouldn’t *dare* attack a chinese storekeeper.
The reprisals would be terrible even by african standards.
Blacks are like unruly children. Punishment or the threat of swift punishment keeps them well in line.
In Dark Star Safari, the author confronts a Malawi minister whose previous generation drove out Indian shopkeepers from Africa in the 1960s in a wave of nationalization. Theroux, in 2003, wanted to know why those boarded-up stores were still unused.
The Malawi minister, chuckling, said that blacks took over the business, couldn’t be bothered to do bothersome accounting (like counting stock on your shelves) and eventually abandoned them. But they refused to let the Indians come back, so they boarded up the stores, hoping to find a use for them.
Four decades later, the stores are still boarded up.
Theroux asked him, since blacks hated accounting, why they should be trusted with millions of (white) dollars in foreign aid.
He was met with an angry glare from the Malawi.
The conversation ended.
The subject of Chinese in Africa is always an interesting. By the time the Chinese are done with Africa, the Africans will be nostalgic for European colonialism. I have no objection to the subjugation of Africa by the Chinese. That Africa will be subjugated is destiny, it is the order of things; at least I’m sure that is how the Chinese see it. That is how Europeans used to see things, until we decided that all people are equal and started celebrating our daughters bearing African brown children for the sake of diversity.
Overseas people who reside there has to be more forwarding in assimilating with the people there. They should go beyond the half way mark in order to be accepted by the people there.
They have to show they are there to contribute to the society there, to the people there, and to raise the service employments there, and not for themselves alone.
Remember no one wants somoneone to walk into a country and legally “steal” away their jobs, business and so on, merely because they dont have resources, education and the support to do so.
The blacks there who were borned and raised there have been sidelined by the apartheid white government for many years that the blacks are now many years behind in comparison with other free-world countries.
I believe the chinese or whoever from overseas who wish to setttle in South Africa must be mindful of the plight of the poepl there.
China, being one of the richest countries now should help in financial contributing to the raising the development of the people there.
The chinese who are now there working or doing their own business like this shop owner should start to assimilate more with the neigbourhood people there.
They should contribute to the well being of the people through seminar, business and education fellowships with them.
A a chiness proverb says one must know how the source of water comes from.
One should now that you come to this country in South Africa which gives the source of customer base to bring you sales and profits.
Without the customers, you have nothing, so to speak. So chinese or overseas people doing business in South Africa must mindful of this proverb.
In short, the chinese or foreigner must go forward to more than half way mark, let say 70% marks, to assimilate with the community there. The south african people must also go foward to the half way mark, let say 60%, to accept them as part of their community of lives there.
Cheers, Singaporean
I agree with most of what Singaporean says. Too often Chinese see those people who are not as good at business as themselves (and that is no slight against Malays, Africans, Tongans - etc - there is nothing genetic to this) as perhaps easy pickings. Sure if one go to the place, one wants to make money, but one needs also to give back something to the community one takes from - and be seen to do so. And there certainly has to be respect for local language, customs, and values. Hopefully the Chinese will wisen up, and indeed make their African venture succeed to the mutual benefit of both African and Chinese. This of course will just enrage the West - another side benefit.
“Singaporean” has no idea of the innate behaviors of most blacks. Either that or this person is being completely disingenuous. Another point is that the Chinese aren’t nearly as tough as many have made them out to be. They’ve been run out of a couple of areas of Africa by rioters angry at the way they treat their African employees. To really run the show there, at least initially, you have to use force and show you’re willing to use it to keep things going your way. Which is the way the white man used to keep order until his nations were hijacked. If the Chinese begin to use some firepower to keep things in order it will be interesting to see if the marxist controlled MSM will cover up for them. I wouldn’t doubt it as the marxists in charge are in bed with the Chinese on many levels.
Singaporean: As someone from one of the most advanced countries in the world you know that progress comes at a cost. The cost is saving income, putting off petty pleasures and maintaining discipline. These qualities are found in East Asian and Northern European cultures. They are noticeably absent among Africans. Singapore is the way it is because it is 85% Chinese, if it were 85% Black it would look like Haiti. It is also dishonest for you to blame Black problems on Apartheid. Haiti was free of white interference for 200 years and they are still backwards. Kenya, Nigeria, all these other African states are free of whites and have been such for years and never had apartheid but their standard of living have DECREASED since decolonization. Singapore went from a fishing village to a high-tech city-state inside two generations, why? There are no natural resources in Singapore, Africa is rich with every possible natural resource but they haven’t even caught up with Bolivia or Laos in terms of development.
John Liu,
Ha ha…I am sorry, i bluffed. I am not a Singaporean, but a south african working in kenya.
I used “Singaporean” on the header in name only, so as to inform readers here on how I viewed it from my perspective from my training and earning visits to Singapore.
I cannot understand your comments on my views of it.
The crux of my comments is about assimilation as a necessary tool for anyone to integrate with other people in outlying city there in South Africa. Going the extra miles help in many ways. That’s all.
Yes, many countries in south Africa are backward even thoguh now without the whites. But it was during the colonial days that these people were not developed and many years had paased since.
It is important that good security on law and order should be maintained and fairness shoud prevail and sustain.
I think I have to agree with his point on the culture of “force” and even “beating”.
However I think this where the problem is. The culture has of “force” and “beating” has not changed.
So, by this culture, it is not possible to expect the people to change behaviour or to accept new ways of lives.
Behaviourer change in people can only be by emulation and assimilation and even adaptation. So the best way is from the top down process in showing how they behave towards downlines of others.
The start is from the civil service people which often is the largest public employees in the running of country.
The behavioural and attitude change starts from them, from the top, at ministerial level, and right to the ground level of the civil service level that deals with public security, public health, community developemnt, and social culture, etc.
The motto is “respect begets respect”, and “courtesy begets courtesy”.
Thanks to John Liu. I believe that if one wants to make money, it must give some back to the community where it takes from. There many ways that one can give back to the community.It is for one to take the first step first to them.
“I’m guessing that the Chinese will find an effective way to deal with this kind of situation. Check out how they’re handling the Tibetans and Uighurs.”
Paul, you have to remember that despite their totalitarian methods, egalitarianism is still a part of the official ideology of the Chinese state. And Chinese in general tend to think of the environment, rather than genes or inherent traits, as the root cause of human behavior (as can be seen by the posts of John Liu and company above). I doubt dealing with the relatively docile Tibetans and Uyghurs will be much help in the depths of Africa.
