- Title: CHINA: Young Africans look to China for success
- Date: 5th November 2009
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) KAJESE SPEAKING WITH SMALL CAMERA MONITOR IN FRONT KAJESE'S FACE AS SHE SPEAKS KAJESE SPEAKING IN STUDIO WITH SCREEN BEHIND SHOWING HER LIVE ON AIR SCREEN SHOWING HER LIVE ON AIR CCTV INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST AND ANCHORMAN ZOU YUE WATCHING KAJESE SPEAKING ON SCREEN ZOU WATCHING SCREEN SHOWING KAJESE AND THEN CHINESE PREMIER WEN JIABA
- Embargoed: 20th November 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics: Economic News
- Reuters ID: LVAD7ZLNOM2WXDR2X1HVGLE78XT6
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: A news anchorwoman and a nightclub DJ join other young Africans finding success in China, whose booming economy and ever closer ties with African nations is creating opportunities they might once have sought in Europe or the U.S..
It's not yet four a.m., the sun won't rise for another three hours, and Vimbayi Kajese is already arriving at work.
This has been the start of Kajese's daily routine for over two months, since she took up her role at China Central Television (CCTV) as mainland China's first African news presenter.
Kajese is one of an increasing number of young Africans heading to China, as the country's booming economy and ever closer ties with African nations create opportunities now seemingly unimaginable in Europe or the United States.
A 28-year-old from Harare in Zimbabwe, Kajese studied in the U.S. at the University of Kansas before coming to China 5 years ago as a Kansas Asia scholar.
Her first job in China was training company executives in media skills before moving into internships with various media agencies in Beijing and finally landing the job of news anchor at CCTV.
After half an hour in make-up, she has a few short minutes to scan the morning's headlines, edit her script and get her tongue around the pronunciation of tricky Asian names.
Far from resenting the early hours and stressful job, Kajese says she is grateful to show a good face for both Africa and China.
"Perhaps there's a lot of Chinese people that might not have met many Africans, and so now is an opportunity to say 'Well, why does she speak like this or why is her hair like this, etceteras, etceteras, etceteras. It's starting a conversation that maybe wasn't started before. So it's good on both ends, and it's also good so that when Africans come here, they'll know that there are opportunities for them, just like any other foreigner," she said.
Kajese reads the news on the top of most hours from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on CCTV 9, otherwise known as CCTV International, China's state-run English language channel.
The channel which is broadcast in China, is also available in 80 countries, of which six are in Africa, and thus functions as China's main television mouthpiece to the world.
Communist China's friendly relations with Africa go back decades, to when Beijing backed newly independent states as well as liberation movements.
In return, the continent's backing was vital in getting China into the United Nations in 1971.
Trade between China and African countries has surged by an average annual 30 percent for much of the past decade, driven by China's appetite for oil and minerals, and its sales of goods to African markets.
China and Africa will hold the second Africa-China summit from Nov. 8-9, when analysts and diplomats expect Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to match the $5 billion in loans and credit offered in the first summit in 2006.
Along with economic cooperation, Africa also offers China a friendly stage to show the wider world that its growth and international policies are a global force for good.
Zou Yue, a long-time CCTV International anchorman who oversees the work of all the foreign presenters, said the station was keen to engage more with African viewers and Africa in general.
"Of course you know that CCTV 9 wants to be more international, wants to appeal to the international audience. It has been received in more than 80 countries, so that's one of the reasons I think we employed Vimbayi in the first place, so that we can appeal to our audiences in Africa," he said.
Frank Baelongandi, a 27-year-old born in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been working as a DJ in Beijing for six years.
He came to Beijing to study business before taking up a residency at Vic's, one of the capital's biggest clubs.
He has since won a series of awards, as well as being pronounced the capital's best DJ.
A growing middle class and relaxation of traditional conservatism has seen an explosion in the number of clubs and bars in China's big cities, creating an outlet for young people looking to the outside world for excitement.
In China, Baelongandi, who plays under the name DJ Kefra, saw a chance to make his mark.
"I felt the energy, the opportunity, and I felt the magnitude. Like how big stuff are here and how big stuff will be in the future. And so I just decided 'OK I think that's the place I should stay.' Like people talk about being in the right place at the right time. I was feeling like 'Wow, I think I'm in the right place at the right time right now'," he said.
The African community in China has grown dramatically since China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, explained Adams Bodomo, an Associate Professor at Hong Kong University.
As many as a quarter of a million Africans are in the country at any one time, he estimates, the majority of them traders living often part-time in the country's thriving southeast manufacturing regions.
There has been some ethnic friction and even clashes between police and African immigrants, including many staying illegally, in Guangdong province where the African population is most concentrated.
But with the increasing appeal of the east, ambitious young Africans like Kajese and Baelongandi are likely to keep heading out of Africa, and into China, for years to come. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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