Canned food & fake Puma sneakers
Come along, come here, people! We've got old canned food, 1-Euro umbrellas that break after a day, and fake Puma sneakers, everything you need for a penny! That's what you can hear on both a scorching or a chilling day around the so-called Chinese markets around here in Eastern Europe. Indeed, the industrious Chinese tradesmen have become the anonymous version of Sam Walton (the founder of Walmart), especially for the most inaccessible consumers around the world.
In fact, the Chinese salesmen often fill up the vacuum in those places where Walmart does not dare to step, or thinks that it'd be unprofitable to go. In other words, they're often the super-sellers of the cheapest stuff in a large number of developing countries or places torn by armed conflicts and plagued by poverty.
Some time ago while I was reading the older stuff in here, I noticed an interesting post that analyzed the increased Chinese presence in Africa, which is already a well-known and broadly discussed phenomenon. But, while most media headlines are still dedicated to the resource processing industry, the Chinese entrepreneurs are also active in many other fields - from textiles to groceries. In some cases their presence is causing the discontent of the local population, especially when they're in a direct competition with the local traders; in other cases the Chinese are importing processed products which otherwise wouldn't have been as easily accessible or as cheap for the poorest consumers in Africa, Eastern Europe or anywhere else.
The advance of Chinese trade in other under-estimated markets could shed some light on the future role that the Chinese could play in Africa. Or take Eastern Europe if you like. It's more familiar to me as I'm actually from there. The Chinese traders have been flooding the region ever since the beginning of the 90's, when the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc turned post-communist Eurasia into a market that was open to everyone. A free-for-all game, really. This created huge opportunities, and the Chinese didn't miss them.
Personally, I became intrigued by the Chinese community in Eastern Europe somewhere around 2004, when I visited our neighbor Serbia for the first time. At that time, the former Yugoslav republics had the bulk of the Chinese immigrant population on the Balkans, especially Serbia and Montenegro (which were still in a federative union). And also Republika Srpska (the eastern part of Bosnia). Various media outlets were constantly informing of an ever increasing number of Chinese immigrants, and at some point their community in ex-Yugoslavia as a whole allegedly numbered well above 200 thousand. The experts were claiming that this number is exaggerated, but anyway, the influx of Chinese everywhere around the Balkans was unquestionable.
Everywhere, in small towns and villages across Serbia and Montenegro, I was seeing "Kineske prodavnice" (Chinese shops). They were selling cheap, Chinese-made stuff: pencils, umbrellas, imitations of Puma sneakers, everything - except foods. And were the embodiment of kitsch in its purest form. These shops had already become a natural part of the landscape, they were being tolerated by the local people and were run by Chinese salespeople who spoke some broken Serbian.
The curious thing was that all Chinese - from Belgrade to the small town of Ulcinj on the Montenegro/Albania border - were apparently coming from the same specific region in South-East China. They told stories of people from that same province who were running shops in North Korea, Cambodia, and across Russia.
In all those places, the need for basic goods was apparent. But because of the embargo and the political instability of that region, few multi-national companies were interested in those lands. But the Chinese traders were more than willing to open little shops even in the remotest new markets. And so they did.
When the Chinese started to arrive in Yugoslavia in the early 90's, mainly for the purpose of illegal immigration to Western Europe, the Serbian territories were heavily hit by the imposed sanctions. Most industries were shut down, but nevertheless, the people still needed some everyday products like toilet paper or clothes for example. In these terrible conditions of heavy embargo, and the turmoil of the constant wars in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Republika Srpska, they couldn't use the services of American or West European exporters.
So, a lot of Chinese who had initially intended to move to Western Europe, noticing these unsatisfied needs, decided to postpone their trip further west. Instead, while still maintaining their precious connections with the producers in South-East China, they opened up street stalls and small shops, selling clothes and electronics on street corners or in the suburbs. As the time passed, they improved their financial position somewhat, and their tiny shops began migrating to bigger, normal premises.
Today, the largest concentration of Chinese people in Serbia is definitely in District-70 in Novi Beograd (New Belgrade), which is just opposite the old historic center of the city, across the river Sava. There's even a "Kineski Tržni Centar" (Chinese trade center) in District-70, which consists of two huge buildings which serve as a distribution hub for all "kineske prodavnice" across Serbia. Every Sunday, Chinese shop owners from all around Serbia arrive at the place to replenish their clothes, cutlery and electronics supplies.
When the Chinese first started settling into New Belgrade 15 years ago, they weren't welcomed in a very friendly manner by the Serbians. They allegedly brought such unpleasant habits like throwing litter on the streets, spitting in public places and talking loudly - all things which appeared disgusting to the Serbians who are generally quite sensitive about manners. On the other hand, being inherently suspicious toward banking, the Chinese themselves became a preferred target for burglars (because they kept their turnover at home). Being unfamiliar with the local language and still inexperienced about the local customs, they couldn't protect themselves very well from vandals, and they seldom reported to the police about such incidents.
But after some time, they began retaliating to the harassment. Many of the Serbs that I met in Belgrade had grown up in an environment which included sporadic clashes with self-organized Chinese defense groups which were designed to protect their community from assault. Subsequently, those Serbs and Chinese who lived next door to each other, gradually managed to establish some kind of mutual tolerance, albeit still of the frowning sort.
During every next trip I made to Serbia, I kept meeting Chinese traders. The state of the current Serbian economy isn't much different from that of the mid 90's. Although the embargo has been lifted, the country is still politically and economically isolated from foreign capital, and the foreign companies are still reluctant to commit to big investment there. While it's true that the Serbs are known as being very proud people, and are famous for their resilience and industriousness and their unbreakable spirit of unity which is especially seen in hard times, in these conditions a real thriving economy could not be developed without foreign capital. Which is why the niche of the market of cheap-selling goods is still dominated by the Chinese.
Meanwhile, their attitude to the Serbs has changed a lot - their clients are usually polite and don't cause problems nowadays, if we exclude the occasional theft from time to time. True, their Serbian employees, wherever there are some, are not too diligent (a thing the Chinese, in their turn, consider disgusting). But all in all, life between the two communities has become decently harmonious.
During the years, the cultural gap between Serbs and Chinese has shrunk. In many regions, Serbian kids go to school alongside their Chinese class-mates - a sign that the latter's parents have actually stopped sending their children to study back in China. They're now appearing in Serbian movies and other cultural products - from minor parts in films shot at the New Belgrade studios, to being mentioned in popular songs. There's something good going on there, which can be educating for both sides, and could tell us much, especially about a country which has been branded as a synonym of ethnic intolerance. That could help Serbians heal the ulcer which still lurks in their mentality, regarding ethnic minorities and other-speaking neighbors.
Surely, it'd be unwise to make hasty generalizations about the role of the Chinese immigrants worldwide. Bringing the topic back to Africa now, it's truly a much more diverse place than Serbia and even Eastern Europe as a whole. But it's important to bear in mind that whenever we hear something about the "Chinese colonization" of Africa and other places, we shouldn't automatically imagine some mercantile bosses of oil conglomerates striving to suck up all resources out of the place. We should keep in mind the ordinary shop keepers and street-stall salesmen who shiver in the cold of the Chinese market in Belgrade, selling cheap accessible goods to the impoverished people. Think about that the next time you intend bashing the crappy Chinese stuff.
In fact, the Chinese salesmen often fill up the vacuum in those places where Walmart does not dare to step, or thinks that it'd be unprofitable to go. In other words, they're often the super-sellers of the cheapest stuff in a large number of developing countries or places torn by armed conflicts and plagued by poverty.
Some time ago while I was reading the older stuff in here, I noticed an interesting post that analyzed the increased Chinese presence in Africa, which is already a well-known and broadly discussed phenomenon. But, while most media headlines are still dedicated to the resource processing industry, the Chinese entrepreneurs are also active in many other fields - from textiles to groceries. In some cases their presence is causing the discontent of the local population, especially when they're in a direct competition with the local traders; in other cases the Chinese are importing processed products which otherwise wouldn't have been as easily accessible or as cheap for the poorest consumers in Africa, Eastern Europe or anywhere else.
The advance of Chinese trade in other under-estimated markets could shed some light on the future role that the Chinese could play in Africa. Or take Eastern Europe if you like. It's more familiar to me as I'm actually from there. The Chinese traders have been flooding the region ever since the beginning of the 90's, when the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc turned post-communist Eurasia into a market that was open to everyone. A free-for-all game, really. This created huge opportunities, and the Chinese didn't miss them.
Personally, I became intrigued by the Chinese community in Eastern Europe somewhere around 2004, when I visited our neighbor Serbia for the first time. At that time, the former Yugoslav republics had the bulk of the Chinese immigrant population on the Balkans, especially Serbia and Montenegro (which were still in a federative union). And also Republika Srpska (the eastern part of Bosnia). Various media outlets were constantly informing of an ever increasing number of Chinese immigrants, and at some point their community in ex-Yugoslavia as a whole allegedly numbered well above 200 thousand. The experts were claiming that this number is exaggerated, but anyway, the influx of Chinese everywhere around the Balkans was unquestionable.
Everywhere, in small towns and villages across Serbia and Montenegro, I was seeing "Kineske prodavnice" (Chinese shops). They were selling cheap, Chinese-made stuff: pencils, umbrellas, imitations of Puma sneakers, everything - except foods. And were the embodiment of kitsch in its purest form. These shops had already become a natural part of the landscape, they were being tolerated by the local people and were run by Chinese salespeople who spoke some broken Serbian.
The curious thing was that all Chinese - from Belgrade to the small town of Ulcinj on the Montenegro/Albania border - were apparently coming from the same specific region in South-East China. They told stories of people from that same province who were running shops in North Korea, Cambodia, and across Russia.
In all those places, the need for basic goods was apparent. But because of the embargo and the political instability of that region, few multi-national companies were interested in those lands. But the Chinese traders were more than willing to open little shops even in the remotest new markets. And so they did.
When the Chinese started to arrive in Yugoslavia in the early 90's, mainly for the purpose of illegal immigration to Western Europe, the Serbian territories were heavily hit by the imposed sanctions. Most industries were shut down, but nevertheless, the people still needed some everyday products like toilet paper or clothes for example. In these terrible conditions of heavy embargo, and the turmoil of the constant wars in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Republika Srpska, they couldn't use the services of American or West European exporters.
So, a lot of Chinese who had initially intended to move to Western Europe, noticing these unsatisfied needs, decided to postpone their trip further west. Instead, while still maintaining their precious connections with the producers in South-East China, they opened up street stalls and small shops, selling clothes and electronics on street corners or in the suburbs. As the time passed, they improved their financial position somewhat, and their tiny shops began migrating to bigger, normal premises.
Today, the largest concentration of Chinese people in Serbia is definitely in District-70 in Novi Beograd (New Belgrade), which is just opposite the old historic center of the city, across the river Sava. There's even a "Kineski Tržni Centar" (Chinese trade center) in District-70, which consists of two huge buildings which serve as a distribution hub for all "kineske prodavnice" across Serbia. Every Sunday, Chinese shop owners from all around Serbia arrive at the place to replenish their clothes, cutlery and electronics supplies.
When the Chinese first started settling into New Belgrade 15 years ago, they weren't welcomed in a very friendly manner by the Serbians. They allegedly brought such unpleasant habits like throwing litter on the streets, spitting in public places and talking loudly - all things which appeared disgusting to the Serbians who are generally quite sensitive about manners. On the other hand, being inherently suspicious toward banking, the Chinese themselves became a preferred target for burglars (because they kept their turnover at home). Being unfamiliar with the local language and still inexperienced about the local customs, they couldn't protect themselves very well from vandals, and they seldom reported to the police about such incidents.
But after some time, they began retaliating to the harassment. Many of the Serbs that I met in Belgrade had grown up in an environment which included sporadic clashes with self-organized Chinese defense groups which were designed to protect their community from assault. Subsequently, those Serbs and Chinese who lived next door to each other, gradually managed to establish some kind of mutual tolerance, albeit still of the frowning sort.
During every next trip I made to Serbia, I kept meeting Chinese traders. The state of the current Serbian economy isn't much different from that of the mid 90's. Although the embargo has been lifted, the country is still politically and economically isolated from foreign capital, and the foreign companies are still reluctant to commit to big investment there. While it's true that the Serbs are known as being very proud people, and are famous for their resilience and industriousness and their unbreakable spirit of unity which is especially seen in hard times, in these conditions a real thriving economy could not be developed without foreign capital. Which is why the niche of the market of cheap-selling goods is still dominated by the Chinese.
Meanwhile, their attitude to the Serbs has changed a lot - their clients are usually polite and don't cause problems nowadays, if we exclude the occasional theft from time to time. True, their Serbian employees, wherever there are some, are not too diligent (a thing the Chinese, in their turn, consider disgusting). But all in all, life between the two communities has become decently harmonious.
During the years, the cultural gap between Serbs and Chinese has shrunk. In many regions, Serbian kids go to school alongside their Chinese class-mates - a sign that the latter's parents have actually stopped sending their children to study back in China. They're now appearing in Serbian movies and other cultural products - from minor parts in films shot at the New Belgrade studios, to being mentioned in popular songs. There's something good going on there, which can be educating for both sides, and could tell us much, especially about a country which has been branded as a synonym of ethnic intolerance. That could help Serbians heal the ulcer which still lurks in their mentality, regarding ethnic minorities and other-speaking neighbors.
Surely, it'd be unwise to make hasty generalizations about the role of the Chinese immigrants worldwide. Bringing the topic back to Africa now, it's truly a much more diverse place than Serbia and even Eastern Europe as a whole. But it's important to bear in mind that whenever we hear something about the "Chinese colonization" of Africa and other places, we shouldn't automatically imagine some mercantile bosses of oil conglomerates striving to suck up all resources out of the place. We should keep in mind the ordinary shop keepers and street-stall salesmen who shiver in the cold of the Chinese market in Belgrade, selling cheap accessible goods to the impoverished people. Think about that the next time you intend bashing the crappy Chinese stuff.