China's interest in Africa is not new. Beijing was interested on building a sort of ideological solidarity with undeveloped countries since 1970s. To promote Chinese communism, and to repel Western "imperialism". Nowadays, their interests are more pragmatic (oil, trade, investments and so on), sure, and, "the acceleration of South-South trade and investment is one of the most significant features of recent developments in the global economy", as Harry Broadman has underlined in his "Africa's Silk Road". It's not a new subject. Raffaele Cazzola Hofmann in "Cina, il boom made in Africa", or Serge Michel, Michel Beuret and Paolo Woods in "China Safari", and many others... Starting from this documentation (see the Paolo Woods' pictures too) and the experience in Benin, a little country in West Africa, here's a reality that exists also out of the main network. Chinese are everywhere in Africa. Also in Benin, where there's no oil, no wood, no uranium, no copper. It's the story of two cultures trying to live together.
Abdon Adjalla, 43 years old Beninese man, and Shi Ya Juan, 36 years old Chinese woman from Shenyang, are married since 2001. Abdon spent 10 years in China, where he went with a Chinese government scholarship. But he met Shi Ya Juan in Benin. They work in import-export business. Here, they are in Cotonou, with their two sons: Syndia, 6 years old, and Owen, 2.
A Chinese building worker in Godomey's interchange construction site, in Cotonou. 1400m long: an interchange that will be ready in 2011, and whose works were beginning in 2009 by China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation. A project funded by Chinese government.
Lokossa, Benin: working at Cbt (Compagnie b?ninoise des textiles). Cbt is a joint venture, 51% of Chinese investements and 49% of Beninese government, that produce 100% cotton yarn. The activity started in 2002.
Cbt: made in Benin.
Godomey's interchange construction site in Cotonou: two building workers in bedroom area.
Yu Kui is one of Chinese engineers working with China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation, in Godomey's construction site. Mister Hounsa is a Chinese-French-Fon interpreter, a very important role for a good work. (Fon: one of Beninese languages)
Godomey's construction site in Cotonou.
Beninese people waiting for the truck driver test. In this construction site, the most part of workers are Chinese workers, but there are also some Beninese men as drivers or interpreters.
Marius Denon at Chinese Cultural Centre in Cotonou. He work at the centre since 2007, after a bad experience as interpreter for a Chinese trader in Dantokpa, the biggest market of the sub-region. Marius is planning to go to China, with a Chinese government scholarship. Every year, about 30-40 beninese students leave for China. (2000 scholarships every year for African people, that now Chinese government want to increase to 4000)
Long Meiyun is 34 years old. The first time, she arrived in Benin in 2002. After, she came back a few times. She helped Chinese people coming to Benin to start a job. Now, Long Meiyun live in Cotonou and she just opened Jasmin Chinese restaurant.
Two Chinese workers in Godomey's construction site, in Cotonou.
Gao Jixing, 32 years old, Cbt managing director.
He lives in Lokossa since 2003, just near the factory, like all chinese people working there. His wife is in China, and he come back one month and a half a year. He loves beninese people, but for working there are a lot of cultural misunderstanding, he said.
He will come back to China permanently in one or two years.
Beninese workers at Cbt in Lokossa.
Chinese and Beninese workers at Godomey's construction site in Cotonou.
Li Ling is 25 years old, and she's in Benin since 2008. She's in charge of the political and social program at Chinese Embassy in Cotonou.
Wang Juan, 34 years old, is from Urumqi, the most western region of China. She arrived in Cotonou in april 2009, to join her husband, who was in Benin since 2004.
![Annarella Academy Ballet- Photos 2011 " MASQUERADE"](http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles11/634232/projects/2122488/c0e869e3e9edc9e2934775132a99a6a3.jpg "Annarella Academy Ballet- Photos 2011 " MASQUERADE"")
