Africans in China: A Sociocultural Study and Its Implications on ...

PHOTO 2.2. Clothes markets at Guangyuan Xi Road, Canaan (left) and Tianen (right).

Buildings and Marketplaces

Questionnaires were mainly administered over a year at Tianxiu Building, Canaan Export Clothes Wholesale Trade Centre (the so-called Canaan Market), and Tianen Export Trade Buildings.

The Tianxiu Building is located at No. 300 HuanShiZhong Road and consists of three blocks, A, B, and C. It was built in 1994 by a company in Hong Kong. The trading mall is located on the first four floors of all three blocks. Tianxiu Hotel is located on the higher floors of Block B. Other floors in the Tianxiu Building are occupied mainly by the offices of different companies (e.g., shipping companies, trading companies, etc.). In the trading mall, different shops sell textiles, suits, casual wear and other kinds of clothing, mobile phones, television sets, motorcycles, and many other things. Every day, African businessmen come to the trading mall and shop around. They place orders for goods and later ship them to Africa.

The Canaan Market, a wholesale clothes market, is located at No. 94 GuangYuanXi Road. It consists of three floors; the third floor opens onto GuangYuanXi Road, where the main entrance is located, and the first and second floors are underground. Most of the clothes sold there are casual wear; the entire second floor is occupied by shops selling jeans.