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

FIGURE 2.2. Gender of the respondents.

for sale in faraway places such as Bangkok, Dubai, and Guangzhou. Of course, women also travel, but men travel more because of these roles that have been established for men and women in the African family trading business. This business arrangement may be typical for other cultures as well, but it appears to be more prominent in the African culture.

Levels of Schooling

In many parts of Africa, it is widely assumed that it is typically a school dropout who enters into a sole proprietorship retail business and travels around the country or continent to source out items of trade. However, contrary to this belief, more than 40% of the research population reported receiving tertiary education.

I was therefore dealing with a relatively well-educated population of Africans in Guangzhou. One fact that may explain this scenario is that in many parts of Africa, civil service and other government jobs (e.g., teachers, police, and even university lecturers) do not command a decent living salary. These university graduates therefore found it necessary to join the retail business, especially of the import-export nature, which is far more lucrative than most salaried jobs in many parts of Africa.