National Public Radio reported on Guangzhou’s vibrant Little Africa neighborhood on April 27th. The neighborhood is home to some 10,000 Africans, many of them traders who come to China to buy cheap goods at the source and ship them home. Many arrived with 30-day visas but have overstayed.
The Tangqi clothing market in this neighborhood was the subject of a July 2009 public security raid, which this blog covered. During that raid, as many immigrants fled from the police, a Nigerian man jumped jumped to his death while trying to escape. Afterwards, immigrants led a protest outside the police station to complain that police heavy-handedness led to the death and more generally about frequent visa checks by police in their neighborhood in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in October 2009.
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