Opinion | Influx of Chinese transforms the landscape of Madagascar
Fujian traders are doing good business in the capital’s newly built Chinatown, even if locals aren’t exactly welcoming them with open arms
I was on holiday in Madagascar over the past three weeks.
There were no herds of elephants and gazelles traipsing over the savanna. That's in Tanzania. Neither were there any lions, zebras, hippos or penguins as shown in the DreamWorks blockbuster.
There are soul-humbling mountains, poverty-stricken yet cheerful Madagascans, lemurs and many mainland Chinese. In fact, there are more residents from the mainland than there are lemurs. The island is home to more than 70,000 Chinese, double the figure less than a decade ago.
In its worn out capital, Antananarivo, there is a "Chinatown" - an area of 20-plus shopping malls and countless vendors, as well as eager traders and shoppers. I elbowed my way into one of these malls. It was a maze of box-like shops, selling all sorts of made-in-China goods - clothing, shoes, cosmetics, 2G mobile phones for HK$40 and various electronic gadgets.
The island is home to more than 70,000 Chinese, double the figure a decade ago
They are counterfeit, but, they are brand new. That's something. In most Madagascan markets, anything man-made is usually second hand.