Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
I am puzzled at the citing of 'the 50,000 Chinese workers in Algeria and elsewhere in Northern Africa'.
davidbfpo
I don't know about North Africa, but there are a ton of Chinese workers in sub-Sahara Africa. During a recent trip to the horn, I was surprised at the sheer number of Chinese nationals participating in various infrastructure projects at every level from business admin types to heavy machinery operators. Some entrepreneurs even left their construction jobs to open up their own martial arts studios, restaurants, etc. From what I was told/saw the workers usually rent a small place in the rough part of town and share the cost of rent and utilities while sending the bulk of their income to family members back home. They’ve even got accustomed to chewing kot.

NPR: Army Of Shopowners Paved China's Way In Africa

Africans marvel, fret at China's hard workers

But he wonders about the Chinese practice of flying planeloads of laborers into a war-weary, politically fragile society where seven out of 10 adults under 30 has no job.
Algerian officials say the country had 19,000 Chinese workers in 2007, mostly builders and craftsmen implementing parts of a $200 billion national economic development plan. Some Algerians believe the real number is several times that.