Feeling like a black rock star in China
Thalefang Charles | Thursday June 30, 2016 12:22
In my case I technically drove into China, well not from Africa, but from that Chinese-British island of Hong Kong.
After 13 hours of flying direct from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, the Hong Kong International Airport offers one of the most scenic landings because the aircraft feels like it is landing at sea.
This is because the airport is located on the coast. The Hong Kong Immigrations offered me three months to stay on the island without any questions.
This reminded me that I was technically not yet in China and I finally realised why Edward Snowden chose Hong Kong hotel as his first refuge after spilling the National Security Agency’s secrets.
But my Hong Kong freedom praises were cut short by a troop of khaki uniformed security agents who picked this lone black man out of the crowd for some “random routine search”. They spoke English and looked amazed when they discovered that I was from Botswana. One of them asked, “Small country?”
“No. Big country, small population,” I responded. They all laughed when I said, “Two million” before their boss finally said: “Welcome to Hong Kong”, with a straight smile.
Past the khaki security agents came my favourite arrival experience – the stranger with a placard bearing my name.
Although he bungled my first name it was still discernable because there was a Huawei (my hosts) logo on the placard.
He led me outside the Terminal building into hot Hong Kong humid weather — totally different from the cold Gaborone winter at home.
Short walk to the car park and we were already sweating, but before long my airport pick-up guy asked (from a non-Chinese speaker it came out as an order) me to wait by the passenger waiting area while he fetched the vehicle.
I took a chance to log into social networks using fast airport Wifi and before I encountered Mainland China’s Google-Facebook wall.
“The vehicle.” I was expecting those two-colour Chinese cabs with caged driver’s seats, alas the man welcomed me in a big black Mercedes Benz S500 Maybach. Inside the Maybach, however, there was no ‘Maybach music’ but I relaxed to some classical pieces sitting alone like royalty at the rear as we sped through Hong Kong tunnels and over the Shenzhen River to the border with Mainland China.
“I can get used to travelling like this,” I thought to myself.
At the border I was not even asked to step out of the Maybach, my chauffeur only rolled down the rear window, just like the way royals roll. But the border crossing surely felt like entering the enigmatic planet ‘Zhongguo’, better known by the rest of the world as the People’s Republic of China.
The immigrations woman had to ask for a second opinion about my impression on the passport – I guess we all look the same to Chinese people.
After her colleague interrogated my passport and gave me a few long cold stares, I eventually got a stamp and was welcomed into China.
I waved, gave them an I-made-it-in-smile and said, “Xie xie nimen”.
My chauffeur dropped me off at the Huawei headquarters, and I got out of the Maybach like a rock star - I waited for the chauffeur to open the door before stepping out, which I believe is the proper etiquette of getting out of a car that costs a few millions. At the Huawei headquarters I joined other media from Africa for the Huawei tour and was relegated down to a tour bus.
It was 9:30am in Shenzhen, 3:30am in Gaborone, I had just stepped out of a 13-hour flight and I had to work – talk about hitting the ground running.
But I was prepared for the jetlag. I had plenty of warm water aboard the flight and got some shut eye, but I am naturally not a good fan of sleep.
I felt I cannot travel this far just to sleep, not in China.Our Huawei entourage comprised of journalists, bloggers, football stars and marketers from Nigeria, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius and Botswana. The programme was relaxed and they had thrown in a city tour after factory visits. At first we heard about Huawei’s next generation technology from the guides at the building they call G1. There was also a presentation on their new flagship smartphone Huawei P9. The first factory we toured was where the company tests its devices for various conditions. There was environmental durability where the devices are put into various controlled weather conditions from freezing temperatures to near boiling heat. The devices are also tested on frictions, dropping, cable bending, plug mating, keypad and the weight they can handle.
We also visited the factory that assembles the Huawei Mate S smartphone. Most of the production line is fully automated only a few people make sure that there are no system errors.
At the end of the official business we were taken to restaurants for some Chinese food. Although I am not really a foodie I love Chinese food. Eating with media is usually the same anywhere - we start with asking for wifi passwords before any orders. So since no one understood the menus, our hosts made the orders while we requested the wifi password to start the Google-Facebook hack. My VPN did not work, which meant the Chinese were already ahead of me. I was already inside China and all Google-based applications would not function. I could not get any latest VPN from PlayStore because, Playstore is blocked too. Meanwhile lunch was on. Green tea, Tsingtao and warm lemon water. Dishes crowded the table; roasted duck, fried chicken, egg-plant, fried rice with eggs, prawns, noodles, dumplings, fish and many other dishes. As the norm before we touch the food, it has to be photographed. Some stood up to get the whole crowded table full of various Chinese food.
Finally one of the South African bloggers managed to get the VPN that actually worked. He shared the VPN with the rest of the entourage and we had successfully cracked the great Chinese Google-Facebook wall. We could now throw in some grammes, post on Facebook and Tweet our Chinese lunch.
One of the things I find interesting about China is their relations with black people. I always feel like a rock star when I am on the streets of China. It is only in China where I can be stopped by hordes of girls at the mall requesting photographs with me - just because I am black. I am not really sure whether they were mistaking me for Jay Z or Kanye West, but they acted like Kanye and Jigga groupies.
Well at first it was exciting, but it later got a little annoying. After getting their selfies these people would then stand there and stare at you like a meal they had never had. Later on the stares just felt like they were watching some creature that had stepped out of a zoo.
Their curiosity could be pretty awkward sometimes, especially when they start to touch you, without permission, like they could wipe your melanin from your face. However, my friend, who is endowed with a beautiful African behind later said to me, “You have no idea what Chinese stares feel like until you are a black woman with this butt”. I think I can relate.