roSE Lin Zamoa was not sure whether her Afro-Caribbean dishes would be welcome when she opened her first private kitchen in 2009. Yet, after three years, the kitchen proves popular with both African and Chinese in Beijing. It has five full-time staff and caters to private parties and corporate banquets seven days a week.
　　Zamoa said her reason for starting a business in China was that there were more opportunities, and the ghanaian-British entrepreneur is now planning to open another kitchen in south China’s Yunnan Province.
　　Basket of opportunity
　　An increasing number of foreigners like Zamoa, being attracted by China’s burgeoning economy, have come to work in the country. Data from the Ministry of human resources and Social Security showed that 231,700 foreigners had work permits in China at the end of 2010, compared with 223,000 in 2009.
　　Jerome Adimorah, a 26-year-old Britain of Nigerian descent, saw China as a safer alternative as the global recession ravaged Europe and the unemployment rate was at an all-time high.
　　Adimorah said it was easy to settle in his first job in China within a few months of his arrival, and now he worked for a Beijing-based English newspaper.
　　“Since coming to China on my first travel in 2009, I saw that China had endless opportunities for me in my field of work,” he told ChinAfrica. “The economy here is booming, and this is evident by the amount of foreigners who are relocating to China.”
　　About 600,000 foreigners lived on the Chinese mainland at the end of 2010, according to the latest national census. Many expats do basic work such as English teaching, but a growing number are arriving with skills and experience in finance, computer, and other fields.
　　China’s economic growth, which came in at a credible 9.2 percent last year, has created a large number of job opportunities, attracting many international workers as unemployment remains high in developed countries, said Carter Yang, Managing Director of robert Walters Talent Consulting Ltd. China, a leading professional recruitment consultancy.
　　According to figures released by 51job.com, a Chinese human resources service provider, it provided nearly 65,000 job opportunities for overseas personnel in January, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent, mostly in the fields of finance, insurance, hospitality, environmental protection, electronics and car manufacturing.
　　In addition, some foreigners believe working in China can improve their experience of living in the country.
　　rwandan Albert rugaba ran a trading company with a Chinese partner to export machinery to Africa for two years after he graduated from Beijing-based university of International Business and Economics in 2002. his China experience made him stand out when the rwanda Development Board (rDB) was established in 2005. he now is chief representative of rDB China office based in Shenzhen, guangdong Province, in charge of Sino-rwandan investment and trade.
　　rugaba believed he can make a great contribution in bridging and connecting Africa and China, and smooth out differences and misunderstandings that can occur in this important interaction process. “This is why my studies, my China experience and my Chinese language ability are of paramount importance in making this work a success,” he said.
　　Thanks to growing attention of Chinese companies to Africa, rugaba and his team have achieved great results in the last five years, with an average of $41 million of investment from China to rwanda each year, and a growing bilateral trade of $286 million for 2010.
　　An increasing number of foreigners working in China indicated that China holds a strong appeal and competitiveness in the global arena; meanwhile, these expats gradually become essential ingredients for guangdong, and the country’s economic growth, said Ning Chaoqiao, assistant researcher from guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences.
　　“I think more companies should open up their doors to skilled African workers present in China,” rugaba told ChinAfrica. “I firmly believe that employment trends for foreigners, especially Africans should improve in coming years, as more companies realize that they need a local perspective.”
　　Attracting foreigners
　　China is pursuing more favorable policies that will help attract more foreigners, while the country welcomed them to work here.
　　Foreigners in China have enjoyed more freedom in traveling, shopping, accommodation and especially in entry and exit, since the country’s own green card system was put into effect in August 2004.
　　Charlie Martin, former Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, considered that green cards would grant foreigners more advantages and convenience. he said it is important to get the permanent residence for foreigners doing business in China. In this way, Chinese business culture and market environment will be easier for them to understand and accept.
　　The number of people entering and exiting China has increased by 10 percent annually since 1990. In 2010, the number reached 382 million, including 52.1 million foreigners, said the Ministry of Public Security.
　　China aims to curb illegal entry, stay and employment of foreigners, according to the latest draft law on exit and entry administration submitted last December to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the top legislature of the country, for its first reading. The draft law said a foreigner shall get work permits and residence certificates for employment before getting employed.
　　“We will put forth efforts on regularizing foreigners who are working in China, do better in visa issuing, and strengthen residential management of foreigners,” said Yang huanning, Vice Minister of Public Security, in December last year.
　　Besides, foreigners living and working in China have become more intimately acquainted with the new social security scheme on foreign workers, which took effect in mid-october last year.
　　Participation in the program means foreign workers’take-home pay will shrink, because part of their wages will be put into the pension fund, and that their employers’costs will increase.
　　The new costs will cause complaints from a number of foreign companies, but complaints are invalid as it’s “an international practice and a product of globalization,” according to Li Xiaogang, Director of the Foreign Investment research Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
　　Jean-Claude Thergall, a 32-year-old Frenchman, worked for a Chinese company in Beijing for two years. he said he welcomes the new initiative but had concerns.
　　“Treating foreign employees on equal footing as national citizens is a reflection of China connecting to the globe, but I worried that it would be difficult to claim a refund when I leave China or change jobs, because most foreigners like me do not plan a long stay [in China],” he said.
　　Project Director James Xu with human resources company Mercer said that problems with the system will be sorted out, as China is on course to improve its existing security net, including security for its own citizens.
　　Li agreed. however, he admitted that the system needs to be improved to function more efficiently.
　　“Things need to be improved over time,” he added.