By Ren Ke

    BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- In his office in Harare, Frank Wu oversees a team of local administrative staff that run his company, Shomet Industry Development -- one of the largest Chinese companies in Zimbabwe.

    Wu was sent to Zimbabwe in 1999 as an employee of a state-owned Chinese enterprise. Two years later, he left the company to start up his own business in the country.

    At that time, when some farmers that had benefited from the Zimbabwean land reforms wanted to increase production, Wu found that agricultural machines were badly needed. He bought up some used machines and materials, and managed to re-equip and design them all by himself. Orders started to flood in and along with it, loans from local banks, helping to grow his business.

    After its initial success, Wu's company then entered into the local construction, engineering, transportation and furniture sectors. Now all of Wu's businesses have been thriving. Every month he pays wages to nearly 400 local employees, each from 100 to 500 U.S. dollars, compared with the country's annual GDP of no more than 300 U.S. dollars per capita.

    Wu lives with his family in Zimbabwe, so he has only been back to China once since they moved. "When I had just started up my business, I could not afford the air tickets, but now I do not have time to go back", said Wu.

    However, Frank Wu is not alone -- over 5,300 Chinese-born citizens currently reside in Zimbabwe, helping him to find an outlet with which to disperse his nostalgic mood.

    Looking at the bigger picture, Chinese businessmen are now spreading across the African continent - from Somalia on the banks of the Red Sea, to Morocco bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. There is barely an African nation that has been ignored by them.

    They build up huge manufacturing plants, providing products ranging from daily necessities and home appliances to motorcycles. They also set up Chinese markets to sell their cheap goods labeling them as 'Made in China'.

    The Chinese entrepreneurs have constructed huge infrastructure networks to service the areas surrounding their factories -- ranging from railway networks and houses to hospitals and schools.

    In some oil-producing countries like Sudan and Angola, Chinese companies have helped to establish oil-refining facilities.

    Along with the industrialists, Chinese leaders are not far behind. Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya in April this year, and Premier Wen Jiabao swept through seven African countries in June.

    In November 2006, Beijing hosted the inaugural Sino-African summit, giving a lavish welcome to leaders of 48 African countries in the hope of forging 'new strategic partnerships'. This paid dividends for both sides, resulting in bigger contracts for Chinese businesses, more aid for Africa and cancellation of debts for the most underdeveloped African nations.

    High-level exchanges help to promote international economic relations. Chinese companies, albeit mostly sate-owned, are heading for Africa with more and more employees, technology and investment -- an aggregate 6.3 billion U.S. dollars at present. On top of this, the trade volume between China and Africa has quadrupled since 2000, and is expected to exceed 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

However, the present nature of Sino-African trade -- largely products in return for resources -- has raised concerns that relations between China and Africa has the potential to become akin to that of the old European colonial empires.