Egypt: Chinese Goods · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

You sure know about the economy of the People's Republic of China, which is one of the largest economies in the world. With an average annual GDP growth rate of 10 per cent, it has become normal to see Chinese goods in Egyptian stores. What is interesting to note is that the Chinese also depend on themselves to sell their goods away from the stores. Every now and then people are visited by Chinese salesmen … erm … saleswomen, who try to sell them products right in their homes.
Tayara Waraa – Kite – wrote a post here about her experience with one of those Chinese saleswomen.
طرقات على الباب
تقول لى بلغة عربية مكسرة : تشترى هاجة صينى؟
أقول لها فى العادة شكراً وأغلق الباب فوراً..لكننى فى هذه المرة كان بيتى عامراً بالبشر فقلت لها : تفضلى
وتفضلت
ووضعت البؤجة التى تحملها على الأرض وبدأت تعرض ما معها.. مفارش..ملابس..أدوات زينة
كنت أنظر لها وفى داخلى أسئلة
ليست عما تبيعه فهو معروف منذ بدأ الصينيون فى غزو البلد بأنفسهم وليس فقط عن طريق التصدير لنا..ولكن عما دفعها لهذا العمل الشاق..وتحمل الغربة فى سبيله..وهذه الحقيبة التى تحملها على ظهرها كوزر أو سنام جمل..وعن غايتها وهدفها وحلمها وفتى أحلامها القصير
:)
Knocks on the door
She told me in broken Arabic: “Wanna buy something Chinese?”
I would normally say: “No, thanks” to them and close the door … But this time my house was full of people so I asked her to come in.
She put the bag she was carrying with her on the floor and started to show me the goods she had. Tablecloths, cloths and cosmetics.
I was looking at her, with a lot of questions inside me.
Not about what she sold as it's known since they started to invade the country by themselves rather than exporting their goods to us only. But what forced her to do such hard job, and travel away from her homeland with a backpack like a camel hump. I was thinking about her aim and dreams and her short prince charming :)
She then continues …
يعجبنى هؤلاء القوم رغم اختلافى مع نهجهم القاضى بإنتاج درجات جودة مختلفة لكل السلع بدءاً من الصفر وتلك الدرجة ..درجة الصفر ..هى التى يقومون بالتصدير لنا من خلالها..وينتابنى دوماً عندما
أرى تلك العيون الضيقة المسحوبة أننى أواجه جيشاً من النمل..المنظم..الذى يمكنه أن ينخر فى عظام أى شىء ويحيله فى لحظة إلى هشي
I am impressed by those people although I do not agree with their strategy of having products with various quality levels starting from zero … and it is such low quality products that they export to us. I always have the feeling when I see those narrow eyes that I am facing an organized army of ants who can do almost anything.