When Fan Wenjun boarded an almost empty plane to Dubai on Valentine’s Day in 2005, he did not take it as a good sign.
Dubai was still an unusual destination for Chinese tourists and entrepreneurs. Passengers on the Emirates flight from Shanghai were few and they stretched themselves out on the empty seats to sleep.
“It was a big plane and there were only maybe 100 passengers,” said Mr Fan, who was then 23. “So I was thinking, what of this city? At that time I didn’t have information about Dubai and it was expensive to go online and search. A lot of people told me the Middle East was unsafe.”
Instead, he found a city not unlike his native Shanghai, met his wife and became an entrepreneur.
Mr Fan is one of more than 200,000 Chinese residents who call the Emirates home. With increasing trade between China and the UAE, their numbers are set to grow.
This week, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, arrived in Beijing for a three-day tour of China and talks with President Xi Jinping.
China is one of the UAE’s largest trading partners.
There are about 6,000 Chinese companies operating in the Emirates and entrepreneurs such as Mr Fan have helped forge closer relations.
His story is typical. After working for the Chinese government in Dubai, he started a textile-trading business in Deira. When trade restrictions between Dubai and Iran tightened and the economy slowed, he closed the Deira company and opened a grocery, Panda Panda Supermarket, in Dragon Mart on the outskirts of Dubai.
It was the world’s largest Chinese trading hub outside mainland China and brought thousands of Chinese traders to Dubai when it opened in 2004. They formed a Chinese community at the nearby International City residential development, opening Chinese restaurants and groceries with Mandarin signboards.
After success in Dubai, many moved on to other Gulf states.
Mr Fan stayed in the city where he met his wife. Almost everything they want is there, except family.
Ms Fan has temporarily returned to her home city of Jiujiang, where her mother lives, for her second pregnancy.
Mr Fan awaits her return. If he had to do it all over, he would still chose Dubai.
“I don’t think I would have met my wife anywhere else. China is so big.”
Chen Xiaoyu came to Dubai about a decade after Mr Fan.
She was 21, newly out of university, and expected luxury. By 2016, Dubai was known as a city of wealth.
“Before coming I didn’t know too much what Dubai looked like,” said Ms Chen, who is now 24.
“I just knew it’s rich and famous.”
She arrived with friends who had registered with a recruiter at their university in Changsha city.
“We all wanted a new chance to go to another country,” she said. “At that time I had lived 21 years in one city. I was really bored in the same place for 21 years.”
Ms Chen landed work as a manager at a curtain company in Dragon Mart.
It had already transformed from a wholesale centre into a typical UAE shopping mall: alongside Chinese machinery were Syrian furniture shops, carts of Lebanese sweets and olive oil, racks of Palestinian thobes and abaya shops staffed by Bangladeshi and Filipino clerks. A cinema and Carrefour were added.
When Ms Chen’s two-year visa expired, she renewed. Her best friend left within months.
“She was working in Dragon Mart and it was boring,” said Ms Chen. In her spare time, Ms Chen goes to the spa, shops, cooks with roommates, or reads and paints at their villa in International City.
This was inconceivable for women 30 years ago, said Lulu Hong, a teacher who moved to the UAE in 1992.
She came with her husband, a Chinese government employee. She estimates Chinese expatriates then numbered about 1,000 and it was particularly difficult for Chinese women under the age of 30 to secure a UAE visa.
Private sector work for any Chinese nationals could be hard to come by. “I wanted to work but no company would hire Chinese in either shops or offices,” said Ms Hong, who is 51 and originally from Harbin.
“Now, everywhere you go, you can see Chinese staff in companies, in shopping malls, in every field.”
As the UAE courts Chinese filmmakers, railway builders, agricultural chemists and entrepreneurs, Chinese expatriates are set to leave their mark on the Emirates.
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
RESULTS
Manchester United 2
Anthony Martial 30'
Scott McTominay 90 6'
Manchester City 0
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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The five pillars of Islam
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro from Dh7,000 return including taxes. Avianca fliles from Rio to Cusco via Lima from $399 (Dhxx) return including taxes.
The trip
From US$1,830 per deluxe cabin, twin share, for the one-night Spirit of the Water itinerary and US$4,630 per deluxe cabin for the Peruvian Highlands itinerary, inclusive of meals, and beverages. Surcharges apply for some excursions.
Company profile
Name: GiftBag.ae
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2011
Number of employees: 4
Sector: E-commerce
Funding: Self-funded to date
Scotland v Ireland:
Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Josh Strauss, James Ritchie, Ryan Wilson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Allan Dell
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, Rob Harley, Ali Price, Pete Horne, Blair Kinghorn
Coach: Gregor Townsend (SCO)
Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour
Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)
England's Ashes squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.
