Those traveling between Africa and China have long had to put up with physically-draining connecting flights. That is now beginning to change.
Growing business ties and connections between China and Africa are prompting more African carriers to look eastward and consider opening new air routes to China, industry sources say.
Wu Xiang was so moved by the beauty of Kenya last year on his first visit to Africa that he is trying to convince his friends in Shenzhen to come to the continent to see the great animal migration this year.
Economic globalization has helped Africa become the fastest-growing aviation market in the world, with more carriers now looking to shore up their operations on the continent.
Africa's dearth of good infrastructure, particularly in transport, has long hobbled its economic development. The continent's terrain throws up particularly difficult challenges for land transport, so aviation is probably more important here than in other continents. However, in Africa the aviation industry has long been kept in a holding pattern because of the slow growth of the middle class.
African resources may lose some sheen as Chinese investors seek wider portfolios.
Europeans still remain nervous about the Chinese taking over their companies, according to a senior European business figure in China.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd announced recently that it had reached an agreement with Standard Bank Group Ltd to buy a 60 percent share of Standard Bank PLC, one of South Africa's largest fiancial services providers. The deal is said to be worth about $750 million.
As foreseen by the architect of China's economic reform, Deng Xiaoping, since 1980 foreign direct investment in China has played a vital role in the development of the nation's economy.
Chinese officials have been expecting overseas direct investment to exceed foreign direct investment for several years. Given past trends and new government policies, the biggest question is not if it will happen, but when.
The recent relaxation of one-child policy has huge demographic implications for China and the world.
China's easing of the one-child policy alone will not avert the aging population problem in the first region to allow couples to have a second child, but it will be the lynchpin of a bigger plan to do so, a senior government economist in Zhoushan says.
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