The development of the Brasilia
Chinese company is a textbook example of the success of Chinese entrepreneurs
in Latin America. With China's economic development, there is a growing Chinese
population in Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries. Most
enterprises generally started as small businesses.
Most of Brazil's Chinese businesses
import from China or the local Chinese businessmen. There is a closed network
of importers, wholesalers and manufacturers in China. Chinese products, with
their high quality and low prices, are popular in the lower class families.
Chinese businessmen began to enter
industry, set up factories or operate restaurants, supermarkets, and further
expand the scale of operations.
On March 25th Avenue in Sao Paulo,
the largest city in South America, Brazil Customs Street in Rio de Janeiro and
Peru's Chinatown in downtown Lima, Chinese restaurants are everywhere. All
around are Chinese signs and Chinese store names. In Argentina, there are
thousands of small supermarkets operated by Chinese.
However, there has been somewhat of
a backlash against Chinese businessmen. The cheap price of Chinese goods in
Latin America has upset some of the local vendors. Some local businessmen even
complain to the police. Therefore, some Chinese shops in densely-concentrated
places are often raided by local police, especially before the hot sale season.
MLA Citation
Salisbury, Joyce E. and Andrew E.
Kersten. "Work in the 19th Century." Daily Life through History.
ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
