Life goes on

Visas aside, life on the streets of Africatown is a colorful mix of juicy jazz, flowing traditional African dress, different languages and the food from a continent thousands of miles away.

Nganda Maboke eatery is a favorite for West Africans, dishing up traditional meals such as man-size helpings of lamb chops, spicy spinach and stiff maize meal for $3.

In Tong Xin Street travel companies advertise special "cheap flights" to Kenya and hairdressers do brisk trade in braids and hair extensions.

Taxis do a good trade loading back plastic bags chock-full of garments to send back to Africa via the sprouting international airfreight companies. Several taxi drivers said they were the first to coin the name Chocolate City, and now found it used even by African passengers.

One aspect of life that Africans in Guangzhou take very seriously is religion. On Sunday the city's impressive Sacred Heart Cathedral on Yide Road is packed to the rafters with worshippers from across the continent. Giant fans, purring energetically while the African pastor leads his flock in prayer, diffuse the heat inside. African ushers seat latecomers, watched by wide-eyed Chinese onlookers.

South African Allison (41), (not her real name) who has been in Guangzhou for four years and trades in leather bags, said most of the Africans she knows just want to do business legally and then eventually return home to open their own businesses or build new houses. She said she tries to make the most of life in Guangzhou, but gets little chance to see the rest of China.

"We just spend all our time looking for bargains. There is opportunity here and most Chinese are good to us. We have built our little bit of Africa here. But China is not Africa, and I miss home."