More than 90 percent of Chinese in Jerusalem are construction workers.
视频:Audio
China's opening-up policy has provided opportunities for many of its people to go abroad. Among them are hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers. They have built roads, bridges and skyscrapers from Africa to Middle East. While changing the landscape of foreign countries, they have also changed the landscape of their own life. In today's "Being Chinese"special, CRI's Jerusalem correspondent Liao Jibo tells us the story of two Chinese construction workers in Israel.
Report: Diggers, Bulldozers, Trucks and a group of Chinese workers. It looks just like any construction site for the Olympic Games in Beijing. But, this is Jerusalem, heart of the conflict between Israel and Palestine for decades.
While most people fear this place, some 10,000 Chinese are working here—working in every corner of this tiny land.
More than 90 percent of them are construction workers. Their work can be found on about three-quarters of the new buildings here.
LONG JOURNEY
"I am from a village in Shandong Province. I came to Israel in April 2005. I was an electrician at home, later working on some construction sites in Shanghai and Beijing. I decided to come here after some friends told me that the salary here was better. "
Fang Baolin, a 40-year-old man from east China's Shandong Province, shares the same story with most of the Chinese workers here.
It was a long journey to Jerusalem.
Mr Fang had to find a human resources agency that had links with HR companies in Israel. Such agencies did exist, but there were also too many people eager to go abroad. He had to wait until there was a vacancy.
The most difficult part of the journey was the large amount of down payment. He had to pay thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars to various agencies before he boarded the plane.
"I paid 80,000 yuan, about 10,000 US dollars. Since then the price has risen, almost doubled. Some people from my home province have paid as much as 20,000 dollars. Even if you have the money, it doesn't mean you can come. Too many people are waiting."