Journeying the Belt and Road, Episode 7: Cape Town, South Africa

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I can't wait to share my experiences in Africa. My cameraman Liang Qipeng and I went on an adventure across three African countries in 10 days.

Our first stop was South Africa, an integral part of the BRICS group of countries and an important trade and investment partner of China.

Cape Town, one of the best city areas in all of Africa. /CGTN Photo

However, what we set out to explore there was much more than trade and investment numbers. The country has a 27 percent unemployment rate. We set out to report how Chinese consumer brands, some of which are market leaders, are faring in the South African market.

A stigma over Chinese consumer goods in South Africa continues to change. They've gone from being some of the cheapest items on the market, to some with the highest quality.

Cameraman Liang Qipeng, the man behind all the epic shots. /CGTN photo

South Africa is the biggest market for TV sets in the sub-Saharan region. The best-seller here is Hisense, a Chinese brand that accounts for a quarter of all TV sales nationwide.

"Our South African factory produces up to 600,000 TV sets a year," said Kam Deng, deputy director of Hisense South Africa.

The company's factory in Cape Town was built in 2013 as a joint investment between Hisense and the China-Africa Development Fund.

Hisense’s factory in Cape Town. /CGTN Photo

South Africa has a predominantly young workforce. People under the age of 35 account for 70 percent of the country's total population. Of the 3,000 employees here, 90 percent are local residents. “The existence of our factory here means tax revenue for the government. We pay about 120 million US dollars' worth of taxes every year, which helps the local economy," said Deng.

Last year was a difficult year for South Africa, with the nation's currency plummeting to new lows and food prices going up. Both affected citizens' purchasing power. "We are holding more promotional events where we sell our products at a certain discount," said Deng

For the economy of scale, some of Hisense's upstream providers have also come out to set up bases in Cape Town. Chinese companies are in this market to stay and grow for the long term.