Personal File
Name： Obinna
Chinese Name： WangziNationality： NigerianOccupation： TailorTime in China： 2 years He is Obinna， a young African man， goodat needlework. While living in Beijing， runninga dress store is his entertainment. But hisskin color has brought him some trouble， thatis， some customers would be scared away whenthey find out the seller is a black man. However，he still takes the aim of marrying a beautifulChinese wife.
316 A few steps down the west of Dongsishitiao Bridge， a row ofsmall stores stand on the street side， among which one deals in Africanclothes， not very eye-catching. The owner of the store hires an Africanassistant who is very good at tailoring work.
Do not underestimate this African fellow; his father was the chiefof one African tribe in Nigeria and he was called Prince by the localpeople （the Chinese for “Prince” is “Wangzi”）。 Naturally “Wangzi has become his Chinese name since he came to China. At present， Obinnais running this dress store with his Chinese partner. He said he enjoysthe feeling of being unknown to the public as a superior AfricanPrince.
Liking Using Hands Instead of BrainsObinna’s father has ten children： five boys and five girls. Beingthe fourth child of his family， Obinna does not have the responsibilityof carrying on his father’s cause. Thus he set out to make his own wayin the world. Obinna majored in mechanical engineering and becamean engineer earning good salary after graduation. However， he quicklyrealized that he did not like this job. He said， “I have been touchingupon the art of tailoring since I was still a little pupil. I prefer this job，which can exert my handcraft to the engineering job， which wouldwreck my brains. In 2005， Obinna came to Beijing for the sake of job. The nextyear he opened a dress store with his female Chinese partner. Hispartner is the owner of the store， and he is the assistant as well as thetailor. He is very proud of himself for their store is the only one specializingin African clothes in Beijing.
In this little store with limited space， all kinds of colorful Africanfolk costumes are displayed， some of which are designed by Obinnahimself. Instead of preparing design drafts， he always sets about tailoringdirectly; for he is afraid of that design drafts would confine hisimagination. He enjoys trying new designs rather than repeating somefixed patterns.
Although pure hand-making limits the productivity of clothes，31 8 Obinna still insists on making clothes by hand because he believes thecomfort and concern brought by hand making are impossible for machinesto yield.
Selling Clothes by Dropping in EmbassiesAlthough it is getting dark， the number of customers in this smallstore does not seem to reduce. While chatting with the journalist， Obinnadoes not forget to attend to customers， but he does not promotehis clothes on purpose.
“Some customers do not want to be bothered by persuasion; theylike selecting their own favorable styles. I just need to wait for theirquestions. And there are some customers who just visit my store whenpassing， so it is futile to exert myself to sell. Yet I’m sure they willcome to my store next time.” Obinna has quite a lot to say about theart of business.
However， when he just came to Beijing two years ago， the situationwas quite different. At that time， Obinna had to sell his clothes bydropping in embassies directly because he did not have his own store.
He said even he himself could count how many embassies he had visited.
After several months， he had earned a lot except for his Chineseproficiency.
For the time being， Obinna still uses the blend of English andChinese to communicate with customers. As he has not taken anyChinese course， he learns Chinese while working by treating customersas his teachers. Sometimes some people go to his store merely forthe purpose of practicing their English with a foreigner. Although theywill not buy anything， Obinna still welcomes them. He says， “Becausemost Chinese are too shy to speak English out， I would encouragethem to do it. As a result， some of them have made friends with me，and some have become the buyers of my clothes.” When being askedwhether he would be an English teacher， shaking his head， he answers，“I’ve never thought about it， for teaching is really nerve-wrecking. Istill enjoy being a tailor. Doing Needlework Is an EntertainmentWhile making clothes， Obinna also has put a lot of thoughts intothem. He has taken the need of Chinese customers into considerationand made some localized alternation to these African clothes. Pickingup a silk dress， he says， “The design of this dress is African， butthe fabric is native to China. Such kind of localized clothes sell ratherwell. When there are few customers in the store， Obinna would dosome needlework. It is really amazing and surprising to see that he32 0 could deftly make needlework with his big black hands. He says thatdoing needlework is basically female privilege in China， but in Africaboth boys and girls need learn how to do needlework since primaryschool. He believes that he can do much better needlework than mostgirls.
In most cases， Obinna would bring the needlework back to hishome in Beijing， so doing needlework becomes his major entertainmentin the spare time. “The store closes at nine in the evening， so itwould be very late when I finish my supper. I take doing needleworkas a kind of entertainment， a kind of relaxation. Thus it is very naturalthat I would go to bed often at one in the morning.” Obinna explainsthat he does not do needlework just for money; sometimes it wouldtake him more than ten hours to make a handbag， yet he still can getfun from making it.
