Doing Business with Clean HandsAlthough his father was the chief of one tribe in charge of thousandsof Nigerians and Obinna himself even owns a beautiful car， hedoes not want to either rely on the family success or lead a life withoutmeaningful pursuit by marrying several wives. Since he came to Beijing，he has never tried to establish underhand connections with theembassy， for he looks down upon those who make fortunes by politicalnepotism. He says， “Some Africans have committed some bad thingsin China and ruined the reputation of our country. I will try my best torestore our images with hard work. “My hands are clean; those with sticky hands will be arrestedby the police one day.” Watching the thundershower outside the window，Obinna says， “Our Nigerians believe that the thunder is createdby God and those with sticky hands would be struck to death by thethunder.” According to Obinna， being a Christian， the first thing he didwhen he arrived in China was to go to church.
Marrying a Chinese Wife Is My AimMales should start career first and then get married in terms of thecustoms of African tribes. Obinna is also working hard to realize thetwo goals. He has found a Chinese girlfriend. When being asked abouthis girlfriend， Obinna seems to be a bit shy and simply wouldn’t talkabout this issue， because “it is too private”。
As for the question whether he wants to marry a Chinese wife，Obinna answers， “Chinese people treat me as one member of theirfamily， and I am obsessed with China.” He takes great effort to explainthe concept of “family”： he has lived in the home of the female ownerof the store for some time. The owner lives together with her brothersand parents， so Obinna feels as if he were living in his own home andso less homesick; besides， he is very busy with work， he has never returnedto his own home yet since he came to China.
Although his father has already passed away， Obinna still bearshis teaching in mind. For instance， “keep away from smoking anddrinking”， “make a lot of friends”， “treat people with sincerity” and“do not go after money”， etc. Obinna also learns from his father howto keep a low profile. He had never shown his high social status evenin Nigeria. The only thing that could indicate his status was the tribebadge on his car.
Working Overtime for My Chinese GirlObinna’s low profile let his Chinese friends feel he is very friend32ly， thus they invites him to have dinner quite often. But usually hewould decline these invitations for he does not get off work until nine o’
clock every night. Nevertheless， in the Spring Festival of 2006， he atedumplings and watched fireworks with his Chinese friends. He says itis one of most unforgettable festivals he has spent.
In the past two years Obinna has visited many cities from thenorth to the south， like Tianjin， Shanghai， Guangzhou， etc. amongwhich Beijing is still his favorite， for the public security is very goodand he himself has never come across any scoundrel here. He says hislife in Beijing is very comfortable and his career has taken root here.
When his career is thriving， he will marry his beautiful Chinese bride.
According to Nigerian custom， the bridegroom does not needto spend any money on the issue of marrying wife： the bride wouldprepare the house and furniture; if the economic situation of the bridegroomis not very good， the bride will get everything ready for thewedding. But Obinna learns to follow the Chinese custom： in order tomarry his Chinese girl， he is working hard to earn money. PresentlyObinna will work until two o’clock in the morning at least twice aweek. Perhaps because of this sweet dream， he has never felt tired. Hesays， “As long as I work hard， I will be able to afford the house andthe car one day. By Shan Jinliang
Translated by Chen BingRevised by P. K. Banerjea
