Mohamed Alsalami, from the Republic of Yemen, has been living in China for more than 20 years. In 2001, after sensing the huge development potential of Yiwu, in East China's Zhejiang Province, Mohamed established an international trade company in the city. Now, he is not only a successful businessman, but also a cultural ambassador on the new Silk Road. He has spared no effort in promoting friendly exchanges between China and Arab countries.

Mohamed with his family

Bond with Yiwu

Mohamed was born in 1973 in Sanaa, capital of Yemen. During his childhood, many items commonly used by his family were closely related to China. For example, they called ceramic cups "Chinese bowl" in Arabic. The sewing machine in his aunt's house was made in China. 

Outside of the home, he would pass by a construction site on his way to school, and many of the contracting companies on that site were Chinese enterprises. He and his classmates often said "hello," in Chinese, to the Chinese construction workers. At that time, Mohamed was full of curiosity and longing for China, the distant and ancient oriental country. 

In 1990, he participated in several rounds of the selection process, and he was eventually selected by Yemen's Ministry of Education to study in China. After he studied the Chinese language for a year, at Beijing Language and Culture University, in Beijing, he was enrolled in the civil engineering department of Tongji University, in Shanghai. 

In 1995, after he graduated from Tongji University, Mohamed returned to Yemen and began working for a construction enterprise in Sanaa. 

As time passed, Mohamed began to worry that his Chinese-language skills were fading, because he had few chances to speak and write Chinese, either during his work or daily interactions. He did not want to lose his Chinese, which he had studied so hard to master. 

Mohamed (fourth from the left) with his colleagues

One day, in 2000, he was contacted by a friend, whom he had met while he was a student in Shanghai. His friend, also from Yemen, ran an international trade company in Shenzhen, in South China's Guangdong Province. He told Mohamed China was developing fast, and "opportunities are everywhere in China today." He invited Mohamed to join his company, and help him expand the business. 

Without hesitation, Mohamed returned to China, and he began working at his friend's company. Mohamed often visited Yiwu on business. 

Sensing the huge development potential of Yiwu, Mohamed decided to strike out on his own. He started his own business, in Yiwu, after having spent less than a year in Shenzhen. 

In 2001, Mohamed established his own international trade company in Yiwu. Given the concerted efforts of Mohamed and his employees, his company has been performing well, and it has been growing alongside the booming Yiwu market. 

Yiwu is known as the "world's capital of small commodities," as it connects Chinese and foreign businesspeople, who deal in more than 2.1 million commodities, with buyers from more than 230 countries or regions. By the end of March this year, the number of foreign-funded companies in Yiwu reached 4,996. 

During the past 20-plus years, Mohamed has witnessed the rapid development of foreign trade by Yiwu-based firms, and he has become a "spokesman" for local investment. 

"I often tell people Yiwu is the paradise of entrepreneurs and investors. People are willing to do business with you, even with the language barrier. When I first visited Yiwu, in 2000, Yiwu was still a small town. The development of Yiwu has really been rapid, and I have witnessed it all. The great changes of Yiwu cannot be separated from the diligence and efforts of Yiwu's people. China's development is tangible, and is made up of many successful stories like Yiwu's," Mohamed says.

Mohamed enjoys a vacation with his family

Big Plan

Fluent in Arabic and Chinese, Mohamed is dedicated to promoting cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries. He says he wants to convey China's history, culture and development experience to the Arab world, so more Arabs can understand China, and grow to like China. 

Mohamed has a short-video account on WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging and socialmedia app. He shares short videos on various topics involving traditional Chinese culture — including tea culture, Chinese idioms, calligraphy and philosophy — in both Chinese and Arabic. 

To mark this year's Dragon Boat Festival, which fell on June 22, he posted a short video, in which he explained the origin of the festival, in Arabic, and shared poems of ancient poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) to help foreigners learn about traditional Chinese festival. 

Now, Mohamed is writing a book about China's industrialization and its reform and opening up. He spends about two or three hours a day reading books about China. While interspersing his own thoughts and opinions, he hopes to record the stories of China's development from the perspective of an Arab. He plans to have the book published in Arabic. 

Mohamed (right) and his children

Caring Father 

In the film, B for Busy, which hit the big screen in China at the end of 2021, there was a foreign character, Alexander, whose parents were doing business in Yiwu. 

The actor who played Alexander was Mohamed's eldest son, Hamzah Alsalami. The character was based in part on Hamzah's real life experience, as his father owns a company in Yiwu. 

Many film-goers were impressed by Hamzah's excellent acting. As the film was set in Shanghai, Hamzah was sometimes required to speak the Shanghai dialect. 

It was the second time Hamzah had acted in a film. When he was 14, he played a role in Jackie Chan's film, Dragon Blade, which hit the big screen in February 2015. 

Hamzah was enrolled in Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, to study international finance, in 2019. However, his personal goal is to become a professional actor. 

Since he performed the role of Alexander, Hamzah has won many opportunities to act in commercials, stage plays and online dramas. "People should do what they really want to do when they are still young. Even if you may not succeed, you must have a try," he says. 

Hamzah has an account on China's famous short-video app, Douyin, known as TikTok outside of China, to share his life and work experiences in Yiwu and Shanghai. His short videos had received more than 120,000 likes by the end of July. Hamzah also likes to shoot videos with his father. 

"I hope he can focus on his acting career, and bring more good works to audiences," Mohamed says. 

Mohamed has two sons and a daughter, all of whom enjoy living in Yiwu, and who consider Yiwu to be their hometown in China. "If my children would like to start their own businesses in China, I will do my utmost to support them," Mohamed says. 

Photos Supplied by Mohamed Alsalami

(Source: Yiwu Foreign Affairs Office and Yiwu Federation of Literary and Art Circles / Women of China English Monthly August 2023 issue)