ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the movement of the first generation of Chinese industrialists from China to Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s, and explores the forces that drove it. It examines the close trading ties between Nigeria and Chinese industrialists who moved from the mainland to Hong Kong, and how those in enamelware and textile industries grew increasingly dependent on Nigeria as one of their most important markets in the 1950s. The chapter further argues that it was more the strong industrialization policy of the Nigerian government than the entrepreneurship and foresight of Chinese industrialists that took the lead in both attracting and forcing these Chinese industrialists to make the decision of moving transnationally.
