Miners' dream of riches ends in pain, fear and poverty

Like many natives of Shanglin county, Wen Yonglin imagined returning home from Ghana with wealth beyond his dreams.

Instead, when he arrived back in his hometown after three weeks in hiding in Africa, the 34-year-old miner carried nothing more than a simple travel bag and faced debts totalling more than 500,000 yuan (HK$625,000).

In Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, where his home is situated, GDP per capita last year was just 27,832 yuan, according to Deutsche Bank research.

Sino-African relations have been in the spotlight in recent years, even more so since March when President Xi Jinping, signed trade deals worth billions of US dollars as he toured Tanzania, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It seemed a marriage made in heaven. Africa has the resources China craves. Meanwhile African governments have a new source of development aid less likely to ask questions about human rights and political development than their traditional patrons in the West.

But in Ghana, the honeymoon period did not last long.

Early last month, Ghanaian authorities detained hundreds of Chinese in a crackdown on illegal mining. Meanwhile, locals began looting and attacking wealthy Chinese miners.