Nigerians in Shenzhen · 深圳

Two worlds,
one cloth.

A registered community association for Nigerians living, studying and doing business in Shenzhen. The site holds the arrival checklist, the district comparisons and the emergency page.

In trouble right now? The emergency page is one tap away and loads instantly.

The first week

You just landed.
This is the order
it happens in.

Thirteen steps in sequence, from the airport counter to the residence permit, and three of them decide how easy the rest of your year is.

  1. 01 Clear immigration and keep the arrival card Before you leave the terminal
  2. 02 Get a Chinese phone number Do this first because everything else needs it
  3. 03 Have a way to pay tonight Foreign cards mostly will not work
  4. Ten more, in order Open the checklist
Students Your university holds the paperwork. These are the things you have to push. Open the guide Professionals Work permits, tax, and the account your salary has to land in. Open the guide Visitors You are here for a week. Sort the hotel, and get a payment app working before you land. Open the guide

The city

Where you live
decides most of it.

Rent across Shenzhen varies by a factor of three, and the commute by an hour. Nobody had written that down for a Nigerian audience, so we did it ourselves.

Compare ten districts

One-bedroom rent, ¥ per month

Longgang 1.8–3.5k
Bao'an 2.2–4.5k
Futian 4.0–8.0k
Nanshan 4.5–9.0k
Compare ten districts
A gathering table laid with indigo adire cloth, brass teapot, glasses of tea and kola nuts
Kola, tea, adireThe table is always set

The association

Elected, and every
term is on record.

Members elect the committee. Three executive terms have been completed so far, each ending in a formal handover to the committee that came next.

6
elected executives
6
campus coordinators
7
in the Hall of Fame
10
districts covered

What we brought with us

One association,
many homes.

Members come from every part of Nigeria and from more than two hundred and fifty language groups. The cloth changes from one family to the next. The reason for being here does not.

  • Nigerian ceremonial dress photographed as a still life: an embroidered shirt, a woven cap, a carved staff and coral beads
  • Handwoven Nigerian cloth in green and gold, folded with a matching headtie
  • A Nigerian robe with dense hand-worked embroidery at the neckline, beside an embroidered cap
  • Nigerian craft objects: a hammered brass bowl, coral beads, a carved comb and a woven basket

Igbo, Yorùbá, Hausa, Ijaw, Kanuri, Tiv, Efik, Nupe, Urhobo, Ibibio and every group not printed here. If you are Nigerian and you are in Shenzhen, this association is yours.