It is commonplace for hotels in Chinese provincial cities to put up clocks on the reception wall with the time in major capitals. But at the Tianxiu Hotel in Guangzhou, there are some less familiar names alongside the time in Beijing and New York – Cairo, Brazzaville and Bamako.

Guangzhou, the biggest city in southern China, has been one of the centres of the manufacturing boom in China over the past two decades. Yet in the past few years it has also become a magnet for traders from Africa looking to tap the seemingly endless supply of cheap products made in the region.