The company also owns and operates the Man Sang Industrial City, an industrial complex in the Chinese Gong Ming Zhen, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

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Until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, this sprawling complex was the seat of Chinese government.

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While many have visited the sprawling Dragon Mart complex where low-cost Chinese goods are sold wholesale, an estimated 180, 000 Chinese people reside in the country, including senior figures for state-run banks who negotiate joint investment opportunities in Africa with Western companies.

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Over 600 workers from the South, including six Chinese nationals, remained in the complex.

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Davood Moradian, who heads the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies in Kabul, says the Chinese are treading carefully, realizing they lack expertise in a complex political landscape that has tripped up other great powers.

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Roscosmos last June began a Mars flight simulation program, locking three Russians, two Europeans and a Chinese astronaut in an 18, 800-square-foot, five-module complex to live there in isolation for 17 months, Bloomberg reported on April 5.

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Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei called for restraint from all sides to resolve the "complex and sensitive" situation.

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The Chinese data prompted selling in industrial base metals, and this spilled over into the precious complex, Meger said.

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