Chinese entrepreneurs overseas: Stranded in the Middle East, unwilling to give up.

Author: Ba Jiuling , Wu Xiaobo Channel

“My body was shaking uncontrollably,” said An Guo, a Chinese man in Dubai. He witnessed the missile being intercepted in mid-air, with a huge explosion above his head, and debris hitting the high-end hotel on The Palm Jumeirah, causing a fire.

An Guo was previously an expatriate for Huawei and now works for the company in Dubai. The fighting first reached Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, but he believed Abu Dhabi had always been known for its security and didn't pay much attention.

“I originally planned to stay a few more days and go to Riyadh. But I was worried that traveling with my child would be too much of a hassle for them, so I went back first,” Peng Shuai, co-chairman of the China-Europe Legal Foundation (CELF), told Xiaoba with relief.

At 11 p.m. Beijing time on February 27, Peng Shuai boarded a flight to China after finalizing business in Dubai. He landed at Chengdu Tianfu Airport at 10 a.m. on February 28.

At 2 p.m., the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, igniting a war in the Middle East. The conflict spread to US military bases and embassies in neighboring countries such as the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq , and continued to escalate. Air travel in the Middle East was generally suspended.

Dubai International Airport closed on March 1.

Amidst the smoke of battle, fortune and misfortune intertwined in a chaotic and unpredictable manner.

In recent years, the Middle East has become a popular destination for Chinese companies going global. In the first half of 2025, China's exports of goods to the Middle East increased by 10.2% year-on-year, accounting for 8.0% of total exports, the highest level in the past 10 years.

Chinese people venturing overseas to break through and create new possibilities have stumbled into an unprecedented and absurd world.

Newcomers to overseas markets encounter the turmoil in the Middle East

This year marks Tim's second year working at sea and his first business trip to the Middle East.

On February 13, with the Spring Festival holiday approaching, Tim, an engineer from a listed company, was dispatched to Bahrain to fill in for the project's after-sales work.

Before setting off, he specially ate a Chengdu hot pot meal to bid himself farewell and to prepare himself mentally for the month-long business trip.

The impact of war is most palpable on the front lines. On the morning of February 28th, local time, during his weekend, Tim's phone had received a notification about the US military's attack on Iran, but he didn't take it seriously. It wasn't until 12:30 PM that he heard several muffled thunderous sounds, followed by white clouds from missile explosions in the sky. When a missile unexpectedly struck the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, 12 kilometers away from him, he panicked.

Air raid siren displayed on a mobile phone. Image source: provided by the interviewee.

He first ran to ask the black doorman at the apartment building, with whom he had a good relationship, if there was an air-raid shelter. The doorman said there was an emergency shelter in a nearby shopping mall, but when he ran to the mall, the gate was already closed. So he went back to the apartment building, but the rumbling thunder above his head continued.

When he reluctantly ventured back into the mall, smoke was already billowing in the distance. Fortunately, the mall had restored order by then, and he was guided into a parking lot shelter.

"Upon closer inspection, I saw a bustling crowd; some people were taking refuge with their pet dogs, while others were kneeling in prayer," Tim told Xiao Ba. In the chaos, his heart rate spiked to 141.

Parking lot shelter, image provided by interviewee.

Similar emotional journeys are a common phenomenon.

Tim's only colleague was even more helpless. He had already set off from Bahrain to return home, but his plane turned back shortly after leaving Qatari airspace and is now stuck at Doha Airport in Qatar, still in shock.

“I didn’t expect it to be this big. This is the first time in the history of the UAE that it has suffered such a large-scale attack,” added Duanduan, another Chinese entrepreneur stranded in Dubai.

"Yesterday afternoon, a drone was hit and went out of control, crashing into a residential building." "Several missiles exploded above my head yesterday, without any warning." These kinds of unavoidable incidents are common in the accounts of Chinese people in the UAE and Bahrain.

According to the UAE's official news agency WAM, the UAE Ministry of Defense stated that on Monday (March 2), the country was attacked by nine ballistic missiles, six cruise missiles, and 148 drones.

The contrails of interceptor missiles in the sky over Dubai on March 2.

The UAE Ministry of Defense also stated on March 1 that since the attack on February 28, three people have died and 58 people have been slightly injured in the UAE.

Duanduan, a former executive at Huawei and Tencent, has been working in the Middle East for over a year, frequently traveling between China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, and regularly doing live streams.

During a recent live stream, he noticed that many people were visiting Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the first time and were asking similar questions. So he created two "Dubai and Abu Dhabi stranded groups" and quickly gathered three to four hundred people.

"Exchange some information with each other, don't panic!" Duanduan said calmly.

The group chat was constantly buzzing with messages. (Image source: provided by the interviewee)

During this tense period, people react in different ways: some want to withdraw, some lie low, and others continue to busy themselves with their businesses.

Newcomers to overseas ventures represent one facet of Chinese people going abroad. They are in turbulent and relatively unfamiliar foreign countries, and their common demand is to evacuate as soon as possible.

“There are a lot of people frantically searching for cars to Oman and then escaping from Oman,” An Guo observed. The method is to drive 6 hours from Dubai to catch Oman Airlines. “Some airlines in Oman are still operating, and the prices are not outrageous, only a few thousand.”

In the "Dubai and Abu Dhabi stranded group", the main discussion is about various flight information and strategies for transiting back to China.

Some people are constantly receiving flight cancellation notices and are busy rebooking their flights; others are busy booking flights that have resumed operation, but often give up due to exorbitant prices; some say they have already "found a way" to return home from Oman and Saudi Arabia by land and are sharing their travel tips in the group...

The rapidly changing situation tests everyone's ability to gather information and adapt to emergencies.

According to Xiaoba, some regions in China have begun to collect statistics on Chinese citizens stranded in countries such as Dubai, Iran, and Israel .

Statistics on stranded residents; image source: provided by interviewees.

In comparison, the Chinese in Iran, the epicenter of the war, are in a better position.

On the evening of March 2, Bo Ge, who had been running a business in Tehran, the capital of Iran, for nine years, told Xiao Ba: "Most of them have already evacuated to Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan." He learned about the situation of two or three hundred Chinese people in a WeChat group set up by the Chinese Embassy in Iran.

According to his understanding, most of the Chinese who went to Iran had already left before the Lunar New Year, and he was one of them.

Bogo is a parts supplier in Iran's oil industry, owning a warehouse of three to four thousand square meters and employing five or six people. In December 2025, he faced a situation he hadn't encountered in years: large-scale public demonstrations broke out in several Iranian cities to protest the rapid devaluation of the currency, resulting in a two-week internet outage and casualties—according to British media, at least 36 people died.

Although he often spent the Lunar New Year in Iran, this time he decided to avoid risks and successfully returned to China after completing the "year-end debt collection" with Iranian distributors, demonstrating the unique geopolitical sensitivity and flexibility of an "old hand".

According to multiple media reports, since the outbreak of military conflict on February 28, the Iranian Chinese Association has arranged for the evacuation of approximately 400 people in five batches, with the evacuation expected to be completed by March 3. Since the situation in Iran became more complex at the end of last year, more than 3,000 Chinese citizens have been evacuated.

However, in addition to planning evacuation strategies, many Chinese people going to sea have also opted for temporary solutions of "since we're here, let's make the best of it," which mainly depends on their understanding and judgment of the risks in their environment.

For example, after the initial panic, An Guo is now in a wait-and-see mode. "I basically stay at home, try to minimize going out, and stock up on supplies, but when I found that the supply of daily necessities was not affected, I stopped. Now I work from home, and life goes on as usual," he said.

According to his observation, Dubai is currently maintaining a restrained and calm atmosphere: everything in the city is still running, water, electricity, internet, and transportation are available, and many people can be seen walking their dogs outside; some people are eating well, playing games, and promoting real estate advertisements.

Life in Dubai continues as usual. (Image source: provided by interviewee)

The most "radical" approach is to hold one's ground and complete one's established work and life goals. A prime example is the case in Tabriz and Qom, where, according to media reports, approximately 200 Chinese citizens remain in Iran, choosing not to evacuate due to work commitments and their own wishes.

According to Xiao Ba's understanding, there are many active and capable Chinese private business owners in Iran's manufacturing sector , and there are currently no strong competitors from other countries. " It's much better to slowly establish ourselves here than outside. For example, industrial electricity costs only 9 cents, and diesel is only a few cents per liter, " Bo Ge said, expressing his appreciation when mentioning the cost of industrial production in Iran.

As people adapt, Middle Eastern countries are simultaneously providing "emotional value."

Amid the overall out-of-control but locally peaceful situation in the Middle East, people are striving to adapt, while countries and cities are also actively adjusting and entering a new normal.

Anguo works and has invested in real estate in Dubai. He is concerned about the safety of his funds and the future trend of property prices. Such concerns require timely feedback from the city where he lives.

Some consolation is that many countries and cities in the Middle East have demonstrated a surprising ability to manage resources and reassure people in the face of this unprecedented crisis.

On the day of the explosion in Bahrain, shopping malls and supermarkets around Tim, which were almost completely closed and only accepting cash, quickly reopened, with large supermarkets doing so thanks in no small part to the guidance of the local government.

"Around three or four o'clock that afternoon, the supermarket in the mall resumed supplying goods, and the prices were the same as before. Meat and vegetables were in ample supply," Tim said. So, he only bought vegetables for that day and didn't stock up much.

“Judging from the results alone, I think this time it was done extremely well,” Duanduan said in Dubai. “The streets are very clean, people are going to work and opening their doors, it’s just that there are fewer people on the streets.”

On March 3, the streets near Dubai's Old Market were sparsely populated.

This is particularly evident in key indicators: public sentiment is stable, the supply of goods is stable, and prices are stable. Furthermore, according to his understanding, Dubai has already covered part of the costs for stranded tourists, such as hotel accommodations.

On March 1, authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai requested local hotels to extend accommodation for stranded travelers, stating that the costs would be borne by the government. According to official information, more than 20,000 foreign travelers are currently stranded in the UAE.

Many hotels are even offering emotional value, such as providing generous complimentary meals. "I had a whole steak for lunch, along with fries and beer, which was far too much for one person," a stranded tourist in Dubai told CBN reporters on March 3.

A popular post on Xiaohongshu mentioned that a tourist stranded in Dubai mentioned that the hotel gave them a complimentary bottle of rosé wine placed in an ice bucket, along with a card with a heartwarming message, as a gesture of comfort.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

These timely response and service capabilities largely stem from the maturity of the industry.

According to the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Dubai will receive 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 5%, marking the third consecutive year of record highs. Data from the UAE Department of Economy and Tourism shows that the contribution of tourism to GDP will rise sharply from 6% in 2021 to 15% in 2025.

Therefore, this unique experience has also updated the perceptions of Chinese people going abroad regarding the countries and cities they are in.

When asked by Xiao Ba whether Tim would work in the Middle East again in the future, he was able to give a positive answer.

“The short-term work pace has been affected, and goods that need to come into the port cannot be brought in, but judging from this performance, this place is a place where we can stay for the long term,” Duanduan said, which strengthened his idea of ​​long-term investment in the Middle East.

In recent years, the business environment of the Middle East has been considered to be at a mid-level in the narrative of major overseas destinations, higher than that of Africa, but lower than that of Southeast Asia and Latin America.

In a corresponding development, in 2024, the total trade volume between China and ASEAN, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa was US$982.1 billion, US$518.47 billion, US$487.2 billion, and US$295.6 billion, respectively.

To some extent, the Middle East has also ushered in an unprecedented opportunity for trust.

Conclusion

Of course, the phenomena collected by Xiaoba are not comprehensive or reliable enough, and the future situation mainly depends on the development of the war and whether it will escalate.

Initially, Duanduan was not in a hurry to leave Dubai. He planned to finish his work in Dubai, then travel overland back to Saudi Arabia to complete the remaining tasks, and only then would he plan to return to China.

“If we go through the border back to Saudi Arabia, Iran’s target is the US military. It cannot bomb any civilian infrastructure in the UAE, such as roads,” he emphasized.

However, two days later, he decided to evacuate because he judged the situation would escalate. The good news was that at 9:59 PM on March 4th, the first direct flight from Dubai to Guangzhou arrived safely.

In the long run, an increasingly prominent and undeniable lesson from going global is that there is no ideal world.

“Now we need to lay out the map and build more complex and flexible business models to better adapt to the future overseas environment,” Peng Shuai said.