Situated off a busy shopping street, the room is decorated with red paper lanterns, pictures of the Great Wall and kungfu celebrities Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. It could be the ubiquitous Chinese restaurant in any city in the world -- except it’s in Iraq.
Opened in Baghdad earlier this year, the eatery is believed to be the city's only non-Iraqi restaurant and possibly the only non-Arab business there - other than a handful huddled in the fortified, sealed-off Western enclaves.
It has no name, just a sign saying "Chinese restaurant" in Chinese and Arabic.
A Chinese couple from Hubei province runs the restaurant together with two partners. They’re all in their 40s.
Mr Cao, the restaurant owner, used to work for a Chinese shop when he first arrived in Iraq two years ago. But he returned to China after the shop was forced to close for security reasons.
At a time when most Chinese chose to leave, Cao persuaded his wife and two business partners to continue seeking "unusual business opportunities" in Baghdad.
"We decided to come and see if there was any opportunity," Cao's partner, surnamed Wu, was quoted by The Times newspaper as saying.
"We think the situation in Iraq is getting better ... We don't feel lonely because we work from 8 am to 9 pm each day."
The restaurant offers simple Chinese fare, including noodles, dumplings, fried chicken and sweet chili chicken salads. But locals seem delighted at the restaurant's presence.
"I like the restaurant very much. I eat here every day… The food is delicious," said Mohammed Abid al-Kader, a shopkeeper doing business near the restaurant.
"I feel very happy to see foreigners in my country again. It's a very good sign."
Despite the restaurant operators' buoyant take on business opportunities, other Chinese in Iraq remain concerned about the uncertainties of the war-torn country's future.
"Post-war reconstruction here is slow and I don't see much progress, as infrastructure and supply of materials remain poor," Hui Xiaoshuang, Xinhua News Agency's correspondent in Iraq, told China Daily.
He said many Iraqis he spoke to feel negative about the war.
"Many Iraqis thought that when the war was over, they could live as good a life as Europeans," he said. "But now the situation is worse than during pre-war times, in many ways. The jobless rate is high, and some have even lost their family members."
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing current affairs shows and documentaries.
