China and Romania have a history of several decades of economic and cultural exchanges as part of the Communist bloc.

[5] Later, in the early 2000s, as Romania began to suffer labour shortages due to out-migration of its people to western Europe, they imported migrant workers from China as a result.

[2] The China Daily estimated in 2009 that 3,000 of the Chinese in Romania consisted of migrant workers, in the textile, shipbuilding, construction, and agriculture sectors.

Due to the global economic downturn, many have lost their jobs and sought the assistance of the Chinese embassy in returning home.

They purchase commodities on credit from state-owned factories in their home provinces and resell them in Romania.