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The African Trading Community in Guangzhou: An Emerging Bridge for Africa–China Relations*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2010

Adams Bodomo
Adams Bodomo
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong. Email: abbodomo@hku.hk
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Abstract

This article analyses an emerging African trading community in Guangzhou, China. It is argued that migrant communities such as this one act as linguistic, cultural and economic bridges between their source communities and their host communities, even in the midst of tensions created by incidents such as immigration restrictions and irregularities. Socio-linguistic and socio-cultural profiles of this community are built, through questionnaire surveys and interviews, to address issues such as why Africans go to Guangzhou, which African countries are represented, what languages are spoken there, how communication takes place between Africans and Chinese, what socio-economic contributions Africans in Guangzhou are making to the Chinese economy, and how the state reacts to this African presence. Following from the argument that this community acts as a bridge for Africa–China relations it is suggested that both the Chinese and the African governments should work towards eliminating the harassment of members in this community by many Guangzhou law enforcement officials and instead harness the contributions of this community to promote Africa–China socio-economic relations.

Type
Research Report
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 203 , September 2010 , pp. 693 - 707
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2010

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References

1 Bertoncello, Brigitte and Bredeloup, Sylvie, “The emergence of new African ‘trading posts’ in Hong Kong and Guangzhou,” China Perspectives, No. 1 (2007), pp. 94–105Google Scholar; Bodomo, Adams, “An emerging African-Chinese community in Hong Kong: the case of Tsim Sha Tsui's Chungking Mansions,” in Prah, Kwesi Kwaa (ed.), Afro-Chinese Relations: Past, Present and Future (Cape Town: The Centre for Advanced Studies in African Societies, 2007) pp. 367–89Google Scholar.

2 Bodomo, “An emerging African-Chinese community in Hong Kong”; Adams Bodomo, “The emergence of African communities in Hong Kong and mainland China,” paper for Africa Table, Stanford University African Studies Centre, 23 May 2007; Zhigang, Li, Desheng, Xue, Lyons, Michael and Brown, Alison, “The African enclave of Guangzhou: a case study of Xiaobeilu,” Geographica Sinica, Vol. 63, No. 2 (2008)Google Scholar.

3 See e.g. Bodomo, “An emerging African-Chinese community in Hong Kong,” pp. 367–89; Bodomo, “The emergence of African communities in Hong Kong and mainland China”; Brigitte and Bredeloup, “The emergence of new African ‘trading posts’”; Li et al., “The African enclave of Guangzhou.”

4 See e.g. Bok Rae Kim, “The African presence in Korea,” in Kiran Kamal Prasad and Jean-Pierre Angenot (eds.), The African Diaspora in Asia, Explorations on a Less Known Fact: Papers Presented at the First International Conference on the African Diaspora in Asia in Panaji, Goa (2008) pp. 436–44; Stoller, Paul, Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2001)Google Scholar; MacGaffey, Janet and Bazenguissa-Ganga, Remy, Cong-Paris: Transnational Traders on the Margins of the Law (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2000)Google Scholar; McIntyre, Joseph, Wurzel in zwei Welten: westafrikanische Migranten und Migrantinnen in Hamburg (Frankfurt am Main: Brandes und Apsel, 2004)Google Scholar; Urciuoli, Bonnie, Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences of Language, Race and Class (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996)Google Scholar.

5 Kallen, Evelyn, The Western Samoan Kinship Bridge: a Study in Migration, Social Change, and the New Ethnicity (Leiden: Brill, 1982)Google Scholar.

6 Li et al., “The African enclave of Guangzhou.”

7 Brigitte and Bredeloup, “The emergence of new African ‘trading posts’.”

8 Cole, Jeffrey, The New Racism in Europe: A Sicilian Ethnography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)Google Scholar.

9 In its 16 July 2009 edition the SCMP splashed the following sensational headline on its front page: “Africans protest in Guangzhou after Nigerian feared killed fleeing visa check,” with a large picture of black people protesting in Guangzhou, some holding bloodied shirts to onlookers. The SCMP is Hong Kong's main English-language journal read mainly by Western expatriates in Hong Kong, and this sensational reporting really caused a stir in Hong Kong and southern China. Ordinary people suddenly woke up to the presence of a large community of Africans in Guangzhou, with the uncomfortable effect that every African in Hong Kong and southern China was perceived as a potential illegal immigrant.

10 Sullivan, Michael, “The 1988–89 Nanjing anti-African protests: racial nationalism or national racism?” The China Quarterly, No 138 (1994), pp. 438–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Ibid.

12 Li et al., “The African enclave of Guangzhou.”

13 The South Metropolis Daily in its January 2008 edition wrote: “Due to the skin color of black or brown of Africans here, the region is called ‘Chocolate City’ by Guangzhou people.”

14 Bodomo, “The emergence of African communities in Hong Kong and mainland China.”

15 Bodomo, “An emerging African-Chinese community in Hong Kong,” pp. 367–89.

16 Age-wise, these are people mostly in their 20s and 30s; in terms of gender there are more men than women; and in terms of schooling, many of them have finished high school and some even have tertiary education.

17 For other reasons for this West African preponderance, especially with Ghanaians, Guineans and Malians, see Bodomo, Africans in China, book manuscript in preparation.

18 Ibid.

19 Other activities such as festivals, dancing and worship are discussed in ibid.

20 They are now given only six-month visas.

21 The author thanks Dr Li Zhigang of Sun Yat-sen University for coming to this meeting and participating in our deliberations.