The Everyday Chinese Framing of Africa: A Perspective of Tourism-geopolitical Encounter

ABSTRACT

This paper conducts a discourse analysis of Chinese tourist writings about Africa on the most popular Chinese online tourist forum, Mafengwo (hornet’s nest). By examining 2,950 travelogues collected online, our research finds that Chinese tourists’ conceptions of Africa are mainly built through 5 frames, including the exotic frame, the adventurous frame, the poverty frame, the China’s engagement frame, and the affection frame that describe Africa as a remote, exotic, adventurous, dangerous, miserable, and backward place compared to a modern China that strongly supports Africa’s development. Much tourist writing corresponds with the official Chinese geopolitical narrative of China-Africa relations that perceives China itself as a peacefully rising power who would also like to help developing others like Africa. However, we also find that some Chinese tourists’ descriptions of Africa fit uneasily into the official Chinese geopolitical conceptions, in which they demonstrate affection for Africa, but only in regard to its Western aspects, e.g., architecture, food, activities. One contribution of this study is providing a bottom-up Chinese citizenry discourses and cultural experiences of Africa, and with this empirical analysis it updates theories of everyday Chinese geopolitics of tourism. We think this study is unique in that we have broadened the understanding of both official and citizenry Chinese geopolitical conceptions and their (dis)connections, in particular from the everyday encounter between geopolitics and tourism, which also sets a frame for comprehending Chinese citizenry geopolitical conceptions of the outside ‘other’.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank professor Jason Dittmer from University College London, Dr. Qian Junxi from Hong Kong University, Mark (Xilin) Wang, the editor, and three anonymous reviewers who give comments for earlier draft of this article.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Source from the official webpage of Mafengwo, see: http://www.Mafengwo.cn.

Additional information

Funding

This research issupported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grants No.41701149; 41871127; 41630635).