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ABSTRACT
Chinese are often said to ‘self-segregate’ in Africa. Chinese ethnocentricity is typically offered as an explanation for the putative non-interaction. Meanwhile Chinese are not compared to other non-indigenous people in Africa, implying unique Chinese self-isolation. Due to China’s semi-peripheral dynamics however, the contemporary Chinese presence in Africa cannot be generalized into a single category. Based on surveys, interviews, and documents, we examine the varied presence of Chinese in Africa, including residential patterns acquisition of local African languages, and socialization patterns, and draw distinctions between Chinese expatriates and Chinese migrants. Factors affecting Chinese adaptation include local political environment, recentness of migration, language barriers, and corporate policies to mitigate crime and conflict. We argue that most Chinese in Africa are not self-isolated and not more isolated in Africa than are other Asian migrants and whites there. Claims of Chinese self-isolation reflect a longstanding, global Yellow Peril discourse that persists despite discrediting evidence.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. “One among Many,” The Economist; Hanauer and Morris, Chinese Engagement in Africa, 69; and “As Africa Welcomes More Chinese Migrants, a New Wariness Sets In,” Christian Science Monitor.
2. Ozawa, “Next Great Industrial Transmigration,” 14, 24.
3. McKinsey and Co., “Dance of the Lions and Dragon,” 11; Rounds and Huang, “We are not so Different”; Sautman and Yan, The Chinese are the Worst? 3; and Chen, et al. “Why Is China Investing in Africa?”.
4. Lee, “Raw Encounters,” 653.
5. Moore, Sociology Alive! 120; and Zuma, “The Social Psychology of Self-Segregation,” 192.
6. Brown, “Africa and China’s Value Deficit.”
7. Zheng, “Transferring ‘Yellow River Capitalism’ to Africa and Its Implications,” 79-97.
8. King, “The Chinese Chopstick Invasion of Africa Continues Apace.”
9. Morlin-Yron, “This is What Africans Really Think of the Chinese.”
10. Muttarak, “Potential Implications of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ Strategy on Chinese International Migration.”
11. McGarrigle, Understanding Processes of Ethnic Concentration and Dispersal, 37-38; and Skirmuntt, “Ethnic Segregation and Collective Political Action.”
12. Phillips, “Minority Ethnic Segregation, Integration and Citizenship,” 52.
13. Finney and Simpson, “Sleepwalking to Segregation?”.
14. Kaufmann, “Understanding ‘White Flight’.”
15. Phillips, “Parallel Lives?” 36-37; Vertovec and Wessendorf, “Introduction,” 18; and Miah, Muslims, Schooling and the Question of Self-Segregation.
16. Lipka, “Muslims and Islam.”
17. Dunn et al., “The Resilience and Ordinariness of Australian Muslims.”
18. Priest et al., “Patterns of Intergroup Contact in Public Spaces,” 36.
19. NPR, “92 Percent of African-Americans Say Black Americans Face Discrimination Today”; and Gallup, “Nearly Half of Blacks Treated unfairly ‘in Last 30 Days.”
20. Denvir, “It’s Mostly White People Who Prefer to Live in Segregated Neighborhoods”; DeFina, “Do African Americans Prefer to Live in Segregated Communities?”.
21. Chang, “White America is quietly Self-Segregating.”
22. Cox et al., “Race, Religion, and Political Affiliation of Americans’ Core Social Networks.”
23. Krysan et al., “Does Race Matter?” 527-559.
24. van Bueren, “Late-Nineteenth Century Chinese Farm Workers in the California Mother Lode,” 80-96.
25. Agnew, Alcohol and Opium in the Old West, 94.
26. Bonner, Alas! What Brought Thee Hither? 29.
27. Wang, “His Dominion” and the “Yellow Peril”, 37.
28. Carroll, Edge of Empire, 96.
29. Roberts, “China and the Devil Slaves.”
30. MrOkadaman28, “John Campbell on How the Chinese are Perceived in Africa.”
31. Schmitz, “Significant Other,” 48.
32. Benton, Chinese Migrants and Internationalism.
33. Burleigh, “Zambia’s Confucian Capitalism.”
34. French, “Entrepreneurs from China Flourish in Africa.”
35. Straits Times, “US Warns China against ‘Great Wall of Self-segregation”; and Fallows, “This is Getting Serious.”
36. Taneja and Wu, “Does the Great Firewall really Isolate the Chinese?” 297-309; and Anderlini,”The South China Sea Presents a Reality Check for America.”
37. Larson, “China’s Increasing African Presence.”
38. Gui, “Taking the Pulse of Non-Acclimated Chinese Companies in Africa”; Global Times, “Respect for Local Ways Key to Success in Africa”; Zhou, “Zai fei huaren shengcun zhuangkuang ji qi yu dangdi zuqun guanxi” (Livelihood and relations with local communities of Chinese in Africa); and Johnson, “The Chinese Invade Africa.”
39. Interview, Dr. Jacob Ashong, entrepreneur, Accra, Ghana, July 13 2005; and Sunday Standard, “Chinese Envoy Tries to Snatch Friendship from the Jaws of Xenophobia.”
40. Park, “One Million Chinese in Africa.”
41. Gupta, “Indian Diaspora in Africa” (Indian diaspora in Africa numbers over 2 million). The white population in South Africa alone is 4 million, see http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/south-africa-population/.
42. Klak, “World-systems theory: Centres, Peripheries and Semi-peripheries,” 107-112. As Klak notes, “WST [world systems theory] is too holistic to account for local dynamics. Indeed, WST downplays the role of local activities, initiatives and people.” Ibid:111. We therefore only borrow the concept of semi-periphery, rather than attempt to embed our analysis in world system analysis per se.
43. See, Dunaway and Clelland, “Moving toward Theory for the 21st Century,” 399-464.
44. Wallerstein, “The Relevance of the Concept of Semi-Periphery to Southern Europe,” 34.
45. Terlouw, “World-systems Theory and Regional Geography,” 206-221.
46. Li, The Rise of China, 95.
47. See Grell-Brisk, “China and Global Economic Stratification”; and Li and Christensen (eds.), The Rise of China.
48. Womack, “On the World Stage.”
49. See, e.g., Grougel and Hout, Regionalism across the North-South Divide, 88-90.
50. Li, “The Rise of China,” 429.
51. Li, The Rise of China … 98.
52. Trading Economics, “China GDP Per Capita (PPP) 1990-2018.”
53. Wang, “Foreign Direct Investment.”
54. World Bank Group, “China: Systematic Country Diagnostic”; and International Labour Organization, “World Employment Social Outlook”, 2.
55. Syed, “The Internationalization of Third World Multi-national Firms,” 35-49.
56. Terlouw, Elusive Semi-periphery, 95.
57. Aykut and Goldstein, “Developing Country Multi-Nationals,” 29.
58. China Daily, “China’s Private Sector Contributes Greatly to Economic Growth.”
59. Bodomo, Africans in China.
60. See note 40 above.
61. Yang, “Sweltering Heat, Golden Dreams,” 57.
62. Interview, Li Kunpeng, General Manager, Hua Kan, Khartoum, December 28 2008.
63. Pugliese, “Corporate Social Responsibility,” 41.
64. Rajaoson, “Analysis of a South-South International Migration,” 10.
65. Situma, “Kenya Savors, Rues China Moment.”
66. Hsueh and Nelson, “How China is Impacting Business State Relations in Africa.”
67. Interview, Emad Seory, Huawei, Khartoum, November 15 2008.
68. Thorniley, “The Real Chinese Entrepreneurs Make their Presence Felt in Africa.”
69. Interview, Luo Xin’geng, CEO, CLM, Luanshya, August 17 2012.
70. Cooke et al., “Mining with a High-End Strategy,” 2744-2762.
71. Interview, Hu Yanhua, Vice CEO, Tongling Zhongdu, Chililabombwe, Zambia, August 26 2008.
72. Sace Foundation, “Chinese Companies Perception Survey,” 27.
73. Interview, engineers Xu, Yu, Zhou, Chambishi, August 23 2008.
74. Interview, Zhang Shifu, Chambishi, August 26 2008.
75. Interview, Song Guolin, Kitwe, August 19 2011.
76. Interview, CCS managers and engineers, Chambishi, August 19 2011.
77. Interview, Irene Tembo, Chambishi Copper Smelter, Kitwe, June 17 2014.
78. Interview, John, Senior Engineer, Chambishi, August 20 2008.
79. Interview, Timothy Matipa, Chambishi, August 23 2008.
80. Zenn, “Chinese, Overseas and Insecure.”
81. Johnson, “Of Mines and Men.”
82. Serrano, “Equatorial Guinea.”
83. Engler, “The Ugly Canadian Strikes Again.”
84. MrOkadaman28, “John Campbell on How…”
85. Interview, Santos Sikapoko, Luanshya, June 27 2013.
86. Interview, Adam Zulu, Luanshya, August 17 2012.
87. Cheng, “Rethinking Differences and Inequality,” 543.
88. Raines, China’s African Challenges, 76-77.
89. Fuyu, “Chen Weijian.”
90. Interview, Zijing Grocery, Khartoum, December 21 2007.
91. Interview, Tian Fu restaurant, Khartoum, December 22 2007.
92. Interview, Mao Lin, interpreter, Tianbao International Engineering, Khartoum, November 14 2008.
93. Interview, Mr. Mekki, Anyang Battery Factory, Khartoum, November 23 2008.
94. Interview, Wang Peng, Khartoum, November 25 2008.
95. Wakesa, “On the Trail of China’s Dragon Head Companies in East Africa.”
96. Interview, Xu Huanping, Deputy General Manager, Urafiki, Dar, July 3 2006; and Lee, Raw Encounters, 654.
97. People Daily (Kenya), “Chinese Pulling out all Stops to Learn Kiswahili.”
98. Kapchanga, “Chinese Should be Taught in African Schools”; and Olander, “Does it Make Sense for Africans to Learn to Speak Chinese?”.
99. Erard, “Why China is Trying to Learn Africa’s Languages.”
100. Kapchanga, “Learning the Lingo.”
101. Interview, Gabriel Maseko, Chambishi, August 13 2012.
102. Interview, Friday Simwanza, Luanshya, July 1 2013.
103. Interview, Hu Yanhua, Chilabumbwe, August 26 2008.
104. Interview, Li Yanwei, Luanshya, June 27 2013.
105. Interview, Godfrey Kayenze, Director, Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe Harare, June 19 2014; Interview, Joseph Ngwawi and Kizito Sikuka, Southern Africa Research and Documentation Center, Harare, June 19 2014; and Interview, He Meng, Counselor, Chinese Embassy, Harare, Ap. 16, 2010.
106. Shinn and Eisenman, China and Africa, 222.
107. Lampert et al., Chinese Migrants and Africa’s Development, 9.
108. de Marais, “The New Imperialism: China in Angola,” 67-74.
109. Mashinini, “Sino-Led Development in Lesotho under the New Scramble for Africa Phase,” 187.
110. Arsene, Chinese Employers and their Ugandan Workers, 162.
111. M&G, “Somalis in Soweto and Nairobi, Chinese in Congo, and Zambia, Local Anger in Africa Targets Foreigners”, and Bozelo, “RCUTV (Journal).”
112. New Era, “Illegal Chinese ‘Shabeen’ Shops Irk Locals.”
113. Schouwenburg, The Lives 30.
114. McNamee, “Africa in their Words”; and Steyn, “Behind the Chinese Trader Mask.”
115. Olander and van Staden, “Q&A”.
116. Li, “Play the Game of Encirclement in the Going out Age.”
117. China-Africa Project, “PRC Workers.”
118. Arsene, “Chinese Coming to Africa,” 16-17.
119. Interview, Mr. Huang, CATIC, Dar, July 7 2006.
120. Zi, Iron Sharpens Iron, 85-87, 89, 115.
121. Interview, Liu Bin, Gabrone, August 9 2007.
122. Khelifi, “The Chinese in Algeria.”
123. Horta, “China in Africa”; and Haugen and Carling,”On the Edge of the Chinese Diaspora,” 669-682.
124. Zhange, “Outsider Culture.”
125. Gamora, “The Implementation of the Nine Principles,” 60.
126. Pablo, “Who are these Chinese Investors?”.
127. Ali, “Somalia.”
128. Lu, Adaption, 27.
129. Interview, Mateza, Kariakoo, Dar Es Salaam, July 9 2006.
130. Kircher-Allen, “Chinatown.”
131. The China-Africa Blog, “Events We Like.”
132. McNamee, Africa, 40.
133. Wilson, “Chinese Businesses Rile Lesotho Locals.”
134. Beatty, “Obama in Ethiopia.”
135. Tanga, “The Contribution of Chinese Trade and Investment,” 116.
136. Schmitz, Significant Other, 50.
137. Kaiman, “African Hair Salon in China Brings Success.”
138. Olander, “Chinese.”
139. Thianne-Epondo, “How about we Beat the Chinese”.
140. Deumert and Mabandla, “Every Day a New Shop Pops Up” 44-52.
141. Hill, “Rhodes to Understanding.”
142. Olander, “Understanding the ‘Negative Narrative’.’.
143. The Economist, “Tongues under Threat.”
144. Spooner, “Hounded and Courted.”
145. Tharoor, Inglorious Empire, 57, 229-230; and Sautman and Yan, East Mountain Tiger, West Mountain Tiger.
146. Shutt, Manners Make a Nation, 85; and Shadle, The Souls of White Folk, 107.
147. Tumfeweko, “Mopani Bans Local Languages at its Mines.”
148. Telegraph, “Unsociable?”
149. Lu, “Adaption Level of Chinese Immigrants in Zambia,” 29.
150. Taylor, “African Respect for Chinese Expatriates Grows.”
151. Blackwell and Jonson, “Migration, Mobility and the African City,” 16-17.
152. See note 115 above.
153. Chien, “China in Ethiopia.”
154. Schmitt, “Is Africa Turning East?” 9.
155. Kurlantzik, “African Respect for Chinese Expatriates Grows.”
156. Jean-Baptiste, “When the Chinese Build the Roads.”
157. Esteban, “A Silent Invasion?” 238.
158. Chen, “Chinatown in Johannesburg,” 8-11.
159. Xu, “Cyreldine Chinatown, Suburban Settlement,” 81-104; and Dittgen, “Features of Modernity,” 979-996.
160. Čavojská, “United we Stand,” 82.
161. Kaplinsky, “What Contribution Can China Make to Inclusive Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa?” 1295-1316.
162. Jacobs, “Soft Power South African Style”; see also Schroeder, Africa after Apartheid.
163. Smiley, “Expatriate Everyday Life in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania,” 327-342.
164. Mateza interview.
165. Klaus Meyer’s Blog, “Chinese Stumble in Africa,” While it may be often assumed that Europeans are white, we do not share that assumption, not only for Europeans in Europe, but also for Europeans in Africa.
166. Interview, Wu Weidong, CATIC Africa, Dar Es Salaam, July 7 2006.
167. McIntosh, Unsettled: 122, 124, 219-220.
168. Adam, “From the Trading Post Indians to Indian-Africans,” 45-49.
169. Sharma, “Indians’ Love-Hate Relations with Africa.”
170. Interview, Hezron Gikang’a, Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Nairobi, December 20 2007.
171. Interview, Mr. Qing, Chinese Center for the Promotion of Investment Trade in Kenya, Nairobi, December 19 2007.
172. Cheng et al., “What Do Kenyans Actually Think of the Chinese in Kenya?”.
173. Interview, Frank Nzoh, Swakopmund, July 20 2008.
174. Interview, Fahmi Bashir Ali, Fahmool Trading Co., Khartoum, November 19 2008.
175. Interview, Stephen Muyakwa, Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia, Lusaka, July 4 2008.
176. Interview, Akashambatwa Lewanika, Lusaka, July 7 2008.
177. Interview, Frederick Chola and Loti Chola, CLM, Luanshya, August 17 2012.
178. Kashimba interview.
179. Interview, Oliver Saasa, Lusaka, August 3 2012.
180. Interview, Oliver Saasa, Lusaka, June 6 2014.
181. Lu et al., “Adaption of Chinese Immigrants in Zambia,” 3.
182. Liu, Huaren saying qiye zai feizhou (Chinese Private Enterprises in Africa), 22-26.
183. BBC, “Zambia’s Attraction for Chinese Investors”; and BBC, “Can Chinese Migrants Integrate in Africa?”.
184. Lu, “Zambian Perceptions of Non-Indigenous Groups.”
185. Sautman and Yan, “African Perspectives on China-Africa Links,” 743-744.
186. Interview, UNZA students, Lusaka, June 23, 2016; interview Kate Naluyele, Lusaka, June 17 2016.
187. Bork-Huffer et al., “Mobility and the Transiency of Social Spaces,” 199-211. See also Sim, “Strictly Business in Guangzhou’s ‘Chocolate City.’”
188. Zhou, “Intercultural Marriage, Legal Status and Social Belonging in China,” 197-198.
189. Myers, “Inside the Satmar Plan to Win Independence for Kirya Joel.’
190. Snyder, “Poland Polls Reveals Stubborn Anti-Semitism amid Jewish Revival Hopes.”
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Notes on contributors
Hairong Yan
Hairong Yan teaches in the Dept. of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests broadly span agrarian change, food security and sovereignty, China-Africa links. She co-authored with Barry Sautman, Localists and ‘Locusts’ in Hong Kong: Creating a Yellow-Red Peril Discourse (Baltimore: University of Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, 2015).
Barry Sautman
Barry Sautman, a political scientist and lawyer at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, has worked on ethnic politics in China, including ethnic policies, the Tibet and Xinjiang issues, and relations between Hong Kong people and mainland Chinese. He and Yan Hairong research collaboratively about China/Africa political economy and interactions between Chinese and Africans, most recently publishing 中国在非洲: 话语与现实 (China in Africa: Discourses and Reality) (北京: 社会科学文献出版社2017).
Yao Lu
Yao Lu is a Ph.D student in Department of Sociology, University of California, Davis. Her research interests involve Chinese presence in Africa and ethnic/racial relations in Africa.