Africans in China: A Sociocultural Study and Its Implications on ...

The last group is by far the largest. As part of the golden era of Africa-China relations, many African traders began to move to China in search of cheap manufactured goods which they could buy and ship back home to Africa to sell. Although this process began with Africans who studied in China and remained there to do business, an obstacle appeared during the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Many African traders in neighboring Southeast Asian countries which were hit harder by the crisis (e.g., as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia) simply moved to China to continue their trade between Africa and Asia (Bodomo, 2009a,b).

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, the richest province in China, is also known as the world’s factory. More Africans can be found in Guangzhou than in any other part of China. Indeed, a whole section of the city is commonly referred to as “Chocolate City” because of the large number of Africans residing there. In general, there are more west Africans in Guangzhou.

The situation is different in Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang Province, where there are many people from the Maghreb region, particularly from countries such as Mauritania, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, North Sudan, and Algeria. Yiwu, commonly referred to as the world’s largest commodities city, is a new metropolis that was created by the Chinese authorities as a center for sourcing commodities. Arab Africans from the Maghreb—especially those who studied in China and speak the Chinese language fluently, having stayed on after completing their studies—control this business. However, a growing number of Black Africans are beginning to populate Yiwu.

In Hong Kong, there are more Africans of southern African origins, especially white Africans. The Southern African community in Hong Kong, comprising mostly white South Africans, has about 200 members. However, it is not easy to spot these white South Africans, except on their Rugby Sevens weekend once a year, when many of them wear their South African Springboks T-shirts. There is a sizeable population of black Africans in and around the Chungking Mansions situated in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, a busy shopping area for tourists in Hong Kong.