Tracking African attitudes to Chinese migrants
The Monash Africa Centre at MSA
Africans have responded in different ways to the rising number of Chinese migrants, according to a leading expert on Chinese migrants in Africa.
Dr Yoon Jung Park, a Senior Research Associate in Sociology at Rhodes University and Visiting Professor in African Studies at Howard University said there is a general perception that most Africans dislike the Chinese.
“Given that increasing numbers of Chinese are arriving in Africa it is important to get a sense of how Africans, in various countries, are responding to the newcomers,” Dr Park said.
“Through my research in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, I hope to inform audiences that we cannot generalise across the entire African continent about perceptions, responses or impacts.”
Dr Park will be discussing her research at the upcoming international ‘Chinese in Africa and Africans in China’ conference and public seminar at Monash South Africa’s Africa Centre.
She found that negative views of the Chinese were often based on lack of communication, with many recent migrants not speaking the local languages.
South Africa was the most accepting of the Chinese in the countries Dr Park surveyed, possibly because it has a long history of Chinese presence with three distinct Chinese communities: the Chinese South Africans or ‘local’ Chinese who have been there since the late 1870s, the Taiwanese, and the newer migrants from mainland China.
“Many South Africans have had long exposure to small numbers of Chinese; they form part of the multi-ethnic tapestry of South Africa. It is also the most developed country on the continent with the most advanced economy, so it has greater capacity to absorb the new migrants,” Dr Park said.
Lesotho had the highest levels of anti-Chinese sentiment.
“There is not much of a history of Chinese engagement or interaction in Lesotho. There are also few jobs and high unemployment, which leads to perceptions that Chinese migrants are stealing African jobs,” Dr Park said.
She said many of the newcomers have low levels of education.
“Encounters with less-educated migrants without any local language skills are bound to be more fraught and possibly unpleasant,” Dr Park said.
While African perceptions are affected by direct interactions, Dr Park said many other issues influence the way locals view newcomers, including China’s economic and political rise, and local political and economic circumstances.
The ‘Chinese in Africa and Africans in China’ conference and public seminar will be held from 21-23 August 2012 at Monash South Africa, and feature experts in Chinese and African relations from around the world. Dr Park will speak from 8.30-10.15am on 22 August.