China in Africa

1
China in Africa

• Christine Avenarius, PhD
• Department of Anthropology, East Carolina
  University

2
Anthropology

• Biological Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology
• Why do people do what they do?
• Understanding others from their point of view
• Participant observation as the framework of
  learning about others

3
China in Africa

• Who are the Chinese in Africa?
• Why are the Chinese in Africa?
• What do local people think about the Chinese in
  Africa?
• What should the US make of the presence of the
  Chinese in Africa?
• Why are some observers upset?

4
Which China? Which Africa?
5
Which China? Which Africa?

• China Africa
• 1.3 billion people 1 billion people
• 1 state 54 states
• 363 people/ sq.mile 80 people/ sq.mile

6
Which China?
7
Which Africa?
Colonial Africa ca. 1920
Africa in 2006
8
Which Africa?

• Africa today
• creative entrepreneurs
• new elites
• emerging middle classes

9
What is China doing in Africa? ? The macro view
10
EU and US opinions

• China is predatory
• China is displacing African industries
• China is embedding Africa in relations of
  dependencies
• ? Neo-colonialism ?

11
Which countries in Africa?

• A selection
• Angola, Nigeria, Sudan
• Zambia
• Ghana, Tanzania
• Namibia
• Note Many African traders live in China (South
  China is home to Africatowns)

12
History of China in Africa relations

• 1890s railroad workers in South Africa
• 1950s beginning of courtship to win votes from
  African nation-states to secure a UN seat
• 1960s aid to emerging African nation-states

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history

• 1970 to 1975 building the TAZARA railway

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history

• 1978/1983 Opening up policy
• economic reforms in China
• Pragmatism towards Africa
• Need to establish a win-win cooperation with
  African nation-states
• 1995 Going out policy
• every upstanding Chinese citizen can obtain a a
  passport
• encouragement of economic cooperation
• footnote international community begins to
  take note in 2006

15
Chinas foreign policy since the 1990s Strategies
promoted by Deng Xiaoping

• Observe calmly
• Secure our position
• Cope with affairs calmly
• Hide our capacities and bide our time
• Be good at maintaining a low profile
• Never claim leadership
• Make some contributions

16
The cliff notes on Chinas policy

• No interference
• No attachment to conditions
• ? build economic infrastructure, but stay away
  from influencing political structures

17

• You don't know how much we can love you,
  provided you don't try to tell us what to do. You
  cannot impose your culture on me. But if you
  respect my culture and if you try to be good to
  me and really think in terms of the human side of
  me, we'll be ready to stand on your side, you
  know. (Namibian citizen)

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Who are the Chinese in Africa?

• Government officials
• Para-statal companies building infrastructure,
  mining facilities, oil refineries
• Private entrepreneurs
• large private construction companies
• small business owners
• street vendors
• transient migrants (by way of Europe or on the
  way towards Europe/US)

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How many Chinese?

• No official figures available
• Chinese government is not able to provide
  numbers for private Chinese entrepreneurs either
• Depends on country and projects
• Nigeria up to 50 000 Chinese?
• Angola up to10 000 Chinese?
• Sudan up to 10 000 Chinese?
• 2000 registered private enterprises in 2010

20
Construction companies and Oil refineries

• Chinese laborers live in separate camps from
  locals

21
Agricultural land grabs?

• no substantial evidence
• compare to other countries and other purchases

22
Why are the Chinese in Africa?

• At the corporate level
• pragmatic cooperation for mutual benefits
• to advance Africas socioeconomic development
• to secure Chinas access to vital resources
• ? South-South Alliances

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Why are the Chinese in Africa?

• At the private entrepreneur level
• Limited economic opportunities in China
• Crowded living conditions in China
• Sons need funds for a house to woe a wife
• The Chinese dream from rags to riches
• African nation-states are
  s
• lands of opportunity

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What do Chinese and local people think about
each other?

• Mutual admiration
• Mutual loathing

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Mutual admiration

• Residents of Africa
• Young people enjoy martial arts
• General public admires efficiency, work ethnic,
  simple lifestyles
• Chinese people
• Admire the beauty and vastness of the land
• Magnificence of animals

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Mutual loathing

• Racist attitudes on both sides
• Chinese say
• locals are lazy
• locals focus on presence, not future
• government officials extort money
• Feizhou negative continent

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Mutual loathing

• Locals say
• Chinese people are hoarding our resources
• Chinese people sell low quality goods and build
  low quality buildings/roads
• Chinese people dont train local workers and
  dont comply with labor laws and regulations
• Chinese people dont invest in local economy
  (e.g. banking)

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Case Study Chinese in Namibia
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Namibia
2. 1 million people numerous ethnic groups 7
white people Languages English Afrikaans Germ
an ethnic languages
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Ethnographic Fieldwork

• Short time period 6 weeks
• Observation (no participation)
• Archival data newspaper clippings
• Interviews
• Informal interviews 54 (and 4 key informants)
• Semi-structured interviews 51
• Structured interviews using props 14

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Unstructured interviews
Male Female Total
Chinese 10 10 20
White Namibians 10 4 14
Black Namibians 8 5 13
Colored Namibians 2 5 7
Semi-structured interviews
Male Female Total
Chinese 16 8 24
White Namibians 12 4 16
Black Namibians 8 3 11
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Findings

• Black Namibians (Ovambo, Herero, Damara, Nama)
  own few retail shops
• Chinatown is a retail ghetto
• Construction companies dominate public opinion
  and awareness
• Black elite considers Chinese as honorary
  blacks
• Government disconnected from public opinion

33
Findings regarding Chinese migrants

• Very little opportunity for interaction beyond
  business transactions
• Construction workers are completely isolated
• Very little English skills (even less Afrikaans
  or indigenous languages)
• Early migrants are successful as brokers

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findings on Chinese migrants

• Differences between younger and older Chinese (40
  years of age is the threshold) in opinions about
  business strategies
• Chinese migrants feel harassed by government
  officials
• Chinese migrants have established very few
  visible community organizations for themselves
• Socializing takes place in online communities

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Findings regarding Namibians

• White business owners are impressed by Chinese
  work ethic and benefit from the
  business of construction companies
• Employees of big Namibian corporations are
  disturbed about Chinese
  working conditions and competition
• Newspapers promote negative stereotypes about
  Chinese companies.
• Lower class and middle class Namibians are not
  well informed

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findings regarding Namibians

• Black and Colored Namibians appreciate the
  shopping opportunities
• Chinese Dollar stores offer an alternative to
  South African owned chain stores
• Consuming is the new past-time

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What makes Chinese successful?

• Willing to eat bitterness
• Willing to do what it takes
• Creative economics circumventing regulations
• Live like the local people
• Efficient and effective
• Playing local people against each other

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What connects Chinese and Africans?

• Kinship orientation
• Hierarchical view of social relationships
• humans are not considered equal
• networking and reliance on key people
• Both cultural groups that interact are unable to
  say no
• Similar decision making strategies
• Palaver (Africa) and Consensus (China)

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China and many African nation-states share(d)
structural similarities

• Need for reform in light of Euro-American
  industrialization and economic advantage
• Large proportions of poor citizens
• Early statehood characterized by
• reliance on agriculture, lack of industry
• Need for infrastructure
• Tight connection between state and economic
  interests
• ? Advancement of the interests of the state at
  the expense of ordinary people

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Is neo-colonialism a good label?

• China accepts the sovereignty of African
  nation-states
• China is not on a mission to convert African
  nation states to their point of view
• China is more interested in Africans as consumers
  than as laborers
• ? Postcolonial interdependency (though
  economically imbalanced)

41

• Africa and China are the most unequal equals.
• Julius Nyerere (1922 to 1999)
• President of Tanzania (1964 to 1985)

42

• China prefers bilateral engagement and avoids
  multilateral agreements
• China wants to secure its investments
• Although China doesnt practice ethnocentrism,
  many Chinese people have a sense of cultural
  superiority

43
What should the US make of the presence of
Chinese in Africa?

• Establishing personal relationships matters
• China is not going to take over
• but China is not limiting its activities either
• China is becoming an important global player
• ? Engage with China

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• 'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
• Till China and Africa meet,
• And the river jumps over the mountain
• And the salmon sing in the street
• Source W. H. Auden (third verse of his poem As
  I walked out one evening, published in 1940).

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Column1 Angola DR Congo Ghana Namibia Nigeria Sudan Tanzania
Form of Government Republic Republic Constitutional Democracy Republic Federal Republic Federal Republic Republic
Square km 1,246,700 sq km 2,344,858 sq km 238,533 sq km 824,292 sq km 923,768 sq km 1,861,484 sq km 947,300 sq km
Population size 18,056,072 73,599,190 24,652,420 2,165,828 170,123,740 34,206,710 46,912,768
Number of Ethnicities Min. of 5 Over 200, most Bantu or Hamitic Min. of 10 Min. of 9 Over 250 5 Min of 4, most are Bantu
Ethnic Group Ovimbundu 37 Mongo (Bantu) Akan 45.3 Ovambo 50 Hausa and Falani 29 Sudanese Arab 70 Bantu 95
Ethnic Group Kimbundu 25 Luba (Bantu) Mole-Dagbon 15.2 Kavangos- 9 Yoruba 21 Fur Other (European, Asian, Arab)- 1
Ethnic Group Bakongo 13 Kongo (Bantu) Ewe 11.7 Herero 7 Igbo 18 Beja
Ethnic Group mestico 2 Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) 45 Ga-Dangme 7.3 Damara 7 Ijaw 10 Nuba
Ethnic Group Other 23 Gurma 3.6 Mixed with white 6.5 Kanuri 4 Fallata
Religious Affiliation Indigenous- 47 1998 Roman Catholic- 50 Christian 68.8 Christian- 80-90 Muslim Sunni, Shia, Sufi- 50 Sunni Muslim Christian- 30
Religious Affiliation Roman Catholic- 38 Protestant- 20 Pentecostal/Charasmatic- 24.1 Lutheran- 50 Christian- 40 Small Christian minority Muslim- 35
Religious Affiliation Postestant- 15 Kimbanguist- 10 Muslim Sunni- 15.9 Indigenous- 10-20 Indigenous- 10 Indigenous- 35
Religious Affiliation Muslim- Sunnite Muslim- 10 Traditional- 8.5 Zanzibar- Muslim- 99
GDP 116.3 billion- 2011 25.29 billion -2011 75.66 billion- 2011 15.93 billion- 2011 414 billion- 2011 89.16 billion- 2011 67.9 billion- 2011
Export to China 38.10 48.10 N/A N/A N/A Macau 65.2 14.30
Import from China 17.80 16.20 20.40 N/A 17.30 Macau 21.5 17.40
Main trading partner China, Portugal China, South Africa France, China N/A US, China Macau (China) China, India
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Population and Ethnicity
Angola DR Congo Ghana Namibia Nigeria Sudan Tanzania
Population size 18,056,072 73,599,190 24,652,420 2,165,828 170,123,740 34,206,710 46,912,768
Ethnic Group Ovimbundu -37 Mongo (Bantu) Akan- 45.3 Ovambo 50 Hausa and Falani- 29 Sudanese Arab- 70 Bantu 95
Ethnic Group Kimbundu -25 Luba (Bantu) Mole-Dagbon 15.2 Kavangos- 9 Yoruba- 21 Fur Other (European, Asian, Arab)- 1
Ethnic Group Bakongo 13 Kongo (Bantu) Ewe- 11.7 Herero 7 Igbo- 18 Beja
Ethnic Group Mestico- 2 Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) 45 Ga-Dangme 7.3 Damara 7 Ijaw- 10 Nuba
Ethnic Group Other- 23 Gurma- 3.6 Mixed with white 6.5 Kanuri- 4 Fallata
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