Africans in Guangzhou

Last updated
Africans in Guangzhou
Total population
13,652 (2019) [1] ≤ 4,553 (2020) [2]
Languages
English, French, Igbo, Bambara and other African languages, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese
Religion

During the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, reports became widespread of Africans of Guangzhou being evicted from flats and hotels by landlords, and having difficulty in finding food and shelter as a result. [29] [30] [31] [32] Some became homeless and had to sleep on the street. [33] [34]

On 11 April, the United States Consulate General in Guangzhou warned African-Americans to avoid travel to the Guangzhou city, with a report by some African-Americans that "some businesses and hotels refuse to do business with them". [33] The Consulate further raised a travel warning to announce the discrimination condition against African-Americans in Guangzhou on 13 April. In that warning, it said that Chinese officials might require Africans to participate in the COVID-19 test and undergo a 14-day supervised quarantine at their own expense. [35]

Ambassadors in China from many African countries wrote to Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, Wang Yi, for asking China to resolve the discrimination problem against Africans in Guangzhou. [36] The chair of African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also summoned Chinese Ambassador to the AU, Liu Yuxi, to express his extreme concern. [29]

On 12 April, Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, said that: [37]

During our fight against the coronavirus, the Chinese government has been attaching great importance to the life and health of foreign nationals in China. All foreigners are treated equally. We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination. Since the outbreak, the authorities in Guangdong attach high importance to the treatment of foreign patients, including African nationals. Specific plans and proper arrangements are made to protect their life and health to the best of our ability, thanks to which we were able to save the lives of some African patients in severe or critical conditions.

He also said in the regular press conference on 13 April that China will address the "African friends’ concerns" by adopting a series of measures to avoid racist and discrimination problems, and condemned "the US had better focus on domestic efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Attempts to use the pandemic to drive a wedge between China and Africa are bound to fail". [38]

Immigration issues

Some Africans have applied for permanent residency or work permits, but they are the minority. Many are traders on tourist visas engaged in import-export between China and Africa. [3]

According to Reuters in 2009, there were as many as 100,000 Africans and Arabs in Guangzhou, mostly illegal visa overstayers. [39] Some Africans say that overstaying in China is inevitable because it is impossible to finish the business they had come for within a 30-day time frame and they cannot afford a plane ticket home. [3] Sociologists Gordon Mathews, Linessa Dan Lin, Yang Yang noted in a study of the local African community that Nigerians, particularly Igbos, are much more likely than other African groups to stay illegally due to "masculine pride". [25] Based on field interviews, Igbos report being under greater pressure from family and peers to become a success to justify a trip to China. [25]

Since 2004 at the latest, illegal immigration has increasingly come into the focus of the police authorities in Guangzhou and later throughout the country. In 2003, campaigns against illegal immigration were conducted in Guangdong and other Chinese provinces, and around 2008, the police repeatedly conducted so-called "hurricane" campaigns against illegal immigration in Guangdong. [40] : 155–160  In Guangzhou, a regulation has been in force since 2004 under which citizens are requested to report cases suspected of illegal immigration to the police, which can be rewarded with CN¥100. [40] : 73–74 

Intermarriage

By 2014, there had been multiple marriages between African and Chinese people in Guangzhou, with almost all marriages being between African men and Chinese women. Chinese marriage visas do not legally allow the spouse to work. Many marriages have stability issues due to the difficulties in keeping visas. [19] The majority of the Chinese who live and marry Africans in Guangzhou, for example, come from the rural poorer provinces Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei. As of 2010-2014, rural Chinese who marry Africans and foreigners are allowed to have multiple children, unlike average Chinese citizens. [41] [42]

Foreign exchange difficulties

In addition to immigration enforcement, another difficulty to navigate for African traders has been the depreciation of several African currencies after the fall in oil prices since 2014. [43] Nigerian traders who are a large part of the African contingent reported being stymied by the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency in Nigeria needed to purchase goods. [8] The Nigerian government had initially reacted to the sharp depreciation in the Nigerian naira by limiting access to foreign exchange and refusing to devalue the official exchange rate. [43] In order to obtain naira, Nigerian traders had to resort to the black market to buy dollars at a 75% premium, making it difficult to turn a profit. [8] [43] The foreign exchange problem proved so discouraging that one long time Nigerian clothing trader in Guangzhou interviewed by the Financial Times reported being unable to fill a single container halfway into the year in 2016. [43] Difficulties were reported by traders with foreign exchange in other African countries including Angola, another top oil producer. [8]

Crime

There has been a recent growth of drug trafficking among groups of foreigners from around the world, including Africa. [44] A Nigerian consulate official in Guangzhou estimated in 2017 that on average, 1% of Nigerians arriving in Guangzhou would be arrested for a drug-related offense. [45]

The Guangzhou Public Security Bureau carried out a major drug bust with 1,300 police officers raiding the Lihua (Dragon) Hotel in the city's Yuexiu District. The August 2013 raid coincided with an immigration enforcement crackdown in the summer 2013 and led to the arrest of 168 suspects, most of whom were described by police as citizens of Nigeria and Mali. [46]

The then-Nigerian Ambassador in Beijing, Sola Onadipe, stated that more than 50 of the suspects arrested were holders of Nigerian passports. He noted large amounts of money were found on the suspects and lamented in an interview with the Vanguard, "As an embassy, how do you tackle such a thing?" [47] The Ambassador in the same interview, a year before planned retirement, was harsh on his countrymen for engaging in what he described as rampant drug trafficking and ill-mannered public behavior ("smoking marijuana openly in another man's country") and vented "it makes you not to enjoy your job". [47] Ambassador Onadipe gave the local police credit for fairly adjudicating criminal cases involving Nigerians and pointed out that other African communities in Guangzhou, including the neighboring countries of Ivory Coast and Ghana and countries across Francophone Africa, didn't get the same level of police attention as Nigerians. [47]

See also

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References

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  2. ↑ Public Security Bureau of Guangzhou, Press Conference. https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2020-04-12/1424738.html [2020-04-12]
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Schiller, Bill (2009-08-01). "Big trouble in China's Chocolate City". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2010-08-24. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  4. ↑ The African migrants giving up on the Chinese dream Archived 2018-08-13 at the Wayback Machine , CNN, 2016-06-26
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  7. ↑ "African migrants leaving Guangzhou's Little Africa". Channel NewsAsia. December 19, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Guangzhou to Nigera - Forex Issues". NTAnews24. September 4, 2016.
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  10. 1 2 "在广州居住外国人达11.8万 日本人最多韩国居次". Yangcheng Evening News. Archived from the original on 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
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  14. ↑ "Migration and business: Weaving the world together". The Economist . 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
  15. ↑ "Igbos, other Africans making it big in China". PM News Nigeria. 2013-09-20. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
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  17. ↑ Hairong, Y. A. N. (4 June 2020). "We wanted to know if Chinese migrants in Africa self-segregate. What we found". The Conversation. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  18. ↑ Zhen Jinghui (2009-09-11). "非洲黑人在广州 Black People in Guangzhou". Nanfengchuang. Archived from the original on 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  19. 1 2 Marsh, Jenni (2014-07-02). "Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be 'til death do us part'?". South China Morning Post . Archived from the original on 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  20. ↑ Pan, Xiaobo (2008-01-23). "Chocolate City - Africans searching for the Chinese Dream". Southern Weekly . Archived from the original on 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  21. 1 2 "Africans protest in Guangzhou after passport checks". China Daily. July 16, 2009. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Strike Hard Against Immigration: China's New Exit-Entry Law". China Brief. November 22, 2013. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Africans Protest in Guangzhou (Video)". Toronto Star . 2009-07-30. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  24. 1 2 "Protest in China over Guangzhou death in custody". BBC News. 20 June 2012. Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  25. 1 2 3 Mathews, Gordon; Lin, Linessa Dan; Yang, Yang (2017). The World in Guangzhou. University of Chicago Press. p. 118.
  26. ↑ Hall, Brian J; Chen, Wen; Latkin, Carl; Ling, Li; Tucker, Joseph D (April 2014). "Africans in south China face social and health barriers". The Lancet. 383 (9925): 1291–1292. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60637-1. PMC   4214379 . PMID   24725568.
  27. ↑ "'Not Allowed To Receive African Guests': Discrimination At Guangzhou Hotels". supchina. August 8, 2018. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
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  29. 1 2 "African Nations, US Decry Racism Against Blacks in China". The New York Times. The Associated Press. 2020-04-11. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  30. ↑ Davidson, Helen (2020-04-13). "Chinese official: claims of racial targeting are 'reasonable concerns'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2020-04-23. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  31. ↑ Li, Hangwei (22 April 2020). "The mistreatment of Africans in Guangzhou is a big threat to China's coronavirus diplomacy". Quartz. Archived from the original on 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  32. ↑ Brown, Matthew. "Fact check: Black people being targeted in Guangzhou, China, over COVID-19 fears". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2020-04-23. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  33. 1 2 Jenni Marsh; Shawn Deng; Nectar Gan (10 April 2020). "Africans in Guangzhou on edge as coronavirus fears spark anti-foreigner sentiment in China". CNN. Archived from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  34. ↑ "US warns African-Americans to avoid Guangzhou due to discrimination fears". South China Morning Post. 2020-04-11. Archived from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  35. ↑ "Health Alert: U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou, People's Republic of China". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China. 2020-04-13. Archived from the original on 2020-04-15. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  36. ↑ "African ambassadors complain to China over 'discrimination' in Guangzhou". Reuters. 2020-04-12. Archived from the original on 2020-04-23. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  37. ↑ "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Remarks on Guangdong's Anti-epidemic Measures Concerning African Citizens in China". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China. 12 April 2020. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020.
  38. ↑ "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 13, 2020". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China. 13 April 2020. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  39. ↑ Pomfret, James (21 August 2009). "Out of Africa and into China, immigrants struggle". Reuters . Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  40. 1 2 Habicht, Jasper (2020). The Role of Campaigns in Law Enforcement: The Example of Sanfei Campaigns in Chinese Immigration Law. Studies on the Law and Legal Culture of China. Vol. 9. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. pp. 155–160. doi:10.5771/9783748907817. ISBN   978-3-7489-0781-7. S2CID   218955976.
  41. ↑ Admin (2014-06-03). "Bride and prejudice: Afro-Chinese marriages in Guangzhou". Africa-China Reporting Project. Archived from the original on 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  42. ↑ "China cracks down on African immigrants and traders". the Guardian. 2010-10-06. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  43. 1 2 3 4 "Commodity dip hits China's little Africa". Financial Times. July 4, 2016. Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  44. ↑ Wang, Huazhong (2010-06-26). "More foreigners involved in drug trafficking cases". China Daily. Archived from the original on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  45. ↑ "535 Nigerians languish in Chinese prisons for drug trafficking". The Point. May 1, 2017. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  46. ↑ "Guangzhou police smash West African-led drugs ring". Dongguan Today. 2013-08-15. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  47. 1 2 3 "Nigerians' notoriety in China is unprecedented - Ambassador Onadipe". The Vanguard. February 16, 2014. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2018.

Further reading

Africans in Guangzhou
Simplified Chinese 广州非裔
Traditional Chinese 廣州非裔
Literal meaningGuangzhou residents of African descent
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngzhōu Fēiyì
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping gwong2 zau1 fei1 jeoi6
From Asia
China-outline.svg
From elsewhere
See also
For immigrants and expatriates in Hong Kong, see: Hong Kong people
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