Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Migration and Imperialism in the Sino-Africa relationship (1/2)


The excellent China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa was just released to rave reviews last month. This phenomenal Africa-China book looks at China's engagement with Africa through the prism of Chinese immigration to the continent. In order to further explore some of theses themes, host Winslow Robertson (Dr. Nkemjika Kalu is sadly indisposed) discusses the book with its author, Prof. Howard W. French. French is associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches reporting, writing, and a spring seminar each year on contemporary China. Prof. French also had a distinguished career with The New York Times, where he spent almost two decades as a foreign correspondent: He was chief of the newspaper's Shanghai bureau. Prior, he headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. He also wrote The Next Empire, a 2010 China-Africa article in The Atlantic. In addition, Prof. French wrote A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and Disappearing Shanghai: Photographs and Poems of an Intimate Way of Life.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Business and Pleasure: Afro-Chinese Marriages (2/2)

Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu continue their conversation with Jenni Marsh  who just wrote a brilliant article at South China Morning Post's Post MagazineAfro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be 'til death do us part'? We ask about what struck her most about the relationships encountered, what will these relationships mean for China's conception of race, and more.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Business and Pleasure: Afro-Chinese Marriages (1/2)


As more Africans set up shop in Guangzhou, there has been a corresponding increase in Afro-Chinese marriages. Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu talked to Jenni Marsh, who just wrote a brilliant article at South China Morning Post's Post Magazine on that very topic: Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be 'til death do us part'? Marsh is Assistant Editor of Post Magazine at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She is currently researching the African diaspora in Guangzhou, with a grant from the University of Witwatersrand's China-Africa Reporting Project.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Africa and China relationships: Some observations

By Tasha Coleman

As of 2012, there were roughly one million Chinese living throughout the continent of Africa.[1] Some of these individuals and families are migrants while others were born in Africa.[2] Living in such close proximity fosters African-Chinese friendships and even marriages[3]. These sorts of interactions also occur in China: for example, I am an African-American woman living in China and I am currently dating a Chinese man. I have also met many African business owners and students here in Shanghai. Such interactions serve as a positive influence on the trust that Africans and Chinese have for each other.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

China House


ALERT: This is a Mandarin-language episode! Host Andy Shuai Liu of China Open Mic spoke with China Going Out's Hongxiang Huang (who was a Cowries and Rice guest back in October of 2013) to talk about his newest project: China House. China House looks to help open-minded Chinese citizens integrate better with African societies and promote a more mutually beneficial Sino-African relationship. If you were curious as to what effective Chinese non-governmental organizations or corporate social responsibility would look like, please listen to this episode!

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Monday, June 2, 2014

Chinese migrants in Lesotho

ALERT: This is a Mandarin-language episode! Jess Wilhelm, Senior Research Associate at Social & Scientific Systems, delivered a lecture on Chinese migrants in Lesotho based on his experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer there. He spoke on April 17, 2014 at China Garden for the Mandarin Speakers Society. Carlos Da Rosa provided the introduction. We recorded the lecture, and Mr. Wilhelm was generous in offering to translate it, and his efforts can be seen below the break.

Introduction - 0:11
Lecture - 4:34
Questions and answers - 45:49

Africa, China, and green energy (2/2)

Continuing from the previous discussion about China's involvement in African green energy, hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu ask PhD students Alexander Demissie and Moritz Weigel of ChinaAfricaBlog to delve further into their research. They talk about what has been most surprising, what they hope people will take away from the discussion, and more. This is part two of the two-part episode!

Africa, China, and green energy (1/2)

China is quite involved in African power infrastructure, but what about renewable energy? Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu asked the good people at ChinaAfricaBlog, PhD students Alexander Demissie and Moritz Weigel, to discuss their latest research on the topic and give context as to what is China doing in terms of promoting green energy and technology. This is part one of a two-part episode!

PS We made a mistake in our discussion about Chinese 5-year-plans that I could not smoothly edit out. We accidentally said that they have been used since 1949, but In fact the first first 5-year-plan began in 1953. Apologies!