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.
Showing posts with label Relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Relations. Show all posts
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.
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.
Monday, October 28, 2013
How Chinese people are grappling with China in Africa
Join your hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu as they talk about how Chinese people are grappling with China's growing role in African affairs. Their guest this week is Mr. Hongxiang Huang, a freelance journalist who just started a Wits China Africa Reporting Grant and who knows a ton about Chinese public diplomacy.
PS Still working on the tech issues, please bear with us!
PS Still working on the tech issues, please bear with us!
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How to Understand Chinese-related Environmental Problems in Africa by Hongxiang HuangBrought to you by:
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Attending: A discussion on China's future role in Africa
On Wednesday, I dropped by GWU to check out A Discussion on China's Future Role in Africa, where Lula Chen of the Sino-African Institute of Sister Cities International talked about trilateral partnerships between U.S., African, and Chinese cities.
That is not a typo: trilateral partnerships!
I do not know whether trilateral Africa-U.S.-Chinese cooperation is a holy grail or a cosmic evil (there are a not insubstantial amount of people who hate the very idea of that collaboration), but I do know that it is rare. And by rare, I mean I had never heard of it until that point. So obviously, I was quite curious about the topic.
Chen started out by giving a background on Sister Cities International, a post-World War II American program designed to foster citizen diplomacy (ever notice that a lot of U.S. sister cities are in Germany and Japan? I did not until I went to this talk). Then she explained how there were quite a few African cities that wanted more collaboration with the Chinese, and that Sister Cities worked to facilitate that. Also, American cities wanted to attract Chinese investment and used the program as a bridge (hopefully) for future projects.
How did a project work? First, an American city had to initiate it, such as Denver. They would reach out to their Chinese counterparts in Kunming and decide on which sectors they would engage. They would then meet with their African sister-city counterparts in Nairobi and discuss whether there were any possibilities for collaboration within their sectors. Since all three cities are high-altitude cities that deal with water conservation issues, they decided to hold a water-expert exchange as well as renovate a school, fixing up the sanitation system. There are other partnerships between Zomba, Urbana, and Guangzhou; and Osogbo, Asheville/Raleigh, and Xiangyang. All the projects were small in scale and emphasized the specialties of their respective cities (such as composting in Urbana).
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Link of the Day: How Operating in South Africa Helped a Chinese Company Sharpen its International Capabilities
After putting up this link on twitter concerning Chinese tourists and South Africa, I received a message from Conrad Chua, head of MBA admissions at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. He pointed me to this podcast where he interviews Yolanda Yue, a MBA student who worked for a Chinese company in South Africa. Yolanda has a quite interesting story about her transfer from Shenzhen to Johannesburg for roughly six years, where she dealt with telecom operators in South Africa and other African countries. The discussion touches on a range of issues, for me the most important being the improving African perceptions of Chinese companies; and that Chinese companies, in dealing with European subsidiaries in Africa, learn how to internationalize in both continents. Short and sweet, it is a great listen.
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