Ever since my Peace Corps days in Cameroon, I’ve taken an interest in Sino-Africa relations. Last week, I met two journalists, one German, and another Chinese, both living in Africa, one in Addis-Ababa, and another in Ghana, respectively. We had fascinating conversations on their current project in China, where they are interviewing Africans to understand their lives here. In sharing stories, my interest for the subject was refueled to a greater degree.
When I first moved to Shanghai without a job, about 18 months ago, I thought perhaps I could explore opportunities between the growing relationship between China and Africa. After all, this subject seems to attract a great deal of emphasis in Western media. While in Cameroon, I had befriended two Chinese families who treated me as one of their own during my two years of stay. I witnessed the great deal of Chinese influence in Cameroon. This influence reflected news reports of infrastructure investment and an export of Chinese workers to the continent.
As a Chinese-American, my Chinese heritage also attracted a great deal of attention from Cameroonians. The Chinese have a prevalent enough presence to the point where most Africans have an opinion toward the Chinese, whether it is relating to the kung-fu movie, or the cheap, poor quality products that now flood African markets. I had many wonderful conversations with Cameroonians that compare culture similarities between China and Cameroon. Both societies place great importance on filial relationship, and have a culture that is at the same time homogenous, but diverse.
I was armed with hopeful enthusiasm when I arrived in China, hoping to engage in equally insightful conversations to bridge understanding of Africans with the Chinese. Much to my surprise, upon my arrival, I quickly discovered that most Chinese people’s understanding of the African continent is just as limited, and if not more, as their Western counterpart. It was only until I moved to Shanghai did I realize that the Chinese families whom I had encountered, and what seem like an entire exodus of Chinese moving to Africa, actually constitute a very small fraction of the Chinese population. Most of which, do not hail from the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai.
It was quickly apparent that the development of Sino-African relations actually is a one-sided emphasis on China’s role in Africa, and not much vice versa. Whereas most Cameroonians and other Africans alike have an opinion of sort about the Chinese, most Chinese do not have much to say about Africans. The interest to understand Africa is comparatively low in China. This was particularly evident to me during the recent Chinese New Year holiday, where my decision to visit Ethiopia attracted a great deal of confused looks from Chinese colleagues. Upon my return, most didn’t believe my tales that parts of the Ethiopian countryside were more developed than parts of rural China that I had visited.
The growing future of Sino-Africa relationship will require greater understanding of Africans on the part of Chinese. I am glad to see increased attention and reporting on Africans’ lives in China. After all, Africans’ influence in China is still limited and not nearly as widespread as China’s influence on the continent. In order to avoid the label of a neo-colonialism movement, it would be to China’s benefit to encourage African countries to more greatly spread its culture within China, to promote greater understanding between its people in order to build relationships of mutual understanding and respect.