Adams Bodomo on Africans in China

As an African arriving in Hong Kong in 1997 to teach at the University, Dr Adams Bodomo had to get used to being stared at in the streets by people who were not accustomed to seeing a black face. Today, Africans in Hong Kong are still a relatively rare sight, but their numbers throughout the rest of China have grown into a migration phenomenon since the turn of the millennium. So much so that Bodomo, as Associate Professor of Linguistics and African Studies at the School of Humanities, devoted much of his time to researching the subject. In 2012 he published Africans in China: A Sociocultural Study and Its Implications on Africa-China Relations.

The pioneering book has become a must-read for the growing number of scholars in the field and made Bodomo the go-to consultant worldwide for discussions or analysis on Africans in China. There has long been an African presence in China, but it began to grow significantly in the late 1990s as China forged numerous connections with African countries to secure oil to fuel its booming economy. These connections encouraged the flow of African migrants to China, a trend that was increased by China's admission to the World Trade Organisation in 2001. The vast majority are in the country to buy goods and return home, but more and more are staying to set up business. One of the most evident examples of this is in Guangzhou, home to many of the factories that produce the kinds of goods in demand in the African market. There are so many black Africans living there today, writes Bodomo in the book, that part of the city has been nicknamed "Chocolate City".

(Text reproduced from Faculty of Arts 100: A Century in Words and Images.)

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