Structural discrimination and racism

A great deal of what has been written in the media about Africans in Guangzhou racialises their presence in the country. Africans are frequently represented as having constant trouble and conflict with ‘local’ Chinese. Chuck, a Nigerian who has been in the country since 2008 (and who has been interviewed several times by Western media outlets), told me that:

There is no structural racism against black people. Some people want us to say that there is, but it is not the case. ... If I have problems here, it is not because I am a black man, but many people don’t want to understand this.They think that if I have trouble here, it must be because I am a black man.

(Chuck)

Tony’s point of view is somewhat similar.‘When I have had problems with Chinese and tried to solve them, I have always been treated in the way I’m supposed to be treated’.Tony argues that on an individual level, there might be some Chinese thatdislike foreigners, but he does not feel there is racism against Africans. Tony also agreed with Chuck that there is no structural racism and told me that although he thought that Chinese were racist when he first arrived in China, his views changed with time. He now thinks that misunderstandings are mostly a matter of ignorance and language. As soon as he had a good level of Chinese and was able to communicate with people and the authorities, he was treated better. ‘Yes, the government has its policies that are tough,but with individuals, it is something different’, he said.

Although both Tony and Chuck seem to have somewhat neutral views on the subjects of racism and discrimination, not everybody agrees with them. It is common to find Africans who complain about different forms of discrimination in their everyday interactions with Chinese — and some of them call it ‘racism’ (I review the main debates around ‘race’ and ‘racism’ in relation to Africans in China in Chapter 5). Bodomo (2012) reports that cases of overt discrimination against black people are rife — especially in dealings with the police. And, local authorities have deployed a variety of strategies aimed at hampering what is perceived as the uncontrolled growth of foreign activity in the city.

The Public Security Bureau in Dengfeng, for instance, has posted trilingual English-French-Chinese posters in hotels where foreigners congregate, outlining the penalties for drug trafficking, violence, robbery, and prostitution. Again, as with the ‘Caution to foreigners from the police’ notices in restaurants and cafes, these posters are difficult to find in other areas of the city hosting significant, non-African, foreign populations. Moreover, in May 2011, Guangdong’s provincial government issued the ‘Interim Provisions of Guangdong Province on Administration of and Services to Aliens’ (also known as the Guangdong Act). This new regulation (the first of its kind on the administration of foreigners in the country) requires local residents, on a reward-penalty-based principle, to report any ‘malpractice’ involving foreigners, such as: illegal entry, overstaying, working without permits, or doing business without licenses (Lan, 2014).This regulation also comes with the threat of exorbitant fines for residents who fail to comply (Lau, 2011).

The feeling of being under constant surveillance and systematically harassed by the authorities is one of the shared features in the placemaking narratives of many Africans in Dengfeng-Xiaobei and Guangyuan West Road. According to Tony, while the government has the right to decide how to manage foreign populations, these hurdles make it somewhat difficult to feel at home in Guangzhou. This was recently exemplified by the COVID-19-related incidents that took place in Guangzhou in 2020 in which Africans were harassed systematically (see Chapter 5 and the Postscript).