Prof Gordon Mathews, Professor and Chair at the Department of Anthropology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong visited UIC on 20 October and gave a lecture on the African and Arab migrants’ that are living in Guangzhou as well as their relations with Chinese.
Mathews said China was the centre of manufacturing in the world and Guangzhou played an important role in low-end globalisation. Many Africans and Arabs came to Guangzhou as traders and middlemen aiming to take advantage of cheap Chinese goods - whether the products were original or copies. Even under the radar of law knock-offs are popular among African and Arab traders.
In business, Mathews thinks the majority of Africans and Arabs have some distrust and misunderstanding towards Chinese due to language barriers, cultural barriers, the nature of trade, bargaining miscommunication, and etc.
As for marriage, according to his estimation, the number of Chinese-African, Chinese-Arab romances and marriages in Guangzhou could be anywhere ranging from several hundred to a thousand. However, many couples did not get legally married due to parental opposition and visa complications. The majority of Chinese-African marriages are mostly between African men and Chinese women.
According to the guest lecturer, when the couples had children, there was a problem of deciding nationality. On the one hand, their Chinese mothers wanted their children to stay in China and be Chinese. On the other hand, their African fathers wanted them to be Africans and go back to Africa.
Nonetheless, China is now going through a transformation from low-end to high-end globalisation. Therefore, the presence of Africans and Arabs in Guangzhou might not last.
Responding to the question of the title of the lecture, “Will China Ever Have Its Own Barack Obama?”, the guest lecturer believed that China would not have its own Barack Obama in the short term because of China’s ethnic background and economical shift. However, China would be linked to the world as a whole eventually, so that day might come in a very long time.
The lecture was organised by the General Education Office.
Reporter: Zeng Kaishan (CELL, Year 2)
Photographer: Lancy Zhang
Editor: Samuel Burgess
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
