Chinese Immigration in Africa

To talk about Chinese immigration in Africa we have to present first the ties that link China with the continent. Modern political and economic relations began in the era of Mao Zedong, the first leader of the Chinese Communist Party, following the Chinese Civil War. His Chinese international policy paved the way to both modern Chinese-African relations and immigration trends.
In 1956 China signed the first official bilateral agreement with African countries (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, and Guinea); it focused primarily on trade relations.
By the 1960s, 19 African countries had official ties to Beijing. To help cement new diplomatic relations, Mao sent a number of Chinese to the continent in the 1960s, as well as 150,000 technicians between the 1950s and 1970s, to work in agriculture, technology, and infrastructure. Most returned to China after completing their contracts.
Those were not the first wave of immigrants coming from China to Africa. For that we have to go way back in the 17th century. The first Chinese immigration took place in South Africa. They were prisoners, usually debtors, exiled from Batavia by the Dutch to their then newly founded colony at Cape Town in 1660. From that time until the late 19th century the number of Chinese people in the Cape Colony never exceeded 100. Chinese people began arriving in large numbers in South Africa in the 1870s through to the early 20th century initially in hopes of making their fortune on the diamond and gold mines in Kimberley and the Witwatersrand respectively. Most were independent immigrants mostly coming from Guangdong Province then known as Canton. Due to anti-Chinese feeling and racial discrimination at the time they were prevented from obtaining mining contracts and so became entrepreneurs and small business owners instead.
Nowadays, The BBC reports the Chinese presence in South Africa to be as large as 200,000. Some Chinese South Africans are descendants of migrant workers, but the majority of the current South African Chinese community immigrated from Taiwan — which maintained diplomatic relations with South Africa during apartheid — during the 1980s and 1990s. Many became entrepreneurs. In recent years there have also been increasing numbers of Chinese immigrants from mainland China.
Other long-standing Chinese populations in Africa can be found in Reunion and Madagascar, islands off the southeastern coast of Africa, and Mauritania in western Africa.
When it comes to estimate the number of Chinese in Africa, a lot of variations are observed: * Political scientist Sasha Gong reports official numbers to be only 100,000 Chinese workers in Africa — or 15 percent of the total overseas Chinese workforce. About 35 percent of those in Africa work in manufacturing and about 30 percent in construction, with the number of manufacturing jobs decreasing and construction jobs increasing over the past five years. Gong acknowledges that the official number is likely only a fraction of the whole. * An Ohio University database estimates the total number of Chinese in Africa at 137,000, the same figure Taiwan's government provided in 2001 (Taiwan's estimate in 2004 was 154,000). * Political scientist Emmanuel Ma Mung estimates the number to be between 270,000 and 520,000, with between 70,000 and 80,000 contract migrants. However, Xinhua, China's official news agency, estimates the total population to be significantly larger — as many as 750,000 Chinese working or living "for extended periods" on the continent. * Political scientist Barry Sautman compiled press reports that estimate 1,000 to 3,000 Chinese in Cameroon, 5,000 in Lesotho, and as many as 50,000 in Nigeria (all estimates are for 2005). According to the Southern African Migration Project at Queens University, as of 2006 there were as many as 40,000 Chinese in Namibia on work visas and residence permits. * In a 2007 New York Times article, Chad Chamber of Commerce Director Renaud Dinguemnaial estimated an "influx of at least 40,000 Chinese in coming years" to Chad.
Modern Chinese immigrants to Africa can be divided into roughly four different categories: temporary labor migrants linked to Chinese development work in Africa, small-time entrepreneurs, in-transit migrants, and agricultural workers. There is also rising tourist traffic to the continent.
The largest of these four categories is undoubtedly temporary labor migration. Official Chinese government sources indicate 800 Chinese companies operating in 49 countries throughout Africa, where they work in infrastructure, public works, oil, and mining operations. These companies often rely heavily on Chinese migrant labor although they also hire Africans. Migrants generally stay for the duration of the contract and return to China.
Entrepreneurs are also a growing presence. Such entrepreneurs come both directly from mainland China, as well as from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and various other Chinese migrant communities — notably France, Italy, and Spain.
Africa is also drawing more and more workers from rural China.
When it comes to spreading the Chinese culture in Africa, we can find a few cultural centers in Africa. The first one was opened in Mauritius in 1988. Two other followed in Egypt and Benin. The Confucius Institute, which focuses on the promotion of the Chinese language and culture, has 20 centers distributed around 13 African countries.
The relationships between Chinese immigrants and local populations in Africa is mostly kept commercial, thus the most known aspect of Chinese culture is the working ethic. Chinese medicine is also one cultural vessel. But mainly, Chinese immigrants tend to create “Chinatowns” like they did in other continents (which in Europe, North America, and Oceania/Asia are home to both Chinese immigrants and businesses), avoiding a real cultural melting pot.