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Apart from his hometown of Tanzania, Judge George Kandama, a 32-year-old businessman, has only interest in one country.
“China Africa is the future,” he says. I sit on the veranda of Siamwaa, a Tanzanian restaurant that opened in Guangzhou last year. “We’re going to be a big partner.”
The river first came to a southern China city known for decades as China’s “Little Africa” in 2018. After studying Mandarin for two years, he opened a logistics company that sent Chinese products back to Tanzania. He came to China to become rich. Over six years later, he says he’s got there.
The river is one of tens of thousands of African immigrants who have been drawn into Guangzhou by a massive wholesale market that connects African buyers with the bounty of China’s vast manufacturing bases.
Estimates of the number of Africans in Guangzhou differ significantly as there is a mix of full-time residents and temporary traders on short trips in the city. Before Covid, authorities put in between 10,000 and 20,000.
This is a relatively small community in a city with a permanent population of nearly 19mn. However, Africa’s influence on Guangzhou, which has been China’s outstanding foreign trade hub for centuries, is clear. Traders here can order most of the traditional North African Gandora Tunic and Nigerian Gerehead Wrap, and burn food from across the continent in restaurants located on the back streets of Xiaobei and on the industrial outskirts of Baiyun.
The widely documented racist treatment and evictions during the Covid-19 pandemic have left many, threatening the existence of the community decades ago, but it appears to be recovering.
This recovery is explained by the fascinating pull of a huge Chinese manufacturing base, African traders tell me. At the continental level, trade between China and Africa reached nearly $300 million last year, with Beijing now becoming the continent’s number one trading partner.
Still, Covid was “very hard,” says Kaundama. Social media videos of the time portrayed standoffs between security guards and retreating residents, many of whom were forced onto the streets. “The rumour was (it) that African people bring Covid, so everyone is afraid of African people,” he says.
Even today, after living in his current apartment in a luxury neighborhood for two years, he is regularly challenged by security when he returns home.
However, African residents who spoke to the Financial Times said the situation has improved significantly since the pandemic was in control. They pointed out that visas and work permits would be issued more quickly. This is a fact supported by two visa agents who spoke to those processing African applications, which stated that both the business registration procedure and the general attitude of the authorities have been eased.
Yooofi Greene, who arrived in Guangzhou from Ghana in 2014 and studied international trade, says that Chinese people are also interested in African culture. He teaches local students azone dance classes every week in Ghana. He can show off his skills on an increasingly popular African night at city clubs.
The increase and diversification of African interests in China is against the rapid withdrawal of Westerners. They are also concerned that the rise of e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, which connects African markets directly to Chinese factories, will lead to a decline in face-to-face exchanges and will break through the number of Africans living here.
Josephine, a Kenyan businessman who runs two restaurants in the city, says China was “difficult” when she first arrived. She also had to get used to the locals staring at her and moving their seats as she sat next to them on public transport.
“I tended to see police as being generally very strict and not very friendly to us at the time. But now things have changed,” she says. “I have experienced ups and downs, but my 14 years of stint in China has been extremely fruitful. Guangzhou is a good thing for me.”
william.langley@ft.com
