Abstract
China has forged substantial political and economic relations across Africa since the turn of the new millennium. This essay scrutinises the cultural representations of these relations from the perspectives of popular, locally produced cinemas in both the Chinese and Ethiopian contexts. We argue that cultural readings of the power relations between China and Africa help to nuance the often-over-simplified narratives that posit China as the new America. While Chinese action films set in indistinct African locations can be seen to replace the Hollywood ‘white saviour’ with a ‘Chinese saviour’, American characters and/or institutions are commonly portrayed as morally corrupt in both Amharic and Chinese cinema. We explore how representations of ‘Chinese saviours’ are imagined in opposition to American antagonists and how emerging African commercial cinemas, such as in Ethiopia, portray local characters reclaiming their own agency. The analysis of Ethiopian films identifies that suspicion and caution are overriding emotions when Ethiopian characters deal with outsiders, with action heroes/heroines far less ‘gung ho’ than their interventionist Chinese or American counterparts. It is these African representations of African characters as heroes and not victims, and who play foreign actors at their own game, that reveal more complex interpretations of Sino-African relations.
Highlights
In 2009, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) became Africa’s largest trading partner
Kidist explains that he can be trusted because they have worked together previously in the Eastern Ogaden (Somali) region of Ethiopia, referring to the 2007 Abole raid where nine Chinese workers and 65 Ethiopians lost their lives at the hands of Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels (Tadesse and Heavens 2007)
In Chinese films, the plots, the roles of their protagonists, and the stereotypical representations of Africans are all reminiscent of those found in earlier Hollywood films
Summary
Chinese media coverage and television programming has featured recent Chinese activity on the continent (Puppin 2017), Africa was largely absent from Chinese cinema screens. If Leng Feng is a maverick, Operation Red Sea is all about discipline, teamwork, and camaraderie among an 8-person assault squad operating off a navy ship with helicopters–a bit like Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986). This lineage shows that China-taking-over-fromAmerica extends to film production, too. If we accept that both films represent Africa and China’s relation to it, the most interesting tension running through them is between a purely instrumental relationship and deeper engagement This is expressed in the contrast between the Chinese military, safely off the coast on their ships and just following orders, and the characters of Leng Feng in Wolf Warrior 2 and the journalist. In these films, America is implied to be purely cynical in its role on the continent, whereas the hope for a more ethical role is raised for China, and this optimistic flattery may have appealed to its Chinese audiences
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