Africans In China Research Articles

Open-label phase I clinical trial of Ad5-EBOV in Africans in China

ABSTRACTBackground: To determine the safety and immunogenicity of a novel recombinant adenovirus type 5 vector based Ebola virus disease vaccine (Ad5-EBOV) in Africans in China.Methods: A phase 1, dose-escalation, open-label trial was conducted. 61 healthy Africans were sequentially enrolled, with 31 participants receiving one shot intramuscular injection and 30 participants receiving a double-shot regimen. Primary and secondary end points related to safety and immunogenicity were assessed within 28 d after vaccination. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02401373).Results: Ad5-EBOV is well tolerated and no adverse reaction of grade 3 or above was observed. 53 (86.89%) participants reported at least one adverse reaction within 28 d of vaccination. The most common reaction was fever and the mild pain at injection site, and there were no significant difference between these 2 groups. Ebola glycoprotein-specific antibodies appeared in all 61 participants and antibodies titers peaked after 28 d of vaccination. The geometric mean titres (GMTs) were similar between these 2 groups (1919.01 vs 1684.70 P = 0.5562). The glycoprotein-specific T-cell responses rapidly peaked after 14 d of vaccination and then decreased, however, the percentage of subjects with responses were much higher in the high-dose group (60.00% vs 9.68%, P = 0.0014). Pre-existing Ad5 neutralizing antibodies could significantly dampen the specific humoral immune response and cellular response to the vaccine.Conclusion: The application of Ad5-EBOV demonstrated safe in Africans in China and a specific GP antibody and T-cell response could occur 14 d after the first immunization. This acceptable safety profile provides a reliable basis to proceed with trials in Africa.

Chinese Attitudes toward African Migrants in Guangzhou, China

African migration to China has emerged as a significant sociological phenomenon only very recently. Africans in China are predominantly self-made entrepreneurs doing business face-to-face with Chinese entrepreneurs and living among local Chinese residents. Their encounters with the Chinese in local markets, residential neighborhoods, and on the streets offer a rare opportunity for exploring interracial dynamics beyond the Western black–white paradigm. In this article, we examine how Chinese perceive Africans vis-à-vis other foreigners and how contexts and conditions of Chinese–African encounters affect attitudes and racial formation. Our data suggest that the attitudes held by local Chinese residents in Guangzhou toward African migrants are ambivalent. The Chinese tend to perceive Africans negatively in general, but they also look upon Africans’ overall presence in a positive way and express openness to interacting with them. Our findings indicate that the mechanisms of social exclusion and inclusion are shaped by the intersection between the types and levels of contacts and the social contexts in which intergroup encounters occur. While there is a rising awareness of racial differences among local Chinese in Guangzhou, the process of race-making differs from that in other immigrant gateway cities of the Global North. Theoretical implications for racialization are discussed.

African Transnationalism in China: At the Interface of Local, Transnational, Bilateral and Multilateral Responses

The growing presence of a diversifying group of Africans in China raises broader issues of their status and permanence. The politics associated with African transnationalism in China are evident in Chinese and African government responses and the transnational African voice. This article looks at facets of an African transnational presence and some key responses at a local, international and transnational level to suggest an evolving state of Sino-African relations in which African multilateralism and the transnational African actor play a greater part.

African soft power in China

This paper comprises an account of outstanding performance by some Africans living in China in the practice of their professions, in their studies, in public service, and in their general interaction with the Chinese people and the Chinese state. The paper argues that these activities, recognised as outstanding by the Chinese and widely reported in the Chinese and international media, constitute the building blocks of African soft power in China. The consequences of this argumentation include the fact that if the governments of Africa and China want to promote peopleto-people relations in the third decade of 21st Century Africa-China relations under the aegis of the Forum for Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC), more of such activities by diaspora Africans in China and diaspora Chinese in Africa must be recognised, promoted, rewarded, and institutionalised within the formal FOCAC framework.

‘Homing’ Guangzhou: Emplacement, belonging and precarity among Africans in China

Over the last decade, countless Africans have been moving between China and Africa. While Africans in Guangzhou have been generally portrayed as a wave of ‘immigrant traders’, they arrive in China for myriad reasons, occupy multiple (usually transient) emplacements, and engage in diverse activities. By following the stories and insights of two Nigerian community leaders, this article explores the place-making processes through which individuals and collectives negotiate their everyday lives in Guangzhou under conditions of uncertainty. Throughout the article, I suggest that despite different trajectories and emplacements, precarity is a common thread running through most accounts of Africans in the city. While sometimes paralysing, I argue that this precarity functions as a trigger encouraging individuals to develop structures of solidarity and networks of support (i.e. sporting clubs and community offices), which are crucial sites for individual and collective attempts to ‘feel at home’ while on the move in China.

Africa – Asia Relations through the Prism of Television Drama

Even though many African and Asian countries share a common history of European colonialism and thus a model of economic development shaped within the aegis of center-periphery analysis, many Asian countries have been able to ride through the burden of center-periphery economics and built more successful political economies than most African countries. This state of affairs has often led many African analysts to point to Asian success stories like China and South Korea for comparative analysis and often see these Asian countries as models of socio-economic and socio-cultural success to emulate. In particular, Africans in the Diaspora, especially Africans in China, tend to compare very frequently the socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions of their host countries with those of their source countries. This paper outlines and discusses how a group of Africans living in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia see Korea and Korean culture through the prism of Korean television dramas, which constitute a popular cultural phenomenon among Hong Kong/Asian youths. Through qualitative and quantitative survey methods, participant-observation, and questionnaire surveys, the paper reports on how African community members of Hong Kong and others think of Koreans. We show that Africans draw a lot of comparisons between Korean and African ways of conceptualizing the world.

El compromiso de China para con la educación superior en África: ¿un modelo diferente de colaboración y cooperación?

What is the nature of China’s educational partnerships with Africa? This chapter examines China’s investment in human resource development in Africa, especially in higher education, through several programmes including long- and short-term training of Africans in China, Confucius Institutes, stand-alone projects, and the 20+20 scheme for higher education cooperation between China and Africa. It investigates several apparent differences between China’s aid discourse and practice and those of traditional Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) donors. It asks how the enduring continuity of China’s discourse on mutual benefit and common good in educational aid can be explained. Can what looks like a one-way partnership in terms of financing really, in fact, be symmetrical?

The African Traveller and the Chinese Customs Official: Ethnic Minority Profiling at Border Check Points in Hong Kong and China?

Stronger government-to-government relations between Africa and China in the first two decades of the twenty-first century have led to an increasing presence of African travellers at Chinese border check points. This is a novel situation involving cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication dynamics that we need to understand from different research perspectives: linguistic, socio-economic, and legal, among others. Academic studies are already detailing some misunderstandings between Chinese customs, immigration and public security officials and African travellers and immigrants, who are clearly a visible minority group, both at border check points and in the wider Chinese communities (Bodomo 2010; Bodomo and Ma 2010; Bodomo 2012). A number of questions may be asked towards understanding the cross-cultural dynamics involved in this novel situation. What are Chinese immigration and customs officials’ experiences with African travellers and how do they see and handle this visible minority ethnic group? What are, in turn, African experiences with Chinese immigration, customs, and public security, officials both at border check points and in the wider Chinese communities in places like mainland China and Hong Kong? To answer these questions, a profile of the most frequent African visitors to Hong Kong and China is constructed, based on research among Africans in China, particularly Guangzhou. An outline is then made of what Africans think of Chinese customs and immigration officials as a whole, what kind of treatment they expect on arrival in China and how they prepare for it. It is then claimed that the most fundamental issue that causes friction, unhappiness and sometimes lack of cooperation from African travellers at immigration and customs check points in Hong Kong and other places in China is not so much due to linguistic and cultural misunderstanding as it is due to stereotyping and, in extreme cases, (un)conscious racial profiling. Finally, it is proposed that the best way for Hong Kong and other Chinese customs personnel to serve African immigrants is to apply immigration rules using systematically fair, just and colour-blind strategies.

Improving health services for African migrants in China: A health diplomacy perspective

Global health has become an increasingly prominent component of foreign policy in the last decade. The term health diplomacy has been used to describe this growing interface between foreign policy and global health, and it encompasses both the concept of using health to further foreign policy objectives as well as the idea that diplomatic tools can be helpful for attaining public health goals. The Chinese presence in Africa has grown in the last 15 years, generating increased interest in Sino-African relations. While much has been written in recent years about the Chinese presence in Africa, the growing numbers of Africans in China have attracted considerably less attention. Many are small-scale traders and might be expected to face many of the health challenges common among foreign migrants, but their health needs have been largely unrecognised. In this paper, we consider how a health diplomacy approach could be applied to African migrants in China, and the potential advantages and limitations of this strategy. We identify areas of overlap between public health, trade and foreign policy goals that can be emphasised to generate support for improved services for African migrants in China and to engage partners from a diversity of sectors.

Africans in China: a sociocultural study and its implications on Africa–China relations. Adams Bodomo (2012) Amherst, NY: Cambria Press. Pp. 300. ISBN-10: 1604977906. ISBN-13: 978-1604977905

Africans in China: a sociocultural study and its implications on Africa-China relations. Adams Bodomo (2012) Amherst, NY: Cambria Press. Pp. 300. ISBN-10: 1604977906. ISBN-13: 978-1604977905Globalization and, more precisely, the economic relations that emerge from capitalism, have led to the appearance of multiple diasporas around the world. Modern economic and political relations between China and Africa have opened the way to the latest, and not so much documented, emergence of African communities in China. Bodomo's Africans in China (2012) attempts to describe in a thorough manner what it is like to be an African in China.The structural flow of this book enhances its contents. After the introduction (1), Chapters 2 to 7 present a portrayal of the ethnic, national and social profile of the African communities in six particular cities of China, focusing on their role with regard to Africa-China relations and their contribution to their respective economies. In the following chapters, 8-10, Bodomo succeeds in creating a progressive feeling of closure through the depiction of additional African communities in other Asian places and in the West (8) and a comparison with the previously analysed cities in China (9). Finally, future thoughts and scholarly implications are commented upon in Chapter 10. These are indispensable, taking into account the achievements of a six-year-long study and the limits of a book-length description. Numerous figures, tables and photographs complement the reading.In the first chapter, 'Introducing Africans in China', the object of study is clearly stated through the explanation of key terms, the review of historical and geographical factors as well as a brief, although accurate, literature overview. The emigration of Africans to China is almost always related to trade: 300,000- 400,000 out of 500,000 Africans in China are traders. In such a context, Bodomo highlights the importance of a 3-dimensional theoretical approach applied to any migrant and diaspora context. This bridge theory incorporates the role of the target community which serves as a link, or bridge, connecting the source and host community, bringing advantages to both. In terms of methodology, Bodomo's examination of the existing African communities in China is based on fieldwork carried out over a period of six years (2005-2011) in the Chinese cities most populated by Africans - Guangzhou, Yiwu, Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing and Shanghai. Interestingly, qualitative and quantitative methods were combined for the first time in the study of the new African Diaspora: 736 questionnaires, including 27 questions aimed at bringing light on gender, age and the sociolinguistic and sociocultural profiles of the respondents were supported by in-depth interviews, detailed focus group meetings and participant observation.'Africans in Guangzhou' is the longest description in the volume. It constitutes a comprehensive introduction to what will be the line of analysis and presentation of results in this and the following analyzed cities. Guangzhou is a perfect research context since it holds one of the biggest marketplaces in China, which is known as the Chocolate City, referring to the number of Africans living in the area (100,000). A total of 312 valid questionnaires were returned. The most striking finding in this area was the existence of calculator communication. This consists of using a calculator in combination with basic body gestures to reduce communication problems. Being less than 10 years old, Bodomo asserts, this kind of communication is in the process of turning into a pidgin.The following chapter, 'Africans in Yiwu', is dedicated to the analysis of the mostly temporarily settled Africans in the world's largest commodities market. At fewer than 30,000, Yiwu comprises the second most prominent group of Africans in China. In this case, communication problems are reduced by the widespread habit of Africans hiring translators. …

Petty Annoyances?: Revisiting John Emmanuel Hevi’s An African Student in China after 50 Years

This article reappraises John Emmanuel Hevi’s “An African Student in China”, a 1966 book that complained about Chinese racism towards Africans but has received scholarly criticism that, for instance, petty annoyances had been overly exaggerated. In an attempt to construct images of Africans in China during Mao’s era and to re-analyse whether Hevi’s work was truly based on “petty annoyances”, the author, using declassified official files, studies the circumstances that Hevi and his peers confronted on educational campuses and in Chinese society.

Distancing Disease in the Un-black Han Chinese Politic

This article seeks to understand the meanings associated with HIV/AIDS in China’s media and examine how the “distance” many urban Chinese people feel toward HIV/AIDS is sustained, despite major changes in public health campaigns that indicate otherwise. It draws on evidence from China’s press and public health media, which remain overlooked in studies on attitudes toward HIV even though 90 percent of urban Chinese learn about HIV from the media, making it supremely important in informing urban understandings of the virus. In particular, the article examines how susceptibility to infection has become associated with racial and gender characteristics through the early portrayal of Africans in China’s media reports on HIV/AIDS. It suggests that the geographical and corporeal signification of Africa and Africans establishes an understanding that connects the “dark” consequences of HIV with skin color and a supposed lack of sociomoral and economic development, thus enabling Chinese audiences to perceive themselves as distant from or even immune to the virus. Finally, the article suggests that if attitudes toward HIV/AIDS are to be addressed, then the racialized attitudes in media toward HIV need to be analyzed, challenged, and changed.

From Guangzhou to Yiwu: Emerging facets of the African Diaspora in China

ABSTRACT Yiwu, known as the largest commodities market in China and in the world, is becoming the destination of choice for Africans doing business in China. In this article we compare how Africans are received in Yiwu and Guangzhou, home to the largest community of Africans in China. We argue that the relatively negative reception of Africans in Guangzhou, compared to the more efficient and civil treatment of Africans in Yiwu, is one reason why Yiwu is eclipsing Guangzhou. How the state interfaces with Africans on migration matters has consequences for broader Africa-China relations.

China's Cooperation with Africa, and Especially South Africa, in Education and Training. A Special Relationship and a Different Approach to Aid?

The paper studies the modalities which are used by China in its human resource cooperation with Africa in general, and where relevant with South Africa in particular. It covers the human resource dimensions of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), pledges, paying particular attention to the latest round of commitments from the November 2009 Ministerial Conference in Egypt; it reviews the short and long term capacity building programmes for Africans in China; it considers the unique role of the Confucius Institutes in Africa, as well as the stand-alone education or training projects outside the FOCAC framework; and it briefl y comments on enterprise-based training in Chinese fi rms. This discussion of China’s educational aid modalities is embedded in a wider consideration of how China’s approaches differ from the current preoccupations of traditional donors about aid harmonisation and country ownership.

An emerging donor in education and development: A case study of China in Cameroon

This paper analyzes China's new approaches of education aid to Africa through a case study of Cameroon. China's cooperation has been characterized by different discourses and different historic relationships with recipient countries than those of traditional donors. Sino-African policies have gone through different stages, each connected to wider political and economic realities. Currently, a broadening of China's engagement with Africa can be noticed through increasing aid packages and the inclusion of African countries other than those that had traditionally been close to China. Cameroon has been one of the countries that have had a relatively extended cooperation with China. Four types of Chinese education aid to Africa are illustrated by this paper: (i) Confucius Institutes, which are providing language and culture-related training in host countries; (ii) longer term scholarships and short-term training for Africans in China; (iii) school construction; and (iv) stand-alone education projects. By analyzing how these three different types of aid are taking place in Cameroon, various and apparently contradictory strategies and discourses materialize.