At Rose Café this Wednesday, Professor Nicolas van de Walle talked about governance in Africa and it’s implications on their respective countries. He talked a lot about dictatorship and political coups, but what surprised and fascinated me the most this fact:
There are more than 1 million Chinese people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Rouse House Professor Garrick Blalock spent some time in Ethiopia this past winter break, and he noted that he would have guessed that the airport he landed in was in China, because of the amount of Chinese people and restaurants around. This fact is so shocking to me; I never thought/knew there was a strong Chinese immigrant pull in Africa.
Now that I think about it, though, it makes sense. Professor Nicolas van de Walle attributed this migration of people to the abundance of unexploited open agricultural land, natural resources, and clean air in Africa. Many Chinese people are settling down in the region to own farms and land. I was in Beijing last year, and pollution and concrete are more common than trees. Africa has resources and opportunities that are unavailable in China.
I am interested in seeing how that migration affects trade relationships, genetics, and the preservation/alteration of cultural and traditional ways of life.
Wow, like you I am also surprise to know of the large Chinese population living in Africa. Based on history, it makes sense that people would migrate to find better opportunities for farming and economic advantages. Also, I think the trade between these two regions might bring forth new innovations to Sub-Saharan Africa.
I agree that the discussion about Chinese people in Africa was one of the highlights of the Rose Cafe event with Professor van de Walle. I feel like we could have spent the entire time discussing just that – especially because the Asian and African cultures are so different. I also found it really interesting when Professor van de Walle said that at one point during the 20th century, Africa was though to have more development potential than East Asia. Obviously, that is not how history played out!