From Algeria to Angola, the Chinese population across Africa is growing rapidly. In less than a decade, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have made the long journey from mainland China to cities and villages throughout the continent. Today, as this vast population settles in, they are having a transformative effect on the culture, economics and even politics of their new African communities.
There are no precise figures on just how many Chinese live in Africa. Estimates, though, place the number of immigrants somewhere between 750,000 and a million continent-wide. If those estimates are accurate, it means there are more Chinese migrants living in Africa today then there were expatriate French people at the peak of their African empire in the mid-20thcentury.
But just who are all these Chinese people and what draws them to Africa?
It should go without saying that any population as large and diverse as the Chinese defies simple characterization. The Chinese immigrant population in Africa is extremely diverse across all lines of class and culture. In my experience, overseas Chinese migrants on the continent can broadly be divided into four distinct categories:
The Elites: Senior Chinese diplomats and executive management of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) there to manage Beijing’s growing natural resource investments on the continent or oversee China’s massive infrastructure development initiatives. These people largely live in African capitals, often in the same walled-compounds as their Western counterparts.
The Managers: The often highly educated engineers and managers on the ground who lead the construction and natural resource extraction projects across the continent. These engineers give the Chinese such an advantage when bidding on projects since their salaries are a small fraction of comparable Western wages. These managers largely isolate themselves from the broader African society and stay in country anywhere from 3-5 years until they are assigned to a new project in a different country.
The Entrepreneurs: These individuals operate independent of any corporate or governmental entity. They have moved to Africa because they see an opportunity in the marketplace to make money. These entrepreneurs often start small- to medium-sized enterprises that leverage trading relationships back in China. Due to the business imperative of speaking the local language and understanding the culture, this group of immigrants is often highly assimilated.
The Peasants: For this group, the transition from the Chinese countryside to Africa is largely viewed as a horizontal move. They are accustomed to high levels of poverty, corruption and societal instability. Too poor to isolate themselves in a Chinese “ghetto,”, these immigrants live right alongside Africans in both urban and village communities across the continent. Out of sheer necessity, they are often highly assimilated in both language and culture. In contrast to the other three groups of Chinese migrants, once these low-income Chinese migrants are in Africa, they will likely never return home as they are just too poor.
There are no indications that Chinese migration to Africa is slowing. If anything, as Africa’s economies continue to grow, we can likely expect even more Chinese migrants to make the long journey across the Indian Ocean. It may be hard to imagine, but a large and growing Chinese population is now a permanent fixture of Africa’s demography.
