In general, China is exclusive to foreigners, up until now, only 72000 foreign immigrates living in China. Compared to the size of this country’s population, it counts for nothing. And there are two major places that are mainly chosen by foreigners to settle down in China. One is Guangdong province, the other is Yunnan province. The capital of Guangdong is called Guangzhou, which is also a hub for African people who unprecedentedly built a community on the ground in this city, and slowly they could become the first foreign immigrates that would truly integrate themselves into China. In my personal impression on foreigners in China, African people speak the best Chinese in general with perfect pronunciation and some with authentic accent of different Chinese regions. And they are easier to get along thanks to their innocent nature from an almost heritage-free continent. In China, I’ve met African people doing different jobs, businessman, dancer, DJ, consultant, photographer, writer, and so on because I have a friend who’s working as analyst on China-Africa relationship in Beijing. My friend is a British white woman, and she had some genius idea of establishing herself as the unique white who mediates between Chinese and African. You’ll understand later why I said so. To understand China-Africa relationship, you need first to figure out whether Chinese are racists. In general, compared with America and Europe, the answer is NO. Chinese are not racial, however, Chinese are snobbish. That is to say, they would not despise you because of your skin colour, but later on when they gradually get to know you, they’ll treat you by your wealth. And the illusion left by the history which still prime the Chinese people inland who has never met a foreigner before his/her life, is that foreigners are rich. This impression dates back to Opium War, when the West invaded the China in Qing Dynasty. Thus, generally speaking, when you arrive in China as a foreign stranger, you’d be well received with some privilege. This is the first stage.Then, the prejudice came into being when Chinese have recognised the hierarchy made by the UN: namely, the underdeveloped country, the developing country, developed country.So Chinese begin to understand not every foreigner is rich.Snobbery, it’s a kind of human nature right? Yeah, deep down, Chinese people are snobbish. They treat you well, not because you’re white, but of the impression that the white are rich. They don’t respect you, not because you’re black, but of the impression that the black are poor. You’ll come across this kind of prejudice when you meet Chinese people grew up in cities who knows a little, and just a little, sort of half-educated.Unfortunately, the number of them is not small. This is the second stage. The third stage is due to the pragmatical nature of Chinese. Neo-colonisation, or whatever you call it, is true in a way to define China’s posture in Africa now. And I asked a graphic designer from Benim, how do they view the Chinese over his place. Both of us agreed that both of sides are clear that Chinese want African resources, and African want Chinese speed. So this is purely business. If you view it from this perspective, you’ll understand why Chinese feel ridiculous when the political or moral opinions intrude in the discussion. Business only understands one langue.

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