Within the sea of literature on Chinese engagements across African countries, Howard French offers an informative reading revealing many aspects of the complex Sino-African relationship. Through personal stories, French shows the dimensions of the “migration decision” as well as the co-existence – with all its contrasts – of different cultures, in particular, work cultures. Many Chinese who decide to move to Africa leave China “because of the pressures of life back home” (p. 132), including marriage, finding a job, earning as much as to provide financial support for parents and grandparents, and buying a house and car. French's book can help us not only learn about African transformations through Chinese eyes, but also about China's transformations through the eyes of Chinese emigrants to Africa. It is a fascinating piece, written in a confident language, using dozens of real-life cases, based upon substantial travel and assignments in Africa and China as a journalist over 40 years.
In ten chapters, numerous Chinese migrant stories are provided for consideration in larger national and regional contexts. First, Mozambique, then Zambia, Senegal, Liberia, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ghana, Tanzania and finally Namibia, and their Chinese migrant populations, are analysed. The first Chinese character, a farmer in south-central Mozambique, explains how long-term planning is part of any of these recent Chinese migration decisions: “Within the next ten or so years we need to raise enough money, and then if my son has a lot of offspring with local girls […] the children will be Mozambicans. […] It will be my clan” (p. 21).
It is, however, not that simple to think about intermarriages. Skin colour, for instance, does matter. “The women here are too black. Actually they are different colours, different shades of black, but to us they are all dark” (p. 36), continues the Mozambican Chinese entrepreneur. Other aspects are also presented about how negative Chinese people are about Africans, for example, when giving their opinion about the future of African development: “these people are impossible to teach […] They just don't learn” (p. 74). And at the same time, many Chinese migrants think that it is much easier to make money in Africa than in China.
Howard French's account shows African realism and Chinese pragmatism together. He intends to go against the often-depicted over-reduced view of the “China in Africa” dynamics. His chapter on Zambia states what China's migrants consider when making their decisions to travel to Africa: “This is a good time to be in Africa” because of the “fabulous new markets […] a lot of new mouths to be fed, lots more people to be clothed, devices and appliances and goods of all kinds to be sold” (p. 44). This is a period of abundant opportunities, especially for many Chinese of the “lost generation” of the Cultural Revolution.
With a firm knowledge of Chinese culture and the Mandarin language, French has the capacity to reveal deep understanding of Chinese way of thinking about Africa and the Africans. This obviously cannot be a homogenous picture, mainly as a result of generational differences. The “generational contrast was strong evidence of the progress China was making in its global push,” (p. 119) underlines French. It seems to be rather similar, however, to how Chinese in general, regardless of the age group, try to keep close contact with their cultural heritage, staying connected to Mainland China on a daily basis. In the Mali chapter, the chief engineer of a Chinese textile factory explains that all Chinese spend the weekends playing cards with other Chinese, “or surfing the Internet” and watching “Chinese satellite channels” on TV (p. 179). These African examples also seem to confirm a commonly-held view of the Chinese diaspora being relatively isolated, with little intention to integrate with majority societies.
China's Second Continent explores some major consequences of China's intensified engagement with African countries on the policy level, including issues that have still not been extensively discussed in mainstream literature. Among these, the migration of Africans to China has to be mentioned. Attention should be paid to this parallel process, which derives from China's Africa policy and the changing global scene, and which gives opportunities for Africans to start businesses, launch ventures in the sector of commerce and trade, or study at Chinese universities. When talking about the potential of building a “new empire” for China, French is right in saying that: “The processes of empire are almost always bi-directional, and in this sense the recently formed Guangzhou community [with more than 100,000 Africans] is classic” (p. 84).
French also touches the spot with arguments why China has taken the lead in front of other actors in the African continent, even the US, stressing that “American diplomats had been slow to understand the scope of the change being driven by Chinese migration to Africa” (p. 75). The image of China's “unconditional” non-interference stance has to be rethought, too. Quoting former Zambian finance minister, Fred Mutesa, French points out that with its packages of infrastructure development, “stadium diplomacy,” government scholarships and “many friendly gestures,” China expects that African governments – in this case the government of Zambia – do not “enforce such strict immigration controls” on Chinese citizens (ibid). Although using a different style from the Western paternalistic tone, China also sets certain conditions in its relationships.
Yet another issue seems to be occurring more frequently in the last couple of years than in the more distant past. This is the quality of infrastructure projects, such as the building of roads. French's chapter on Ghana refers to a senior policy officer of the Association of Ghana Industries, who explains that the Chinese win all the projects, but that the final “quality is very low.” He gives the example of the Kumasi road, built by the China Railway Corporation: a “good example of a widespread problem” (p. 201). Today, it is not only about the scale of the bid, which is set very low and therefore means constant pressure for the company, but also the time frame. Several recent cases reveal that some Chinese companies cannot comply with the time requirements set by African governments, and as a result of this, can lose tenders or projects they had started after a successful bid.
At the end of his narration, French closes his book with a neat Epilogue, in which he questions whether or not we can identify Chinese behaviour that is truly distinct from other global actors towards Africa. As for the diaspora now growing within the African continent, we may agree with French that “the Chinese have arguably developed the concept of diaspora more fully than any other people” (p. 263), which then can naturally contribute to building a stable, influential and lasting presence in Africa – if not a “new empire.”
Howard French has written an intriguing volume full of authentic observations and discussions about one of the most important aspects of China–Africa relations. It is a substantial source for anybody in the field, from both the African and the Chinese angles.
