“Unequal Sino-African Relations”: A Perspective from Africans in Guangzhou

Abstract

It was the growing economic and trade cooperation between Guangzhou and Africa that prompted Africans to come to Guangzhou, one of the most important international trade port cities of China. In Guangzhou, the situation Africans encountered totally differed from the imagination before they came to China. The visa problem has been regarded as their main challenge in China. Africans complain that Sino–African relations are unequal, because they think, by contrast, the Chinese people in Africa are better served by African police and at least didn’t suffer the strict regulation by African governments. In the context of “The Road and Belt” initiated by the Chinese government, this paper suggests that the negative experience of Africans in Guangzhou will pose or have posed a barrier to the development of Sino–African relations.