Events over Endeavours Image of the Chinese in Zambia and Angola
The contemporary Chinese engagement in Africa dates back to the 1950's, and it has
gained momentum in the last two decades. The Chinese presence in African countries has
been getting more and more visible; not only the number of Chinese investments in the area
and international agreements has been increasing, but also the size of the Chinese
diaspora in the region has grown.
China has been looking for new sources of natural resources and markets on which the
'made in China' goods would be welcomed, therefore it spares no efforts to establish and
maintain possibly good relationships with Africa, especially with political elites of
African countries. At first, the Chinese expansion was supported by the country's image of
an older brother, a co-victim of the Western domination, and a example to be followed on
the the path leading to development. This image, however, has started to be covered with
some spots and shadows, caused by various Chinese activities. In this book we aimed to
sketch the image of China and the Chinese in Zambia and Angola, presented by textual media
and citizens of these countries, and to trace the most important factors influencing it.
Moreover, we brought up some possible consequences of the prevalence of a particular –
positive or negative – image for the future development of the Chinese expansion in the
region. To obtain the possibly detailed image, we decided to combine quantitative and
qualitative analysis of media content with results of our field work conducted in Africa.
The study is focused on the extraordinarily important topical problem of the Chinese
expansion in Africa. Both the applied innovative methodology and the new approach towards
the Sino-African relations, focused on the perception of the Chinese presence in the
region, are the factors that distinguish this work. [...]
As the authors themselves state, in the summary they try to avoid drawing generalising
conclusions; rather, they focus on pointing out the differences in the perception of China
and the Chinese between Angola and Zambia. Acknowledging the increasing importance of the
perception of China and the Chinese in Africa as an important factor influencing
Sino-African relations constitutes the most valuable conclusion of the study.
Prof. Dominik Mierzejewski, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Lodz
Introduction 7
1. Chinese expansion in the past and nowadays 11
1.1. Chinese traditional expansion model 12
1.2. Chinese expansion in Africa 19
2. Image of the China and the Chinese in Africa 31
2.1. State of play – empirical studies results overview 31
2.2. Image of China and the Chinese in Zambia and Angola – problem justification 49
2.3. National image concept 53
3. China and Chinese in Zambian and Angolan media 63
3.1. Quantitative analysis of media content 67
3.2. Mixed method codes analysis 75
3.2.1. Negative categories analysis 76
3.2.2. Positive categories analysis 87
4. Image of China and the Chinese among Zambian netizens’ 97
5. Image of China and the Chinese in Zambia and Angola – field work results 111
5.1. Field work in Zambia 113
5.2. Field work in Angola 125
6. Summary 155
Appendix 169
Reference list 173
Subject index 181
Index of names 183
186 stron, Format: 15.5x23.5cm, oprawa miękka