Today is a public holiday in South Africa – Human Rights Day. There’s a certain irony in spending the day focusing on China’s President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vladimir Putin, knee-deep in a human rights disaster.
What one makes of the Ukraine crisis increasingly maps on where one lives. This is made clear by a remarkable new set of polling data recently published by the European Council on Foreign Relations ...
Category: Race
Egyptian Dairy Company Forced to Cancel Controversial TV Commercial Featuring Angry Chinese Boss
The Egyptian dairy company Green Land took down its new TV commercial this week for its spreadable cheese product that featured an angry Chinese boss berating his local employees for choosing to eat a snack rather than get back to work. The spot sparked immediate outrage in ...
China’s Ambassador to Kenya Pushes Back Against Debt Fears in Rare Interview
China’s ambassador to Kenya, Zhou Pingjian, sidestepped the controversy about Chinese lending in a rare one-on-one interview with The Star’s Eliud Kibii. Their conversation covered a broad range of topics, including debt, trade, and COVID-19. While he avoided many specifics, the interview gives an all-too-rare glimpse into ...
A New Era Begins in Chinese Football as First-ever Biracial Player Wins Spot on U17 National Squad
Guangzhou native Huang Shenghao (黄晟豪) is China's first-ever biracial player to win a spot on a national football squad. The son of a Chinese mother and Nigerian father, the 14-year old midfielder will play on the U17 national team. While Huang's ...
A China-Africa Love Story Hits The Big Screens
A new, big-budget romantic comedy centering on a China-Africa love story is now in wide release in Chinese multiplexes. "My African Bride," whose title in Chinese translates to “a daughter-in-law in the village,” tells the story of a young couple who returns ...
Join Two South African YouTubers For Brunch And a Candid Discussion about the Experience of Black Africans in China
Two South African expatriates living in China sat down for brunch last Sunday to share some straight talk with their YouTube subscribers over what it's really like to be Black in China. The pair, who only identify themselves by their YouTube ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Xi Bets on Global South in Moscow
Why South Africa Remains China’s Most Important Relationship in Africa
There was a flurry of Chinese diplomatic activity in Africa this week with Foreign Minister Wang Yi's first overseas trip of the year who went to Eritrea, Kenya, and the Comoros Islands. While eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean are becoming ...
TECNO’s New AI-Powered Camera Software Artificially Lightens Black Skin Tones
A fascinating discussion is underway within China's art community about whether new AI-powered software used in TECNO mobile phones is contributing to a form of colorism in Africa, by favoring lighter skin tones over darker complexions. Taipei/Berlin-based filmmaker and visual artist ...
Checking In on Black Life in Shanghai in 2021
It's been a while since social media weighed in on the theme of Black life in China. The topic was immensely popular in the aftermath of anti-Black discrimination that occurred in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou last Spring, but faded in the second half of the ...
China’s Role in “Decolonizing” Healthcare in Africa
I still remember the day I arrived in the quiet city of Natitingou, North-West Benin, after the 7000-mile journey from my hometown in China. I was to be a translator in a Chinese medical team deployed to the local hospital. Over the 13 months ...
Chinese Perspectives on Anti-Black Racism in China
A series of high-profile recent incidents including the use of blackface on Chinese TV, discrimination against Black residents in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and widespread racial insensitivity on Chinese social media sites like ...