Tuesday, October 30, 2012

New Low for South African Reporting on Chinese Immigrants

Here come the Chinese...
Kevin Bloom and Richard Poplak writing in the Daily Maverick, "Chinese shopkeeper cover story a new low for South African Journalism," deftly deconstruct the cover story in Noseweek, yet another piece of "yellow journalism" about Chinese immigration into southern Africa. Here's the lead for the Daily Maverick story, describing the Noseweek piece: "a humid conspiracy theory wrapped in the guise of journalism, and when it isn't racist and xenophobic, it's plain wrong."

One of the main themes of the Noseweek story is that the mom & pop Chinese shops one can easily find in many parts of South Africa are part of a giant plan, rendering them pieces of one huge "chain store". Anyone who has actually interviewed Chinese traders (as I and many others have, including Bloom and Poplak) would realize that this is so silly that it would be laughable if it wasn't deliberately intended to arouse xenophobic fears.

I'm really glad to see an uptick in the fact-checking coming from the continent. Wonder when we'll start seeing something similar coming out of China?

A hat tip to Sven Grimm at the Centre for Chinese Studies, Stellenbosch University.
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2 comments:

  1. If one day goes by without someone constructing a fable lambasting the evilness of the Chinese in Africa (and elsewhere), that would be a very very strange day.

    I am not surprised at all by that kind of yella journalism - and I do need to point out that the "noseweek" is not alone.

    The famous BBC Worldservice is actively doing the same thing - whenever they find the chance, they will sure crank up their collectively creative minds by inventing new venues in which they can launch attack at the Chinese, (and also China).

    Whenever there is a report regarding Chinese (or China) in Africa on the BBC, you can bet that it would be a negative piece.

    Even when they (BBC presenters) picked comments from twitter regarding Chinese in Africa, they will pick tweets such as "Chinese dumping inferior goods in Africa", "Chinese robs Africans' wealth", and stuffs like that.

    As a matter of facgt, I have yet to hear a single positive comment on BBC regarding Chinese' involvement in Africa.

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  2. Chinese are here to stay in South Africa whether we like it or not. After living in Johannesburg for 15 years I've become closely acquainted with South African born Chinese an immigrants post 1995. They do not have dissimilar world views.

    The rise of major Chinese corporations is something new post 2000. I highly recommend the book, WHEN CHINA RULES THE WORLD by Martin Jacques. Deborah if you've read it, I'm keen to get your feedback on the overall premise.

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