Lucineida Fonseca

There has yet to be a comprehensive inquiry into the state of Africans living in China. China s economic poverty has historically made it a nation of emigrants, rather than immigrants. While richly diverse in terms of culture and language, in terms of color, China has remained one of the most homogenous nations in the world. In recent years, as economic and political cooperation has increased between China and the African continent, African immigrants have flocked to Chinese cities, seeking better opportunities, better lives. Cities like Guangzhou in southern China have seen the rise of a large African merchant class and the number of incoming immigrants continues to rise exponentially. Taxi drivers and local Chinese have coined the city of Guangzhou Chao-keli Shi or Chocolate City in reference to the more than 20,000 Africans currently living in the city of a little over a million. Further research into these communities is imperative to our understanding of how we will live together in a world of increased movement. Luci s project attempts to probe into the lives and experiences of these immigrant communities, focusing on the legal implications they pose for China s development as a nation-state.