AFRICAN COMMUNITY in HONG KONG
School of English
University of Hong Kong
African demography in Hong Kong
The history of an African presence in China begins before the 21st century. However, there are a little researches working on the history of African in China. According to Bodomo (2012) estimated that there are about 500,000 Africans in China, which some 100,000 in Guangzhou alone and the rest distributed in other Chinese cities. And Hong Kong is one of the cities that have a sizable African community. In the following sections, we will focuses on the African community in Hong Kong. From the researches we done, we still found that there are a little data about African in HK.
African Community
In cities across China, especially on the eastern seaboard, sizeable African communities have emerged since 1997. According to the population census 2011 issued by Hong Kong government, there are population data about Filipinos, Nepalese and Thai in HK etc., but no data about African community. African is categorized as others in the population census, and this category made up less than 0.4% of the whole Hong Kong population. From the data, we get a sense that African community is of relatively ‘minor’ than other more prominent minorities groups such as India, Pakistan or Filipinos.
However, it is also a new emergent minority group that should not be ignored. China-Africa trade has grown to almost USD166 billion a year by 2011, attracting hundreds of thousands of Africans to southern China for both short-term business trips and for the long-term. And Hong Kong is one of the cities that they will stay, not only because of the safer environment in Hong Kong, but also it is one of the Chinese cities that have the most contact with the outside world.
Most of the Africans in Hong Kong are economic migrants of various sorts. From the interviews we did, we found that most of the interviewees came to Hong Kong for business. This insight also matched with a research done by Bodomo (2012). He showed that 20 out of 33 African respondents from his research stated they stayed in Hong Kong mainly for business.
And Chunking Mansions is one of the places they mainly do business. There are small-scale trading businesses, everything from secondhand mobile phones to old clothing. The African businessman will buy goods for reselling in home countries. Other than that, Mathews (2011) also stated that many of those coming from African countries like Kolkata and Dhaka have overstayed their visas in order to make quick money as restaurant workers or peddlers of counterfeit watches and bags in Chungking Mansions. According to Mathews (2011) who conducted field research in Chungking Mansions, speculated that 20% of the mobile phones now in use in sub-Saharan Africa have passed through Chungking Mansions.
They mostly stay in the Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. From the research, we found that Chungking Mansions on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, the public area outside K-11 mall are the African community’s nerve centre. There were many Africans, no matter they are visitors or residents of Hong Kong. They go there to hang around with friends and also buy and sell goods. Bodomo (2012) found that the African community has certainly grown beyond Tsim Sha Tsui to include many places in Kowloon, the New Territories, and on the Hong Kong Island. We also found that the population in Pat Heung, Yuen Long is becoming a new gathering place for African community.
Why are they coming to Hong Kong?
Where do they mostly stay in Hong Kong?
