The Ghanaian community in Hong Kong

1
The Ghanaian community in Hong Kong

• Adams Bodomo
• University of Hong Kong
• abbodomo_at_hku.hk
• August 2009

2
Outline

• Introduction
• Methodology The Survey
• Findings
• General Comments
• Details of Comments
• In-depth Interviews
• Implications Insights into the African Community
  in Hong Kong

3
Introduction

• African communities comprising mostly traders,
  began to form in earnest in the 1990s.
• They are distributed in places such as Hong Kong,
  Guangzhou, Yiwu, Macau, Beijing, and Shanghai.
• There are already quite a number of academic
  studies on African communities (e.g. Bertoncello
  and Bredeloup (2007), Bodomo (2007), Li Zhigang
  et al (2008), etc). These have mostly
  concentrated on a broad, canopy term, "African
  community".

4
Introduction

• I argue that while "African community" may be a
  useful term for understanding a broad picture of
  the African condition in China, if we actually
  want to get a deeper understanding of African
  community organizations, including specific
  cultural features and closer networkings, we need
  to turn to the study of specific sub-group
  African communities such as national communities,
  regional organizations, clubs, and business
  lounges.

5
Introduction

• I illustrate this theme of moving from the
  general to the specific in terms of studying
  African community organizations in China by
  describing the Ghanaian community in Hong Kong.
• This is a community made of citizens of Ghana in
  West Africa and their spouses and friends.
• A focus on the Ghanaian community and similar
  national communities in China leads to a better
  understanding of the general African presence in
  China and what role this presence means for
  developing Africa-China relations.

6
Questionnaire Survey

• Conducted at the Ground floor and the 2nd floor
  of ChungKing Mansions, 36-44 Nathan Road, Tsim
  Sha Tsui, and nearby areas during June 2009.
• No. of Questionnaire completed 33
• Focuses on a particular national community in
  Hong Kong, the Ghanaian community. Many of them
  come to Hong Kong to do business as many other
  people from other African countries do. And some
  of them are actually Hong Kong residents living
  in Hong Kong for a long time.

7
ChungKing Mansions

• An international place with people of different
  cultural backgrounds
• A building featuring low-rent guest houses
  offered by independent hotels, shops and
  restaurants
• The ground floor and the 2nd floor are used for
  all kinds of commercial activity
• There are shops for clothing, mobile phones and
  other electronic devices, and currency exchange,
  among others
• Visitors include people from Africa, the Middle
  East and South Asia

8
Findings
Among 33 respondents, 25 are between 25 and 34
years old with 16 of them between 25 and 30 years
old.
9
Levels of schooling
Among 33 respondents, 20 have received secondary
education and 12 have received tertiary
education. Quite expectedly most of the
respondents identify themselves as businessmen or
traders. Among 33 respondents, nine identify
themselves as businessmen and eight as traders.
10
Languages spoken
Twi is the most popular language among the
community. Twi, a variety of the Akan language,
is the most widely spoken language in Ghana. Some
of them have more than one native language.
English is spoken in their country as official
language, so most respondents can speak English.
Chinese and Cantonese are treated as different
items according to the subjects response
11
Duration of stay
It is found that most of them 20 out of 33
come to Hong Kong mainly for business. Some of
them 11 out 33 also live in Hong Kong. Many
of them 13 out of 33 only stay here for a
very short time one month or less. Some stay
longer for more than one year up to three years.
Besides, most of the respondents 15 out of 33
have only visited Hong Kong for one or two
times.
12
Proficiency in Chinese and English
15 out of 33 respondents think that their is poor
in Chinese and only two think that they can speak
Chinese very well. However, nearly all of the
respondents 28 out of 33 either think that
their proficiency in English is excellent or is
good.
13
Lingua Franca
31 out of 33 respondents think that English is
the most common language among the community
members and with foreigners at the ChungKing
mansions/Hong Kong Besides English, 23 out of 33
respondents either think that Cantonese/Chinese
is the most common language.
(Some respondents simply do not know the Chinese
language spoken in Hong Kong is Cantonese but
refer to any Chinese language as Chinese so
Cantonese and Chinese are presented as two
separate items in the statistics.)
14
Noahs Arc situation
It is found that most of them have come across
communication problems in various degrees
15
Ghanaian-HongKongers?
It was found that many of them either would not
identify themselves as local Hong Kong persons to
a large extent. Moreover, their views on how they
perceive the difference from local HK persons are
very diverse. So the concept of a Ghanaian-Hong
Konger/Chinese is not yet established
16
Little of the respondents think that he/she is
connected to the community to a large or even
very large extent. Most of them think that the
difference of life between HK and their countries
of origin is large.
17
Signs of Acculturation?
It is found that many respondents do eat Chinese
food. 17 out of 33 respondents sometimes eat
Chinese food. One possible reason is that food
from their country of origin is also available in
Hong Kong. 10 out of 33 always eat Ghanaian food
and 19 out 33 sometimes do so.
18
General Comments

• Generally, the respondents think ChungKing
  Mansions or Hong Kong is a good place, especially
  as a business place. They also think that life in
  Hong Kong is more secure which is also a reason
  why many of them think that there is a large
  difference between their life in Hong Kong and
  that in their home country. Most think that Hong
  Kong is a very good place to do business.
• Respondents are however very critical when it
  comes to social interaction with Hong Kong
  people, beyond their business transactions. They
  see a lot of differences between how people in
  Hong Kong treat each other and how they treat
  each other in their country. It seems to them
  that Hong Kong people are more isolated in terms
  of interpersonal relationship.

19
Details of Comments

• The people living in ChungKing always obey the
  rules.
• It is always busy in ChungKing Mansions.
• Noisy here. Too many blacks. Too many people.
• Life at the ChungKing Mansions is unbearable in a
  sense that the Police of Hong Kong always disturb
  by knocking on our doors almost all the time.
• The place is always congested with many different
  ethnic backgrounds and beliefs. Most are not
  friendly.
• I just love the place.
• Yes, I think life at the ChungKing Mansions is
  normal compared to life in my country.
• The situation in ChungKing Mansions is very poor
  and there is lack of friendliness from the
  Chinese.
• If you are only a businessman, then life is ok.
  So this is what I know in ChungKing Mansions.
• Yes, the security system here is bad because they
  dont respect us.
• My comment is about Hong Kong as a whole, it
  never seizes to amaze me when the Chinese of Hong
  Kong are trying to differentiate themselves from
  the Chinese of China.
• Things in Hong Kong are nice.
• Hong Kong people dont speak English. They should
  learn English and learn more about foreigners.
• ChungKing Mansions is a place full of enjoyment,
  friendship, business, etc, and finally is a place
  to make more research.
• ChungKing Mansions is a good place for business
  and tourism.
• I think more researchers have to come to
  ChungKing Mansions for some special topics about
  business people coming from different countries.

20
An In-depth Interview (1)

• Mr. J
• A 45-year-old mechanical engineer from Ghana.
• One of the organizers of the association for the
  Ghanaian community in Hong Kong
• He has lived in Hong Kong for 21 years.
• He thinks he would identify himself more as a
  local Hong Kong person than as a foreigner from
  Ghana.
• He used to encounter a lot of communication
  problems when he first arrived Hong Kong.
• Learning Cantonese changed him a lot.
• He starts to act like a Hong Kong person, both
  psychologically and culturally.
• Mr. J thinks that one of the reasons why they can
  establish an association is that some of their
  people, like him, are already well-established in
  Hong Kong. In some sense, their community already
  has a root in Hong Kong.

21
An In-depth Interview (2)

• Ms. C from Kumasi, Ghana
• A hair dresser living in Hong Kong for four years
• She feels that Hong Kong people do not easily mix
  with foreigners, and indeed even with their
  fellow Hong Kong people. Hong Kong people tend to
  limit themselves to a small circle of friends.
• She observed that young people in the train would
  not normally give their seat to the elderly. And
  she has seen some young people aged 14 or 15
  smoking without any body stopping them from doing
  that. All of these would not happen in Ghana.
• She thinks that the association for the Ghanaian
  community serves as a platform for Ghanaian to
  meet each other.

22
An In-depth Interview (3)

• Mr. D
• A graphic designer, a painter, and a student
  studying anthropology at the Chinese University
  of Hong Kong
• He shares his experience in a bus with Hong Kong
  people. He once went somewhere with a friend by
  bus. A Chinese next to his friend put her hand
  over her nose, indicating that they were smelly.
  This expression of disrespect led his friend to
  call up the police and ask for an apology.
• He adds that all these negative incidents are not
  the fault of Hong Kong people alone. Africans
  could do more.
• He thinks the Ghanaian community should do
  something to promote Hong Kong peoples
  understanding of their culture and continent and
  to raise their awareness of the presence of
  Ghanaian.
• He also stresses that it is important that there
  is a sense of unity among members of the
  community.

23
Implications Insights into the African
community in Hong Kong

• A focus on smaller sub-communities of Africans
  can reveal more about the African community as a
  whole specific cultural activities, closer
  networks, relations with hosts, etc
• Ghanaians, like other Africans, are active
  participants and agents of change - not the image
  of helpless victims as is sometimes portrayed in
  some Western newspaper reports of Africans in
  China

24
References

• Bertoncello, Brigitte and Sylvie Bredeloup, The
  emergence of new African trading posts in Hong
  Kong and Guangzhou, China Perspectives, No.1
  (2007), pp 94 105.
• Bodomo, A. B. forthcoming. The African trading
  community in Guangzhou An emerging bridge for
  Africa - China relations. China Quarterly.
• Bodomo, A. B. in preparation. Africans in China
  an investigation into the African presence in
  China and its consequences for Africa - China
  Relations, book manuscript, HKU
• Bodomo A.B, An emerging African-Chinese
  community in Hong Kong the case of Tsim Sha
  Tsui's Chungking Mansions, in Kwesi Kwaa Prah
  (ed), Afro-Chinese Relations Past, Present and
  Future. Cape Town, South Africa, The Centre for
  Advanced Studies in African Societies, 2007,
  pp.367-389.
• Li Zhigang, Xue Desheng, Michael Lyons, and
  Alison Brown, Ethnic enclave of transnational
  migrants in urban China A case study of
  Xiaobei, Guangzhou (2008) (paper draft).