Chinese in Africa: expatriation regime and lived experience

This paper investigates the expatriation regime and the lived experience of Chinese managers, professionals and contract workers in Africa. Moving beyond taking contemporary Chinese migration to Africa as merely a state project or personal activity, it contributes a synthesised analysis of the forces at state, corporate and societal levels to produce and sustain expatriation. Specifically, I argue that expatriation fulfils multiple objectives of (1) addressing new state-led development priorities of job creation and poverty reduction; (2) facilitating the global ventures of Chinese companies with accessible, manageable, and productive labour power; and (3) creating opportunities for different social groups of Chinese to pursue career or life goals. Empirical research with 66 expatriates working in Chinese telecommunications, construction, and manufacturing companies in Ethiopia highlights three contrasting pairs of features of the expatriate life: emplacement and displacement, interaction and fragmentation as well as mobility and immobility. Motivated and constrained by varied life situations and complex institutional circumstances, expatriates are variably empowered or dispossessed during their migratory trajectories. The expatriation process not only reproduces the social differentiation in the Chinese society based on education, places of origin and types of employers but also generates new forms of inclusion and exclusion.