By Edwin Asa Adjei, University of Ghana-Legon
Guangzhou Dream Factory was screened during the African Studies Association of Africa’s second biennial conference late last year. With the rise of China as a global power, migrating to China has increasingly become the dream of many on the African continent. Guangzhou Dream Factory, a film by Christiane Badgley, looks at the challenges that some Africans face in their bid to migrate to China and the challenges they face while in China.
According to the movie, estimates of Africans living in Guangzhou–a trading hub in China–range from 20,000 to 100,000 or more, with about half a million Africans transiting between various African countries and Guangzhou on a regular basis. These African immigrants reflect the dynamic and entrepreneurial spirit of migrants all over the world and that is the focus of the movie. In my opinion, it is the focus and portrayal of African success stories in Guangzhou–so unlike many portrayals of Africans in numerous mainstream Western media channels–that sets this movie apart.
Racism often rears its ugly head wherever Africans have found themselves, especially in the Global North. Racism has not been absent in China; news reports covering the recent blackface skit during the lunar new year in China (see some of the coverage here and here) highlight some of the experiences of racism that many Africans in China face. Despite these challenges with racism and other struggles such as a lack of jobs, anti-immigrant sentiments and Nigerians being singled out for being untruthful and engaging in criminal activities, the film focuses on the desire and efforts of many Africans to fulfill their dreams and move ahead in life. Director Christiane Badgley spends a lot of time exploring how Africans have successfully set up businesses in China from scratch and “made it” in China.
While this was not an explicit focus of the movie, my attention was nonetheless captured by aspects of the film that raised questions about the effects of globalization and unfair trade practices by the global North. The film begins with the director narrating to viewers about a knife she bought in Accra, Ghana twenty-five years ago. The knife was locally made and was her favorite kitchen knife for many years when she returned to the US. Twenty-five years later, she returned to Accra and began a search to purchase a similar knife, but despite searching far and wide, she only found “Made in China” knives. She says with disappointment that “I couldn’t find a Ghanaian knife or Ghanaian knife maker anywhere. Once again, it looked like another local trade had disappeared. But what I saw as lost jobs and bad news for Ghana’s economy, people around me saw as opportunity.” As one trader in the movie puts it: “The products made in China are cheap. The products made in Ghana are very expensive. We go for the products that are cheaper and sell faster.” What the trader and Christiane Badgley do not take into account are the effects that the importation of such Chinese products have on the local economy such as an increased demand for foreign currency necessary for business, which then affects the value of local currency and thereby affects prices of items on the local market. In addition, as the film says, businesses set up by Africans in China employ hundreds of Chinese. These are jobs that could have potentially been held by Africans on the continent.
If you haven’t yet watched the film, there are upcoming screenings in Europe this June and July. If you would like to screen the film on your campus, at your organization or in your community, you can contact them via email at: info@gzdreamfactory.com. You can also join their mailing list to find out when the film will screen near you.