Ten Years of Fieldwork in Guangzhou

Written by Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Jupiter Wang

I started to do fieldwork in Guangzhou 10 years ago, in 2015. People call it “the

capital of the third world” for a reason. Taking the garment industry as an example, if

you want to order higher-quality clothing, you would probably go to places like

Keqiao, in Zhejiang Province. But if you are a trader with limited financial resources,

a short-term Chinese visa, and if the T-shirts with a cheap price are the only thing

you can afford, Guangzhou is your dreamland. In this one of the most developed

regions in China, there are always opportunities for everyone, at least this was what

most people I met in the city assumed.

Tough days for immigrants, especially for Africans in Guangzhou, started in the

2010s. The nightmare peaked during COVID-19, when some Africans were kicked

out of their rented rooms and had to sleep on the streets.

What’s now? With this question, I returned to Guangzhou in 2023, 2024, and 2025,

again and again, to find out how many Africans still held onto the “Guangzhou

dream,” as I knew some of my friends back in 2015 had already migrated to Canada

for good.

But the others are back. I even met a Nigerian friend who was still running his

jewelry shop at the same spot in Tongtong Mall, Sanyuanli. With the trauma and

resilience, with disappointment and emerging trust built during the pandemic through

digital technologies, people, both Africans and Chinese, came back for business.

Now, China opens its doors again. However, people who make a living in the Sino-

African trading space in Guangzhou still need to navigate new challenges: China’s

evolving manufacturing industry, digital technology in negotiations, design, and

production, and, most importantly, for my study, cultural mutual learning and co-

creation. Stay tuned for my upcoming works on the new chapter of Sino-African daily

interactions in Guangzhou.