THE TRANSNATIONAL MAKING OF ‘CHOCOLATE CITY’ IN GUANGZHOU
LI Zhi-gang1,2, DU Feng3
1. School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
2. Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
3. China Academy of Urban Planning and Design Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518020, China
Abstract：The rise of foreign communities in China attracts high attentions during last years. A growing number of literature have shed light upon these groups through the lens of economic globalization, social transition, foreigner gated communities, and so on. Nevertheless, a majority of the studies focus on transnational migrants from developed counties such as the US or the UK, far less are known about these coming from developing or under-developed counties. Among them, the booming of China-Africa relations has been so prominent that Africans in China attracted particular attentions and gained a fever of media notice. Using first-hand data collected from long-term fieldwork during last five years, this study examines the making of urban China's typical African economic enclave in Guangzhou, the so-called ‘Chocolate City’. It discloses the route transnational traders move across national borders to practice business, making ethnic economic enclave and reshaping local communities. Depending on the social network of Africans, the impacts of ‘Chocolate City’ already extended across China, covering 20 provinces, 45 cities, and so on. Against the impacts of global forces and local governments, the making of Chocolate city has been found to be transient, transforming from the rising enclave to the prosperous enclave, and to the declining enclave. And the impacts of local states upon glocalization should be further highlighted. This study contributes to the literature of globalization theory by interrogating its feature of transient, mobility and flexibility. In addition, it provides the first in-depth analysis to delineate recent history of the Chocolate City's place-making.
李志刚, 杜枫. 中国大城市的外国人“族裔经济区”研究——对广州“巧克力城”的实证[J]. 人文地理, 2012, 27(6): 1-6.
LI Zhi-gang, DU Feng. THE TRANSNATIONAL MAKING OF ‘CHOCOLATE CITY’ IN GUANGZHOU. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2012, 27(6): 1-6.
