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Cyrildene Chinatown, Suburban Settlement, and Ethnic Economy in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg

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China and Africa

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Asian Business Series ((PAMABS))

Abstract

By putting the growth of Cyrildene Chinatown in the contexts of new waves of Chinese migration in Africa and the dramatic suburbanisation of post-apartheid South African cities, this chapter traces the development of Chinese settlement in the Cyrildene area and the resultant birth of the city’s emerging Chinatown. It presents a critique to the notion of “ethnic enclave” and argues that the Cyrildene Chinatown functions more as an integral part of Chinese “ethnoburb” in Johannesburg’s eastern suburbs and interacts with the host society and wider networks in complex and intimate ways. By evaluating both the achievements of and challenges facing Cyrildene Chinatown, this chapter then suggests that suburbanisation in post-apartheid South Africa has boosted the degrees of civic engagement amongst its suburbanites.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the past several years, interest in the Chinese migrants in Africa has been growing. For instance, Yoon Jung Park in 2010 initiated a global research working group (Chinese in Africa/Africans in China), under which there are now (as of early 2016) over 600 researchers from across the world.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Liang Xu

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  1. Liang Xu
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Correspondence to Liang Xu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Business and Economics, University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

    Young-Chan Kim

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Xu, L. (2017). Cyrildene Chinatown, Suburban Settlement, and Ethnic Economy in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg. In: Kim, YC. (eds) China and Africa. The Palgrave Macmillan Asian Business Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47030-6_4

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