The World City in South China / by Gordon Mathews, Lin Dan, Yang Yan

In Guangzhou, the cosmopolitan city, people from all corners of the world are looking for business opportunities, starting a new life, and recognizing themselves. Among the new immigrants, there are a large number of small African businessmen who purchase cheap or counterfeit brand-name products in China and then ship them back to their hometowns for sale. This book explores how Guangzhou has become the center of "low-end globalization," and it also enables us to understand this globally important human business and cultural phenomenon. The author wrote a detailed ethnography, describing the business relationship and operation process of informal contracts based on personal reputation in a gray area. The Chinese and the Africans south of the area do not have a common language, culture or religion. How did they establish this relationship? What happens when Africans begin to take root and establish families in Guangzhou? The characters and stories in the book are unforgettable, presenting vivid cases of globalization, allowing us to observe the rich details of cross-cultural and ethnic exchanges in the South China World City. ISBN: 978-988-237-086-9 Finishing: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese Number of pages: 272 Dimensions: 229 x 152 x 18 mm **About the Author** Gordon Mathews, Dean and Professor of the Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In addition to this book, Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong, Global Culture/Individual Identity: Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket, What Makes Life Worth Living?: How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds, etc., and participated in the editing of many books including Globalization from Below: The World's Other Economy. Lin Dan, PhD in Anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lecturer at the Institute of Anthropology, School of Social and Demography, Renmin University of China. Yang Yan, Master of Anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her books include chapters of Economic Globalization from Below and China-Africa: Merging Relations. Translation works include "Hong Kong Chungking Mansions: The Edge of the World Center", "Stanley Japanese Governing Detention Camp: Three Years and Eight Months in Barbed Wire (1942–1945)". **recommend** This academic monograph uses rigorous social science research methods and detailed empirical data to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth investigation of the African businessmen group in Guangzhou, discussing the nationality of foreigners in China, social adaptation, and racial and cross-racial interactions. problem. This book has a novel perspective, clear logic and strong readability. It is not only of profound theoretical significance, but also a popular and interesting story of foreigners who went to China to pursue their dreams and rush for gold. —Zhou Min, Director of the Asia-Pacific Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies, and Chair Professor of U.S.-China Relations and Media at the Wang Wenxiang Foundation Through in-depth fieldwork of foreigners living in Guangzhou, mainly Africans, McGordon and his research team have insights into this increasingly diverse and globalized city. In the eyes of the author, globalization is not only the borderless flow of capital and information that people are familiar with, but also the legal or "illegal" transnational mobile groups that trigger different feelings and attitudes. The concept of "low-end globalization" proposed in The Building. This book helps readers recognize and understand the increasingly complex and diverse social and cultural phenomena under the trend of globalization. —Fan Ke, Professor of Anthropology, Nanjing University This book’s fascinating story about bribery and business competition under low-end globalization is the best sequel to McGordon’s "Hong Kong Chungking Mansion". "The World City in South China" is full of stories about the experiences of alien groups, the dreams of immigrants who hope to rise to the top, and the relationship between foreigners, mainly African businessmen, and Chinese locals. —Nicole Constable, Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh I continue to admire McGordon's ability to acquire local knowledge for a long time and skillfully, while also being able to communicate with a wide range of readers. This book allows me to understand the human side of Guangzhou and low-end globalization, and it also allows me to better understand the world today. —Ulf Hannerz, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Stockholm University