Chinese Identity in Johannesburg

BURCH FELLOW 2014 CHINESE IDENTITY IN JOHANNESBURG Johannesburg has a reputation sky like a tie-dye thumb. for violent crime. Arriving there, that The concept of Chinese in Africa idea badgered me again and again. surprised me at first, but after seeing I am alone, and Johannesburg has Johannusburg’s color and diversity, a reputation for violent crime. For the idea of two distinct Chinatowns the first part of my trip, ideas of what in the city hardly seemed far- PAUL ASHTON could happen to me if I ventured fetched. I visited the two within my Class of 2015 out, ignorant and alone, paralyzed first week and found them radically Durham, NC me. I spent most of my time different. First Chinatown sits in locked in my one-room apartment downtown Johannesburg, while defied stereotyping. I met a bilingual y Burch on Witwatersrand University’s New Chinatown is located in the preschool teacher and a Jehovah’s project campus, waiting out Human Ethics Cyrildene suburb. On an average witness; a woman whose “Made in challenged M Board approval to start contacting day, First Chinatown is windswept China” tattoo started her career as me to my interviewees. Most nights, I bided and deserted, while New Chinatown a filmmaker; a historian who quit core. It was a success, her job to write a book that took PAUL ASHTONPAUL my time translating local Chinese feels like a bustling street in Beijing. but most of the time, it newspapers with the square head Cantonese versus Mandarin, cultural nine years instead of two; a man didn’t feel that way. I of the Hillbrow tower outside my focal point versus bastion of Chinese who was perfectly happy with a went to South Africa to explore window, popping out of an orange small business, the two hold distinct life that, in his words, amounted the impact of China’s growing juice sky. When I did leave my places in the identity of the city and to nothing; a woman whose goal in international presence on ethnic apartment, I walked around with in the Chinese communities. life was to facilitate communication Chinese living there, but I quickly between South African and Chinese encountered obstacles outside of insecurity beating on my brow, The two spaces also represent artists; and a student who managed my control. The trip started off searching for the confidence to reach the most obvious distinction in in Johannesburg with barely any with lost luggage, delayed project out to complete strangers, whether the Chinese community: between English at all. The project was a approval, and constant anxiety. they be coworkers, interviewees, or South African Chinese, whose huge success, simply in that the I’d originally thought my research others. grandparents, and sometimes great- multitude of perspectives I gained would spark academic growth. grandparents, migrated at the turn from listening to these people was Instead, embarking on this project of the century, and new migrants, more valuable to me than any book forced me to reflect on my personal who mobilized on the coattails I’d read on the topic. shortcomings and taught me the of China’s booming economy My Burch project was a value of persistence, resilience, and and its growing relationship with challenge. It was a success, but it flexibility in implementing a project. South Africa. Between these two generalized extremes is a vast gray didn’t feel that way most of the CONTINUED zone. I explored the community in time. I spent so much of the trip Although I’d spent a good deal this area, looking for people that fit doubting myself and my ability to of time traveling, including a six in the categorizations of the Chinese cope with the city that I rarely took month stint in Beijing on the Weir community and also defy them. satisfaction in the steps that I made, Fellowship my sophomore year, I’d What did it mean to be Chinese in and even after returning from the never visited South Africa before. Johannesburg, and how do China trip I still didn’t know what to make As anxious as the city made me, I and South Africa influence that, if at of my experience. The challenges also found myself fascinated by it. all? By focusing on the diversity the I experienced during my Burch Johannesburg, the business hub country is so well-known for, how fellowship molded me, and I came of the “Rainbow nation,” lived do perceptions of the community to miss Johannesburg, the way the up to the country’s reputation of change? bright blue sky loomed above the diversity in every regard. Living When I finally received approval city, a giant maw with steely blue there was like spinning through a for my project, three weeks before I stare. kaleidoscope. People of every shade left the city, I began reaching out to and mannerism lived in the city. possible interviewees. My interviews South Africa Women with ankle-length skirts and took me all across the city. With bright scarves walked side by side each interview, my comfort and Johannesburg with others in white pantssuits, hair confidence grew, and I re-found the dyed red like rusted springs. The passion that sparked the project in skyline itself was colorful, with the the first place. Coca-Cola building jutting into the The experiences I encountered .

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