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By Chinese journalist Ann Wang. First published in The China Global South Project.
Chinese communities in South Africa are generally divided into three distinct groups. LaoQiao (老侨), are South African-born Chinese (SABC) whose families have been in the country for generations, with ancestors arriving as early as the 1870s amid war and disaster in China. The second group, often termed TaiQiao (台侨), comprises Taiwanese Chinese who migrated between the late 1970s and the 1990s, attracted by incentives and close ties between Taiwan and the Apartheid government to set up businesses. The third group, XinQiao（新侨), represents the latest wave of migrants from mainland China. Arriving primarily after the 1990s, these newcomers mostly engaged in small-scale trading.
Among these groups, I find LaoQiao the most fascinating. These South African-born Chinese have experienced the country’s history much like other South Africans. Yet, their lives have been uniquely shaped by geopolitics—the evolving relationships between South Africa, the Republic of China (ROC), and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the impact of successive waves of Chinese immigrants. Their bond with Chinese culture and traditions often feels more profound than my own, having grown up in a modernized China.
A South African-born Chinese once expressed it this way:
“It was an unusual situation, we are living this difficult life where we never fit in. But there is always a homeland in our hearts where Chinese people are free.”
The names and surnames surprised me. The local Chinese have surnames that do not sound like Chinese at all.
Winkin Leong, the chairman of the Hong Ning Chinese Aged Home, shared with us: “My brother has a different surname to me, and my sisters all have different surnames. My father wasn’t very literate. When my sister was born, he went to register her. At the home affairs offices, there would be some Afrikaners who didn’t know how the Chinese names are, with surnames first and given names second. He then mixed up the first name and surnames.”
Some of the mistakes were because the parents didn’t know English well. But sometimes, it’s due to the arrogance of the immigration officer.
Francis Lai Hong is the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Association of Gauteng (TCA). He told the story about his name.
When his father gave the Chinese name to the immigration official, He said, “I can’t write that nonsense. Just give him an English name.”
“The immigration official’s name was Francois. So, my father became Frank, and I became Francis. “
Then the official said, ‘Okay, What is the Chinese word for “come from”?
“Lai (来 in Chinese)”
“Where are you from?”
“Hong Kong”
“Then my father became Frank Lai Hong Kong, and I became Francis Lai Hong Kong.”
“They chopped off the Kong because it was too long.”
“Chinese children have got all funny names.”
Sometimes too many generations have passed, and it is no longer possible to trace back the original family name. Many South African-born Chinese also tried to change their names back to their original format, but the documentation required made it almost impossible.
When I met people on the streets shouting at me “Ching Chong”, “China”, “Chinaman”, I don’t take much offense. Sometimes, they seem friendly. Maybe it is because China is a world power today.
But this triggers different memories for South African-born Chinese.
‘I was standing outside the bank, this boy came to me and shouted “Ching Chong.” This same feeling that I had when I was growing up came forward.’ Erica Sing Key told me.
The children used to make fun of the Chinese language, food, the shape of your eyes, etc.
The details of discrimination seem to be something the South African-born Chinese shy away from, I had to ask numerous questions to trace what exactly happened in the old days.
‘Not only white kids but also Indian kids used to chant back in the days “Ching Chong, Ching Chong, Ching Chong, Chinaman, born in a teapot, crescent in a pee pot, ha ha ha.”’, Allan Toi said.
Elizabeth Lee Ming opened a dim sum restaurant, Yesca’s Teahouse, in Hout Bay in Cape Town. One of her painful childhood memories is when she brought pork buns to school and classmates laughed at her, calling the food disgusting.
It angered her that nowadays, white people travel to Asia for a short time and then return to open “Asian fusion” restaurants, selling inauthentic Chinese food. That’s why she started her own restaurant.
During the Apartheid, many Chinese had experiences similar to those of colored people or black Africans. Families owning shops in white areas were kicked out, and local Chinese had to sit in the second-class part of the train. People were forcibly relocated. The white privilege was never given officially to the Chinese community. However, the Chinese community was able to take chances and push the boundaries. Chinese born at different times during the Apartheid had significantly varied experiences.
These are tied to the close relationship of the Republic of China and the Apartheid government. It was also influenced by the “honorary white” status granted to the Japanese, and the exemptions from apartheid laws provided to the Taiwanese. Given the difficulty in distinguishing SABCs from the Japanese and Taiwanese and the small size of the local Chinese community, it became easier for the Chinese community to circumvent the system.
“It’s by taking a chance and going to a movie when in the past you were kicked out. So, you just go there and see what happens. This time nobody kicked you out. It gradually became acceptable”, Allan said.
“Sometimes you are headstrong and sit in the first class section of the train. Some of the days, they pick on you and then you have to go all the way around to the third class and wait there. Sometimes you are early, and sometimes you arrive late.” Fiona Lai Lam told us.
Even when the Chinese got to enjoy some of the privileges, many sacrifices were made.
When a Chinese person wanted to purchase a property in a white area, they would need to go around the neighborhood and ask every white neighbor for permission and to sign an agreement claiming that they don’t mind this Chinese person staying in the neighborhood.
Many Chinese converted to Catholicism, driven by the educational opportunities offered by Catholic schools, which were among the first to open their doors to Chinese students. Reflecting on this period, Winkin said, “They say you must convert to a Catholic. And at that time, the parents would say whatever as long as they get through.”
The first few generations of Chinese in South Africa were usually hardworking shop-owners. Chinese traded extensively in black and colored areas during the Apartheid era. Many would speak local African languages because of the need to trade. So, if you go to townships in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), black elderly folk will know that the Chinese have been here for a long time.
Some local Chinese told us early Chinese shop owners could be racists towards the black or colored community. The kids grew up in a black area, in Chinese-owned businesses in black areas. The black people will know the Chinese as shop owners. But there wasn’t much social interaction between the two communities.
Most of the time, they regarded themselves as businesspeople trying to make a living during a difficult time in an environment where they were not accepted.
Erica Sing Key’s family owned a shop in Deal Party, an industrial area near a black township during Apartheid in Gqeberha.
“So, I was in my grade 12 in 1976. One day, my parents came home after lunch, which was very unusual. I asked what was going on, and they told me about the school uprising. The police told all the businesses to shut down.” Erica usually worked in shops from Friday to Sunday without her parents. A few days later, her mom asked her to go and work in the shop.
“I don’t wanna work. What happens if there’s another riot?” Erica asked.
Erica’s mom said, “Then you just have to run.” Erica now works in an NGO that builds houses for homeless people.
Unlike many other businesspeople, Allan Toi maintains a uniquely close relationship with his customers. Allan opened a pharmacy in 1983 on the main street of Gqeberha which was within a white group area.
“So, we had a total swing around. At the beginning, it was 90% white customers. Soon it became 90% black customers.” Apart from dispensing medication, Allan also gave suggestions and treatments to the black customers.
“Sometimes they have one medicine that works, then they keep on taking it and getting it illegally without a prescription from people who are willing to make a few cents out of it. These medications will hurt you in the long term.”
The pharmacy closed less than two years ago. As Allan took us around the streets of Gqeberha, he ran into many former customers. The customer asked him where to find him now. They will joke like friends and families in Xhosa a lot of times. Allan has many pictures of all types of injuries on his phone, which were sent to him on WhatsApp for advice by these customers.
He spoke fluent Xhosa. “I picked up through all the years, and I just made it a point to learn a word or two every day. So each day I ask them to spell it for me and I write it down.”
In 2020, Allan encountered people shouting at him, “Go Back to China and take COVID away with you”. He would shout back rude language in Xhosa to them.
“To cut down language barriers is what we all need because that opens a pathway to communication. And when you can communicate, you don’t have to kill each other to make your point.” Allan said.
Yoon Jung Park, a renowned researcher focusing on Chinese migrants in Africa, mentioned that during the Apartheid, Chinese South Africans had to go to the Consulate General of the Republic of China (ROC) to obtain a certificate that acknowledges the person as “a gentleman of good standing” to board a train in SA. This shows how much local Chinese were considered foreigners in their own country. This sense of alienation fostered a strong communal bond, as well as a deep attachment to China as their homeland.
Situated in Gqeberha, Kabega Park was the only Chinese settlement in South Africa. The former Morningside High School used to be a Chinese High school. Before the new democracy, every child in the neighborhood graduated from that same school. The Chinese community in Kabega is very “close-knit.” Everyone knows everyone. Everyone is an “Aunty” or “Uncle”.
Sharon Li Green, who manages a community newsletter, guided us through the neighborhood. As we navigated the poorly maintained roads, she spoke of the inadequate public services provided by the municipality, echoing the sentiments of many South Africans. Sharon also actively advocates for the welfare of the community. She took us to different houses to meet with the local Chinese.
Community members frequently mentioned the significant role of Chinese teachers. Lin Dan was sent by the ROC government who taught several generations of Chinese South Africans Mandarin in the Chinese school. She continued teaching after the school opened up to black students after 1994.
Most SABCs were originally from Guangdong Province. In Kabega Park, most local Chinese trace their origins to Meixian, speaking Hakka. Mandarin is a distinctively different language. Many parents and kids didn’t take their Mandarin lessons seriously, as there would hardly be any practical use at home where families were either Cantonese or Hakka speaking.
The ROC teachers organized cultural events and festivals. Movies and music from ROC and Hong Kong and popular artists such as Teresa Teng become accessible. The Lunar Chinese New Year and the Double Ten Festival — National Day of the Republic of China were the most prominent festivals. Teachers would organise students to read Chinese poetry, sing songs and perform fan dancing. Costumes and props were sent from overseas for the performance.
On these occasions, the Chinese teachers would show slides about ROC. The rivalry between the ROC and Communist China was subtly perceptible here. Francis told us that in 1972, when President Nixon officially visited China from the United States. The ROC teacher frequently requested the students to chant and repeat “Nickerson a*ol.” (Nixon a*hole!)
Around the 1960s and 1970s, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was in a dire economic and political situation combined with crippling natural disasters. Poverty and suffering were prevalent. Guangdong Province is located in the southeastern part of China. Many local Chinese still have distant relatives there then. A common scenario described by the South African Chinese is sending money back to China to help the relatives out. Winkin visited China in 1976 and commented: “There was no light, no food. It was terrible”. Visitors from South Africa would bring a minivan of radios, clothes, etc. to give to their relatives in China.
Winkin was among the fortunate individuals who had the opportunity to travel during that period. Most of the South African Chinese didn’t go to China during those years because the Apartheid government would easily accuse them of being a communist. Winkin mentioned that the Chinese officials at the time understood the situation. Instead of stamping their South African passport, they stamp on a piece of paper used as a visa, which could easily be thrown away when the person returns to SA.
In contrast, ROC’s trade relations with the Apartheid government grew closer each year. In 1976, the relationship between the two countries was upgraded to an ambassadorial level. Bilateral trade increased from $546 million to $911 million from 1986 to 1987, according to a journal article by John Pickles, Jeff Woods. “The Free State overturned its law to allow Chinese investors to settle in their towns,” read a journal article. These directly and indirectly made life easier for the local Chinese.
The Consulate General from the ROC helped local Chinese gain permits for running businesses, enrolling children in white schools, and buying properties in white areas.
Yet, as democracy arrived, South Africa formed a diplomatic relationship with the PRC in 1998. Many of the cultural activities run by ROC were no longer maintained and sponsored. An article from the early 90s still portrays the Chinese Lunar New Year as essential to the local Chinese in Kabega Park.
30 years later, when we set foot here again, the community said there were almost no celebrations during the Chinese New Year.
Erica Sing Key also served as the treasurer of the Eastern Cape Chinese Association, she told us, “We had a huge collection of costume and dance apparel sent by the ROC government. But with the association dwindling and celebrations dying down, the costumes were just getting stored and being stained. So, we sent it to other provinces”.
As an increasing number of young individuals relocated from Kabega to larger cities within South Africa or abroad, the neighborhood now hosts mostly elderly people. Even though the PRC replaced the ROC in diplomatic space, the community in Gqeberha never formed a relationship with the PRC like the one with the ROC during the Apartheid days.
According to the Migration Policy Institute’s article, a significant number of Taiwanese immigrants from ROC settled in South Africa following the generous South African government incentives, such as relocation costs, subsidized wages, and rent. “From the 1980s through the 1990s at its peak, nearly 30,000 Taiwanese resided in South Africa,” read an article from OpenEdition Journals.
The Taiwanese immigrants at the time primarily established manufacturing factories in former homelands, such as Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei.
However, these newcomers soon became embroiled in controversies, including allegations of worker abuse and involvement in the illegal abalone trade. The model minority image of dignity and diligence, which the local Chinese community has painstakingly developed over the decades, was deemed to have been tarnished by the “foreign” Chinese. Many local Chinese attempt to draw a clear boundary with these Taiwanese immigrants.
According to the Overseas Chinese Journal of Bagui, in the late 1990s, more immigrants arrived from mainland China (PRC). By 1999, the South African Chinese population exceeded 50,000, and by the 2010s, it had surged to around 300,000. Of this number, less than 10,000 were local South African Chinese.
Many of these immigrants, arriving in the mid-to-late 1990s, were entrepreneurs. They brought capital and leveraged connections with Chinese factories and primarily engaged in import, wholesale, and distribution.
Another wave of immigrants, primarily small traders from Fujian Province, arrived in the new millennium. Like the first generation of SABCs, they spoke limited English and operated small shops, catering mostly to black customers.
Nowadays, overseas Chinese work in various fields. Wu Qinjian, the Chief Editor of Nanfei 365, told me: “There are Chinese MPs and mayors, legal experts, construction professionals, doctors, and scientists. Chinese also engaged in manufacturing, including medical equipment, steel, timber, and furniture, etc., marking their presence across diverse industries.”
Behind the wave of new immigrants are the drastic transformations that China has undergone in the past decades. During a visit to his relatives’ village in China, Winkin observed a stark contrast to the earlier dire poverty. “They take us to eat three times in yum char: lunch, supper. Wow, you can’t eat enough. They live in big houses like R10 million villas.”
The cheaper products made in China have fiercely impacted many local businesses and Taiwanese businesses. With the end of Apartheid and the discontinuation of preferential policies, a growing number of Taiwanese expatriates have left South Africa.
There are two Chinatowns in Johannesburg. The first was established by local Chinese in Commissioner Street in CBD Johannesburg. By the 1990s, the new Chinatown in Cyrildene, Johannesburg, came into existence. In the beginning, it was home to only a few Taiwanese businesses. An article published on Sina News states that today, Cyrildene bustles with numerous Chinese shops and restaurants opened by overseas Chinese from the mainland.
Despite limited interaction between local Chinese and overseas Chinese, primarily due to language barriers, the local Chinese frequently visit Cyrildene to shop at the new Chinese stores and enjoy Cantonese delicacies.
Chinese identity became overshadowed by the overseas Chinese identity and faded from the awareness of younger generation South Africans as time passed by.
Founded in 1903, the Chinese Association Gauteng (TCA) stands as the oldest Chinese association in South Africa. Its office is located near the first Chinatown. Unlike what we have seen in Gqeberha, TCA still hosts major functions such as Chinese New Year and events to connect the community in Johannesburg.
In 2017, following a Carte Blanche investigative insert on animal cruelty in donkey treatment by the Chinese, TCA faced a barrage of hate speech on its Facebook page. In response, TCA initiated legal proceedings against 12 individuals responsible, successfully winning the case in 2022.
Similar to the Chinese community in Kabega Park, TCA was very close to the ROC during the Apartheid years. The transition happened gradually after the PRC established diplomatic relations with South Africa.
Initially, TCA would still invite officials from both ROC and PRC to events. One of the members told us: “They were sitting at the same function on different tables, and they could never be photographed together. But at that time, it felt like they would greet each other cordially when they met in the toilet. Then they would go back to the official tables again. However, during that time, there was no hostility between Taiwan and the PRC. It was almost like an agreement that eventually they would be absorbed into China, just like Hong Kong did.”
“When Tsai Ing-wen assumed office in 2016, and tensions between mainland China and Taiwan increasingly escalated, TCA had to make a decision to not be involved in a political war.”
The Embassy and Consulate General’s office of the PRC are supportive of the TCA. “The highlight was when Ambassador Lin Song Tian visited the Hong Ning Aged Home twice a year to donate food and much-needed funds to this association,” Francis said.
Nowadays, the TCA as well as other local Associations such as the SA Shunde Association are often invited to significant PRC Embassy events. For example, TCA was involved in events like the memorial for Jiang Zemin, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, or the Forum at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
While TCA chose to sustain good relationships with the PRC officials, other Chinese organizations in South Africa have navigated these dynamics differently.
At the New Year celebration organized by the Western Provinces Association in Cape Town, we saw the Director-General of the Taipei Liaison Office. This office serves as the representative of the Republic of China (Taiwan) government in South Africa following the discontinuation of official diplomatic relations between the two countries. There were also Chinese business associations from the mainland, but no officials from mainland China attended.
Hong Ning is situated in Jeppestown in Johannesburg and currently accommodates nearly 30 elderly residents. Established in 1976, it was created to cater to the welfare of senior citizens of Asian descent. Mr. Walter Pon, the Honorary Life President of Hong Ning, is a highly esteemed figure in his 80s, often regarded as the unofficial mayor of the first Chinatown in Johannesburg. During the Christmas party at Hong Ning, the community learned he would relocate to New Zealand with his wife. Everyone came to greet Uncle Walter, expressing how much he would be missed and asking him to come back to visit.
Uncle Walter also spearheaded the restoration of tombstones at the Brixton Cemeteries and fencing off the site after vandals had desecrated some of the graves. In the local Chinese WhatsApp group, Uncle Walter regularly shares pictures of the Chinese cemetery, reassuring the community of its continued maintenance.
The other Chinese cemetery we saw was in St. Xavier church in Kabega, Gqeberha.
St. Xavier Church is the religious and community center of Kabega Park. Many local Chinese are also buried here. It was an afternoon Sharon Li Green took us there, together with Winston, one of the few young people living in Kabega. There was a wall featuring tombstone plaques, each representing a family, with husband and wife on two sides of a cross. We sat on the chair in this beautiful garden. Winston and Sharon chatted casually about every name on the plaques, how each person passed away, how their life was, and gossip about them. Sunlight poured into the churchyard, where the grass and trees were flourishing.
I thought that was what I missed from growing up in modern urban China, that warm community feeling where people know each other and care for each other.
An 80-year-old Mauritian Chinese once asked me, “So do you think our ancestors made a good decision to come to this part of the world?”
I have not had the chance to ask the SABCs. But I imagine their responses would be far from straightforward.
