Le jaune et le noir by Tidiane N'diaye (review)

Tidiane N'Diaye, a Franco-Senegalese scholar of anthropology, has written several books about the prevalence of the slave trade and the domination of Africa by others, such as Le Génocide Voilé (2008), which examines the trade in slaves by Arab Muslims many centuries before the slave trade to the West. In a similar vein, Le jaune et le noir is a masterful examination of the expansion of Chinese influence in Africa.

N'Diaye begins with early documents and the peaceful explorations of Admiral Zheng Ho in the fifteenth century, which led to exchanges of goods, including a giraffe sent from eastern Africa to the emperor of China in 1415. China then renounced its maritime ambitions, perhaps because of the need to fight the Mongols, but The People's Republic of China uses the history of this period as a proof of a Chinese lack of colonial ambitions and claims that an alliance South-South will be able to produce a more equitable relationship between China and Africa than the relationship North-South between Western Europe and Africa. Their real aim, however, has been similar to that of all colonial powers: "not to give the colonized countries any economic role except the exportation of agricultural products and raw materials for the benefit of the colonizers" (43).

One reason for Chinese interest in Africa, N'Diaye shows, is the fear of famine in the years following Mao's "Great Leap Forward," when many millions died. China also needs African votes in the UN; African countries supported China over Taiwan for admission to the United Nations. In order to win African votes, China has supported dictatorial regimes. For example, China is the only non-African country to support Mugabe in Zimbabwe. China has given him funds for his police and army and has bought support for the dictator by giving money to the elite.

According to the analysis of the World Bank, Chinese policies lead to a cycle of indebtedness. As Chinese firms show no interest in environmental concerns, export of African ivory to China has increased. Imports from China are often of inferior quality. A Senegalese joke says, "Choose a good day to wear your new Chinese shoes, because that will be the first and the last time" (103). More significantly, inferior medications are often imported from China and even condoms are of low quality and insufficient size!

In spite of unemployment in African nations, often poorly treated Chinese prisoners make up almost all the work force of Chinese enterprises in Africa and have no contact with local workers. African sex workers resent the presence of Chinese prostitutes, whose activities are sometimes secretly filmed as a form of blackmail of African elites. In addition, there are now ten thousand African students in China, but the country has a poor record of accepting black people. "Death to the black devils" is heard often in China and African students with Chinese girlfriends are sometimes accused of rape. N'Diaye quotes a number of African residents in China who have been mistreated, or refused service, especially during the period of the Olympic games.

N'Diaye judges the West less severely than China in several ways. Europeans were responsible for abolishing slavery in their countries and defeated the Arab Muslim slave trade in the Congo in 1894. Europeans also introduced their languages to the local populations, leading to greater possibilities of communication in a continent of over one thousand languages.

N'Diaye concludes with an annex of speeches by Yayi Boni, the president of the African Union, and Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, in July 2012, praising the Sino-African relationship and concludes with Yambo Ouologuem's description of a cruel Chinese game of tying two birds together. This is an excellent study, showing how, in spite of the mistakes of European colonialism, the present situation in Africa is even worse.