{"id":36973,"date":"2014-08-05T17:42:07","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T17:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=36973"},"modified":"2014-11-12T00:38:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T00:38:17","slug":"afro-chinese-marriages-boom-in-guangzhou-but-will-it-be-til-death-do-us-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=36973","title":{"rendered":"Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be ’til death do us part’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be ’til death do us part’?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

South China Morning Post Magazine<\/a>
\nSouth China Morning Post<\/a>
\nHong Kong, China
\n2014-06-01<\/p>\n

Jenni Marsh<\/strong><\/a>, Assistant Editor<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nJennifer Tsang and Eman Okonkwo at their wedding in Guangzhou in April. Photo: Jenni Marsh <\/small><\/p>\n

Guangzhou<\/a> is witnessing many Afro-Chinese marriages, but the mainland’s lack of citizenship rights for husbands and a crackdown on foreign visas means families live in fear of being torn apart, writes Jenni Marsh<\/em><\/p>\n

Eman Okonkwo’s foot-tapping at the altar is not a sign of nerves. The groom’s palms aren’t sweaty, there are no pre-wedding jitters and certainly no second thoughts. Today he is realising a dream imagined by countless African merchants in Guangzhou: he is marrying a Chinese bride.<\/p>\n

Seven days earlier, Jennifer Tsang’s family was oblivious to their daughter’s romance. Like many local women dating African men, the curvaceous trader from Foshan<\/a>, who is in her late 20s – that dreaded “leftover woman” age – had feared her parents would be racially prejudiced.<\/p>\n

Today, though – having tentatively given their blessing – they snuck into the underground Royal Victory Church<\/a>, in Guangzhou, looking over their shoulders for police as they entered the downtown tower block. Non-state-sanctioned religious events like this are illegal on the mainland.<\/p>\n

Okonkwo, 42, doesn’t have a single relative at the rambunctious Pentecostal ceremony, but is nevertheless delighted.<\/p>\n

“Today is so special,” beams the Nigerian<\/a>, “because I have married a Chinese girl. And that makes me half-African, half-Chinese.”<\/p>\n

In Guangzhou, weddings like this take place every day. There are no official figures on Afro-Chinese marriages but visit any trading warehouse in the city and you will see scores of mixed-race couples running wholesale shops, their coffee-coloured, hair-braided children racing through the corridors…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nGuinean trader Cellou with his wife, Cherry, and their children. Photo: Robin Fall<\/small><\/p>\n

…Chinese prejudice against Africans is normally based on three aspects: traditional aesthetic values, an ignorance of African culture and society, and the language barrier.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, until the 1970s, foreigners were not permitted to live in the mainland, let alone marry a Chinese. When a child is born, the parents must register its ethnicity with the authorities: of the 56 boxes they can tick, “mixed-race” is not an option.<\/p>\n

But there are factors other than racism that might lead a family to reject a mixed marriage.<\/p>\n

Linessa Lin Dan, a PhD student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong researching Afro-Chinese relations in Guangzhou, says many African men who propose already have wives in their home countries – Muslims are permitted by their religion to take multiple spouses. Furthermore, Lin has heard tales of husbands returning to Nigeria on a business trip, leaving a mobile-phone number that doesn’t connect and disappearing.<\/p>\n

“The Chinese wife is left with their children, and shamed for marrying a hei gui<\/em> [black ghost],” says Lin…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be ’til death do us part’? South China Morning Post Magazine South China Morning Post Hong Kong, China 2014-06-01 Jenni Marsh, Assistant Editor Jennifer Tsang and Eman Okonkwo at their wedding in Guangzhou in April. Photo: Jenni Marsh Guangzhou is witnessing many Afro-Chinese marriages, but the mainland’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1295,12,16,8],"tags":[221,15463,17669,17670,17668],"class_list":["post-36973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-articles","category-asia","category-media-archive","tag-china","tag-guangzhou","tag-jenni-marsh","tag-south-china-morning-post","tag-south-china-morning-post-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}