The cultural foundation of African Chinese trading networks
A case study in the Yiwu marketplace
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24226135 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Clare Xiaoqian Wan (0000-0003-3071-5560, Independent researcher) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-05 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Community (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1369183x.2026.2654976 |
| OpenAlex | W7160322718 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 47 |
This article explores the complex interactions between Chinese suppliers and African traders in China, who form economic partnerships by negotiating their cultural perceptions of each other. The study is based on ethnographic research conducted in Yiwu, a major trading hub in China that attracts a significant number of African traders. It highlights how cross-cultural trading alters the local market's cultural foundation towards a hybrid form. Furthermore, African traders in China use cultural learning and adaptation to bridge the gap between Chinese suppliers and African consumers, acting as both economic intermediaries and cultural brokers. These traders navigate stereotypes, negotiate credit relationships, and establish strong ties with suppliers to secure beneficial deals. Their success relies not only on economic strategies but also on their cultural skills in the migration process to change perceptions on both sides of the transaction. This research extends beyond the network approach to examine how migrant entrepreneurship can be shaped by acquired symbolic and linguistic capital in negotiating unequal cross-group relationships in the global market.
China-Africa trade · credit relations · cross-cultural trade · cultural adaptation · cultural brokers · cultural hybridity · Cultural learning · immigrant entrepreneurship · linguistic capital · migration networks · stereotypes · Symbolic capital · Yiwu · China's Global Influence and Migration · International Business and FDI · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
Teaching English at the intersection of language, race, ethnicity and nationality
Seeing Africans in China
Defining the contours of black motility
China–Africa Encounters
China in Africa
The Denial of Antiblackness
Premature deindustrialization
Network-diversification and trust-building strategies of transnational migrant entrepreneurs
Immigrant entrepreneurs in advanced economies
Divergent governance over African communities in two Chinese cities
Pyramids of Trust
The Centrality of Race to Inequality Across the World-System
China–Africa Trade Patterns
Has Chinese aid benefited recipient countries? Evidence from a meta-regression analysis
The World in Guangzhou
Same-Same But Different
From Guangzhou to Yiwu
Chinese Attitudes toward African Migrants in Guangzhou, China
Chinese Exports to Africa
Feeling at home in the “Chocolate City”
Embeddedness and Immigration
Africans in post-Covid-19 pandemic China
A Theory of Middleman Minorities
Petty commodities, serious business
Embedded and External Brokers
Circumstantial migration
In the Dragon's Den
China's engagement in Africa
On plantations, prisons, and a black sense of place
Introduction
If You Greet Them, They Ignore You
A Global Critical Race and Racism Framework
Theory Construction in Qualitative Research
How I Became a Relational Economic Sociologist and What Does That Mean
Relational Work in Market Economies
Relational Work in the Economy
Ethnographies of Encounter
The Shifting Meanings of Race in China
Network Analysis, Culture, and the Problem of Agency
From Hermano Lejano to Hermano Mayor
Gaining the upper hand
Chinese Devils, the Global Market, and the Declining Power of Togo's Nana-Benzes
Market Fashioning
Emotions in economic action and interaction
What is sociological about economic sociology? Uncertainty and the embeddedness of economic action
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |