How Africans in China challenge stereotypical views on African migration

In a conference I attended in 2013, a renowned, Western-educated, Korean scholar of migration, stubbornly argued that Africans were taking up work on Chinese farms growing food, as well as displacing Chinese workers in low-paid, blue-collar work. I was astounded. I felt forced to explain that this assessment was far from reality. In all my years as a researcher in China, I had never met one single African growing vegetables, working in a factory, or working as a janitor.