Abstract
This paper discusses the ambivalent attitude of local men towards Chinese migrant sex workers who have become key players in the growing sex business in Cameroon. The main argument of this paper is that ‘Shanghai beauties’, as Cameroonians generally refer to Chinese migrant prostitutes, are part of the cheap and depreciated commodities that China is exporting to this country through its well-organised trade networks mostly controlled by Chinese traders from overseas. As such, the equivocal perception of these Asian sex workers by the native population as both cheap bodies and junk sex only reflects the general perception of China-sourced goods at large.
Abstract
Cet article examine l’attitude ambivalente des Camerounais à l’égard des prostituées chinoises qui sont devenues des actrices majeures du commerce du sexe au Cameroun. Il suggère en particulier que ‘les beautés de Shanghai’, que les Camerounais appellent ainsi habituellement ces travailleuses du sexe venues de la Chine, font partie des produits bon marché et dépréciés que la Chine exporte vers le Cameroun à travers ses réseaux commerciaux bien organisés, lesquels sont en grande partie contrôlés par des commerçants chinois de l’étranger. La perception ambivalente des Camerounais vis-à-vis de ces travailleuses du sexe peut donc être vue comme le reflet d’une ambivalence plus généralisée concernant les importations Chinoises.
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Notes
The description of these workers as ‘prostitutes’ rather than as ‘sex workers’ is used to reflect the parlance that characterises their presence in Cameroon.
Cf. Le Popoli, 2006.
Cf. Le Messager, 2006 op. cit.
On this new China's business migration, see Aicardi de Saint-Paul (2004, pp. 51–65); Alden (2006).
On China's migration policy, see Xiang (2003, pp. 21−48).
On China's development aid policies see Bräutigam (1998).
For example, in the early 1990s, one local newspaper reported a story about two young Cameroonian sex workers from Douala, who extorted 3 million FCFA (nearly $5000) from three Chinese migrants and ran away. Cf. Le Messager, 1991.
$100=460 CFCA.
This is reminiscent of what Nicholas Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn describe in their book Thunder from the East (Kristof and WuDunn, 2001), which demonstrates how in order to dissipate the sexual energies of the GIs harmlessly on prostitutes, the Japanese government condoned after the Second World War the establishment of brothels for the American soldiers who were stationed in their country. More importantly, Japanese authorities ran recruitment campaigns during which Japanese war widows were asked to ‘sacrifice’ their own virtue by working in these brothels so as to ‘save’ young Japanese women from the American brutes, and especially to help their country maintain ‘friendly’ relations with the US government.
The example of the former Chinese sex worker who managed to free herself from the state's tutelage and engage in a stable relationship with a local man (she is now married to a Cameroonian national) is revealing of the will of these Chinese migrant prostitutes to alter their fate. More importantly, it shows that not all Chinese sex workers limited their prostitution activities to ‘civic duties’ or robotically followed the state instructions. This is confirmed by Benson Tong’ s book Unsubmissive Women (Tong, 2000), which explores the lives of Chinese prostitutes who lived and worked in nineteenth-century San Francisco. In this book, the author argues that contrary to received ideas, some of these Chinese sex workers managed to adapt to their new environment, whereas others made use of available resources to change their lives for the better.
Two of the seven Chinese women allegedly trafficked into Ghana for prostitution stated that in some African countries, local men are still excluded from this booming Chinese sex business for the ‘Chinese girls are instructed not to have sex with Black men’ (The Ghanaian Times, 2009; The New Crusading Guide, 2009).
See Le Popoli (2006).
See Jeune Afrique (2006, p. 13).
Though most of the Chinese sex workers that I interviewed in the course of my field research came from the cities of Shanghai and Beijing, and especially from regions such as Guangdong, Guangzou, Fujian and Zhejiang, there is little evidence to suggest that there are patterns to the social and ethnic background of these young Chinese prostitutes.
In some cases, young Chinese women were deluded into believing that their pimp or his wife had secured for them well-paid jobs in their shop or restaurant, but instead pushed them into the prostitution business.
According to my informant, the pimp generally kept for himself up to 60 per cent of their earnings under the pretext that he was trying to compensate the money that he had spent for their air fares, passport and other travelling documents.
Cf. Le Popoli (2002, p. 5).
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Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the international conference on ‘China–Africa: Who Benefits?’ organised by the University of Frankfurt: 13–15 December 2007. The paper has greatly benefited from my fruitful conversations and discussions with Michaela Pelican and Jude Fonkwang. I acknowledge my intellectual debt to Raphael Kaplinsky. Special thanks to Alcinda Honwana and Giles Mohan for providing useful leads and helpful suggestions. I also extend my thanks and recognition to the anonymous reviewers whose insightful remarks and comments helped me improve the content of this text.
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Ndjio, B. ‘Shanghai Beauties’ and African Desires: Migration, Trade and Chinese Prostitution in Cameroon. Eur J Dev Res 21, 606–621 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.31