Mao’s ‘African Sisters and Brothers’: A History of the African Diaspora in China (1960-1976) - Progress Review presented by Yimei Liu

The history of African migration to China can be traced back to the 1960s, when the first wave of African students travelled to the PRC to study. The rise of official Sino-African relations has, however, submerged the history of the everyday lives of African people in China. This thesis will explore the motivations of African migrants to China, and investigate the discrepancy between the official history of Sino-Africa relations and the history experienced by diverse African migrants between 1949 and 2019. This paper will focus on the early period of Sino-African relations between 1949 and 1976, when Mao used a blueprint of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism to emphasis solidarity between African American activists and African countries’ leaders, whom Mao referred to as his ‘African sisters and brothers’ - at the same time that Chinese society was experiencing the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.