My colleague told me today that by law, I will be considered as a black person in South Africa because according to yesterday's new, the South African Chinese are now officially classified as 'black'.
A little background:
There are not that many Chinese people in South Africa. Chinese people first came to South Africa when gold was discovered in the 1870s and there are now less than 100,000 of ethnic Chinese people in South Africa. Since then, they lived as an isolated minority in the country.
Under white minority rule (and the apartheid) the Chinese were classified as non-whites and so, they were treated as second-class citizens. Interestingly, Japanese people were given “honorary white” status (partly because they were wealthier and fewer in number than the Chinese.)
After the independence, the ANC (African National Congress) introduced the Black Economic Employment (BEE) policy, under which large companies have to surrender a percentage of their equity to previously-disadvantaged individuals. The policy aims to reverse decades of apartheid bias and inequality. The "previously-disadvantaged people" covers Africans, Coloureds (mixed-race people) and Indians but has excluded the Chinese, which was also previously discriminated against.
Now, with the new court ruling, South African Chinese will now be included in the definition of black people in legislation covering the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) deals.
But just base on my observation when I was in Jo'burg, the South African Chinese are generally middle class people who run some small business. I don't get the feeling that they are working in tough manual labour work. Perhaps the new immigrants are, I didn't see any.
I don't think the local people will like this ruling. The companies who are looking to satisfy the BEE requirements may prefer to introduce a Chinese business partner, because the Chinese people are generally considered to be more hard working. Also, as the ties between China and the African countries become stronger, a Chinese face in the business would always help.
For more information:
Article from Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black/?mod=googlenews_wsj
Article from BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7461099.stm
Article from a South African website:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20080621090053620C573311
A little background:
There are not that many Chinese people in South Africa. Chinese people first came to South Africa when gold was discovered in the 1870s and there are now less than 100,000 of ethnic Chinese people in South Africa. Since then, they lived as an isolated minority in the country.
Under white minority rule (and the apartheid) the Chinese were classified as non-whites and so, they were treated as second-class citizens. Interestingly, Japanese people were given “honorary white” status (partly because they were wealthier and fewer in number than the Chinese.)
After the independence, the ANC (African National Congress) introduced the Black Economic Employment (BEE) policy, under which large companies have to surrender a percentage of their equity to previously-disadvantaged individuals. The policy aims to reverse decades of apartheid bias and inequality. The "previously-disadvantaged people" covers Africans, Coloureds (mixed-race people) and Indians but has excluded the Chinese, which was also previously discriminated against.
Now, with the new court ruling, South African Chinese will now be included in the definition of black people in legislation covering the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) deals.
But just base on my observation when I was in Jo'burg, the South African Chinese are generally middle class people who run some small business. I don't get the feeling that they are working in tough manual labour work. Perhaps the new immigrants are, I didn't see any.
I don't think the local people will like this ruling. The companies who are looking to satisfy the BEE requirements may prefer to introduce a Chinese business partner, because the Chinese people are generally considered to be more hard working. Also, as the ties between China and the African countries become stronger, a Chinese face in the business would always help.
For more information:
Article from Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black/?mod=googlenews_wsj
Article from BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7461099.stm
Article from a South African website:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20080621090053620C573311
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