2026 UPDATE: Thirteen years later, people still want a number
I originally wrote this post in 2013 because journalists—and quite a few academics—kept asking me the same apparently simple question:Continue Reading
Author: Roberto Castillo
Cultural Research
Black in China: Life in China
Mike Raynaldo provides an authentic look at daily life, showcasing how technology integrates into routines ranging from transportation and foodContinue Reading
New Research: When Is Racism Not Racism? Chinese Football and the Politics of Naming Race
A short review of Zesheng Yang and Zizhong Zhang, “Silenced, condemned, and redirected: How racism in Chinese football is discursivelyContinue Reading
When the encounter becomes the story: African content creators narrating life in China
For those of us who have been following Africans in China for years, there is something striking about scrolling throughContinue Reading
New Research: Can African Students Call Hong Kong Home?
A short review of Phillip Thebe, “Can Hong Kong Be Home? Sub-Saharan African Students’ Notions and Aspirations of Home inContinue Reading
New Research: Where Do African Students Go After China?
A short review of Daisy Binfang Wu, “How Post-Study Plans Project Into Onward Mobility Trajectories: Compromise, Attunement and Migrant SubjectificationContinue Reading
New Research: Theorising Racism in China
A short review of Zihuan Zhang, “Theorising racism in China: a decolonial intervention,” Ethnic and Racial Studies (2026). A recentContinue Reading
Inside China’s Little Africa (Ep. 3) | Food, Hustle & Scams in Guangzhou
This recent video takes viewers through Xiaobei, Guangzhou’s best-known African commercial area. Moving between restaurants, street markets and businesses, ZimbabweanContinue Reading
New Research: Seeing Africans in China
A short review of Xuemeng Li, “Seeing Africans in China: comparing forms of racism and identifying controlled and less controlledContinue Reading
The scramble for Xiaobei: epistemic extraction, racialised knowledge, and representation in Africa–China urban encounters
Roberto CASTILLO Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong ABSTRACT: In this article, I examine the scramble to represent Xiaobei,Continue Reading
