Back to school is the lesson

Scholar urges South Africans to learn more about China's culture, market and politics to help solidify nations' relationship

South Africa needs to learn much more about China to maximize the potential benefits of their relationship, says Ross Anthony, who heads the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in the Cape Winelands.

As a partner in the Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRICS) trade bloc, South Africa must do more than focus on industrial engagement and trade agreements, he says.

Covering China's interaction with and its effects on the African continent, CCS conducts research into politics, economics and the potential for increased environmental sustainability. CCS originated from a joint undertaking between the governments of South Africa and China in 2004.

And as the center celebrates its 10th anniversary and promotes better education about both continents, CCS is expanding to facilitate the education of Africans in Asian politics, economics and culture.

"It has become abundantly clear that institutes involved in growing African expertise on Asia won't get far if their only focus is how that region relates to 'us'. To bring the urgency of this point home, I was recently invited to China with a number of African colleagues in media, industry and government, all of whom were engaging with China professionally. Over breakfast one morning, I was alarmed to discover that none of them had heard of major Chinese events," he says.

"One of the most common mistakes is to forget that China has 56 very diverse ethnic groups. But it cuts both ways - many Chinese erroneously view the entire African continent as a single country."

Anthony says a significant challenge as CCS ventures into new educational territory is a shortage of skills.

"Until recently, there have been no home-grown institutions producing Asia-literate African scholars, so we are obliged to attract expertise from abroad or local scholars who have been trained abroad. But, as the enterprise of Asia literacy within Africa increases, we should ideally be able to recruit the bulk of scholars from within an African-trained context."

The Internet and social media are proving a boon to CCS' efforts.

"We send out a weekly mail on China-Africa affairs to more than 6,000 subscribers and have on average of about 2,000 unique hits on our website each month. We also have regular Facebook and Twitter updates, dedicated weekly commentaries and regular releases of substantial bodies of research."

CCS is developing an Asia studies program for master's and doctoral students, including students from other parts of Africa funded by the Open Society Foundations, established by business investor and philanthropist George Soros. Stellenbosch University has a memorandum of understanding with four Chinese universities: Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, Zhejiang Normal University's Institute for African Studies and the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

Anthony, who is South African, also teaches Chinese history and politics for other Stellenbosch courses. Besides studying at Witwatersrand, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal universities, he earned his PhD as a Gates Cambridge Scholar on the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region after the 2009 riots in the provincial capital, Urumqi. (He spent 14 months there.) He also spent four years in Taiwan.Highlighting challenges faced by Chinese businesses within the South African context, he says, "For starters, our labor laws are vastly different. And South Africans need to better understand the class differences between China's multinational business personalities and small traders, who are often illegals who come in through Mozambique and Lesotho."

But he adds: "There is a misconception that the fast growing phalanx of small traders forms part of the Chinese government's strategy for Africa. Not so. These are people who have been caught up in the massive movement from China's rural areas to the cities. This urbanization has fueled a highly competitive environment in which many can't make a living. So they turn to family and friends already in Africa and head this way."

He says Chinese industries operating in South Africa are often frustrated by its labor laws and other business challenges.

South Africa differs from the rest of the continent in that it has more developed infrastructure, which has created China's focus on resources and the financial sector in the country. For example, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China owns a 20 percent stake in Standard Bank, South Africa's largest bank by assets and earnings, and 60 percent of its London-based trading operation.

Anthony identifies tourism as a potential area of growth, but, once again, advises that it is important to understand the market.

It was recently reported that South African winemakers assumed that the massive market of Chinese consumers would automatically equate to a spike in wine sales. In fact, there was a small market for better quality wine imports but these were usually purchased as gifts.

Now, with the emergence of an aspirational middle class, sparkling and Bordeaux wines are increasingly finding their way onto Chinese dinner tables. Anthony says South African wine producers who are working at understanding the Chinese market are starting to reap results. For example, marketer Hein Koegelenberg, CEO of La Motte Estate, has through a joint venture with a Chinese importer launched a wine education program for salespeople in China.

The Chinese middle class - which contributed heavily to outbound Chinese tourism spending of $128.7 billion globally last year - has also taken to tourism with a vengeance, but their idea of leisure differs vastly from Western counterparts, with luxury shopping, casinos and karaoke topping the list of preferred activities. While they are willing to try local cuisines, they also want Chinese food.

Pointing to the growing English language industry, Anthony reminds that in China, English is a must have on one's resume.

"Australia has turned it into a strategic thing and South Africa could do the same."

He warns, however, that as China shifts strategically from being the world's workshop with cheap labor to a consumer-driven economy, South Africa will have difficulty competing with Asian countries that have more flexible labor laws and closer cultural affiliations.

He says China offers thousands of scholarships to African students to attend Chinese universities and has set up dozens of Confucius Institutes, which teach Chinese language and culture, throughout Africa. But he argues that while these institutes help build Chinese capacity on the African continent, Africans need to complement this with a home-grown expertise on China.