Paper short abstract:

Building on eight months of fieldwork in Lesotho and two months in China, this paper provides a gendered and generational perspective on the representatives of ‘global China’ in Lesotho's commercial areas and brings back the local state into discussions of encounters with global China.

Paper long abstract:

In Lesotho, a small-landlocked country in southern Africa, China’s growing influence is primarily felt in its commercial areas. These areas, with their small shops and businesses, are key sites for dynamic encounters with ‘global China’. Global China is represented through Chinese migrants, their businesses, and everyday practices. Over the last 30 years, Chinese migrants have taken over many shops and re-shaped the local job market. Local media are quick to portray Chinese migrants as leading prosperous lives with promising futures, while the hopes of Basotho have been shattered, leaving their futures uncertain. Yet, if we look beyond the physical and material presence of Chinese-run businesses, and closely observe migrants’ everyday practices a different picture emerges. Building on eight months of fieldwork in Lesotho and two months in China, I show that many Chinese, in particular women, face uncertain futures. Their seeming success in the present is gained by always exerting their utmost strength and risking their life and health to succeed (pinming). I argue that pinming is closely linked to the local state’s post-colonial development strategy and the 1998 riots. After 1998 riots, the state expelled the commercial areas from its development strategy. As a result, these once promising areas and the opportunities therein gradually faded. Chinese migrants, especially the younger ones, responded by questioning the practice of pinming. Overall, this paper provides a gendered and generational perspective on the representatives of ‘global China’ and brings back the local state into discussions of encounters with global China.