Abstract

The integration of China into the global world has led to the absorption of immigrants from diferent parts of the world, including Africa, into the previously closed and homogeneous Chinese society. China’s lack of historical practice when a signifcant number of representatives of other ethnocultural communities would interact on its territory, as well as the adherence of the Han majority to centuriesold and strictly regulated behavioral stereotypes, which newcomers always found quite difcult to adapt to, have made the growing number of migrants a big problem for Chinese citizens. Tis is especially true of immigrants from Africa: their ideas about the acceptable self-representation in relation to others are in many ways the opposite of corresponding Chinese views. Te changes brought to public life in China by the coronavirus pandemic have further exacerbated this problem and led to the fact that the Chinese discontent with African migrants began to spill over into their personal blogs. In this case the Chinese may relay the life stories of African migrants, told by themselves. Te typical scenario of such stories is that a migrant somehow managed to socialize and occupy a certain niche, but this happened despite the totally negative attitude of the local population. Moreover, the protagonists in these stories tend to accuse the Chinese of xenophobia and draw other negative conclusions about the national character of the Chinese based on their own experience in the PRC. In addition to such indirect (by retelling stories told in the frst person) dissatisfaction with migrants, the blogs contain obviously articulated dissatisfaction of Chinese citizens with immigrants from Africa. Te Chinese are concerned with the preservation of their own identity, although this fear looks clearly exaggerated given the ratio of the Han majority to migrants. However, the anxiety expressed in blogs indicates that there is an obvious problem in presentday Chinese society.

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