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.

Chinese social networks provide vast information, which have not been enough studied. Chinese citizens can and do express themselves relatively freely in such networks and openly criticize the authorities. In this regard, the opinions of Chinese people in social media are quite representative and reflect a wide range of views on various issues. This article examines Chinese attitudes towards African migrants in Chinese social networks. This issue is covered in part in the foreign and national literature and requires a more thorough study. The author has carried out a considerable amount of work to find publications related to this topic. Keyword searches as well as external links were used as a methodological tool. The author concludes that the vast majority of Chinese posts and comments on African migrants are extremely negative, sometimes hostile toward them, and the few exceptions only confirm this rule. They are almost always blamed for uncivilized manners, lack of respect for Chinese traditions, mistreatment of women, increased propensity to commit crimes, and for the fact that the government spends unjustifiably large amounts of money on them. There are fears that China may lose its cultural and national identity because of migrants. The author, alien both to the racist thoughts of individual Chinese bloggers and indiscriminately accusing Chinese society as a whole of racism, avoids bias or prejudice. The article merely states the fact that the overwhelming majority of Chinese social media postings on African migrants are negative, although there are a steady number of examples of opposing views and assessments.