Over the course of our fieldwork, my research partner and I learned that this was a surprisingly common experience among Chinese families in Zimbabwe. China is Zimbabwe’s second-largest trading partner, and many Chinese companies send staff to the country, some of whom choose to stay long term. Prior to the pandemic, approximately 10,000 Chinese were living in the country. Those with children faced thorny questions regarding where to send their children to school. Many adopted a three-step approach involving China, Zimbabwe, and a Western country, allowing them to leverage the best of the educational resources available to them to help their children ascend into the global elite.
torsdag 29. mai 2025
The Chinese Families Choosing an African Education
In 2018, while I was conducting fieldwork in Zimbabwe, I met a Chinese man who shared a surprising story. One night, he heard his 4-year-old daughter sleep-talking in English. The next day he called his wife in China and the couple decided to send the child back home. Only after the girl finished elementary school was she brought back to Zimbabwe to attend secondary school. She then went on to secure a place at the University of Washington in the United States — an achievement that most Chinese parents would consider akin to hitting the “educational jackpot.”
