Foreign Traders: Brokers to Bridge China and the World
| Dates: | 25 September 2025 |
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| Times: | 14:30 - 16:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Global Development Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Adults, Alumni, Current University students |
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GDI Migration, Refugees and Asylum Research Group Seminar
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Jixia Lu, China Agricultural University
Since the 1990s, China has become a significant migration destination for international traders, particularly from the Global South, including African, Middle East, Asian, and Latin American countries. Foreign traders have rushed into China and settled in different cities or communities of different nationalities, religions, or cultures. We see that African traders have mainly gathered in Guangzhou; traders from the Middle East and North African countries mostly stay in Yiwu; Central Asian and Russian traders are present in both Yiwu and Guangzhou; Indian traders are concentrated in Keqiao; and Burmese traders cluster in Ruili. Drawing on the published literature and our fieldwork, this chapter aims to review the existing studies on foreign traders in China regarding their economic activities and social and cultural lives in China. This might help to better understand why foreign traders choose China as a destination, building a bridge between China and the rest of the world.
Prof. Dr. Jixia Lu, Director of Centre for South-south Migration and Development at College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. She is visiting fellow of Institute for Development Studies (IDS) in University of Sussex, UK and East Asia and Southeast Asia Research Center of Lund University. In recent years, her research focuses on South-south Migration and Development, Sustainable livelihood and rural development. She has published three books respectively on Chinese Aid in Africa, Private Sectors in Poverty Alleviation and Pathways of Rural Revitalization in Southwest China, and has published articles in international and national journals.
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