Made in China, fashioned in Africa: ethnic dress in Ethiopia and Mozambique

Pezold, Johanna von; Driessen, Miriam

doi:10.1017/s0001972021000085

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Second, they liked to "co-creating new designs and dress with their Chinese counterparts." Third, African stylists "daringly alter the imported fabrics," including those from China (Pezold and Driessen, 2021). The commercial markets in both countries are similar to those chain stores in Zimbabwe.…”

Section: Integrated Application Of Chinese and African Culturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical and Current Status of China-Africa in Economic and Cultural Exchanges: A Case Study of the Chinese Hongyu Company in Zimbabwe

2023

JABE

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Since the 2nd century BC, the Chinese have gradually blazed the famous "Silk Road" on land, promoting the integrational and common development of Eastern and Western civilizations. The Tong Dian (completed in 801), a noted Chinese ancient classic in the Tang Dynasty , excerpted Du Huan's precious book, Stores on Journey, regarded as the first bridge of cultural exchanges between China and African countries. According to these ancient books, the Chinese invented paper-making techniques spread along the Silk Road to the Arab world, now Central Asia and West Asia. It gradually spread to Europe, Africa and other parts of the world. Modern trade between China and African countries is expanding gradually. Economic trade between Chinaand African countries has supported a considerable market, demonstrating the benefits and prospects of maintaining international multilateral trade. In particular, it must be emphasized that increasingly closer economic and cultural exchanges occur between China and Zimbabwe, an emerging country in central Africa. Hongyu, a privately owned Chinese company, is an outstanding commercial typical in Zimbabwe. The company's representative businesses are four; for example, constructing a public clean water system has benefited 300,000 Ndebele people in Gweru city. The commercial operation of Hongyu shows significant enlightenment: Chinese and African people work together to build a community with a shared future for humanity.

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Section: Integrated Application Of Chinese and African Culturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical and Current Status of China-Africa in Economic and Cultural Exchanges: A Case Study of the Chinese Hongyu Company in Zimbabwe

2023

JABE

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“…Information technology, especially WeChat, has furthered the development of new informal standards in trade between China and Africa. 70 Yet, can informal standards be called standards at all? And what makes informal standards different from their formal counterparts?…”

Section: Informal Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese standards from the ground up

Driessen,

Zhu

2024

China Information

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China’s transformation from a standards-taker to a standards-maker has sent a shock wave through the global economy. While Chinese standardization is conventionally perceived and analysed as a top–down process, led by the central government and the Standardization Administration of China, this article demonstrates the merits of studying standards from the ground up. Sustained engagement with those who make, adopt, reject, and recalibrate standards reveals, first, the human face of standardization. Standards depend on people to be their advocates. The effectiveness of their implementation and the scope of their acceptance rely on practitioners who imbue standards with value and promote them within and across national borders. Furthermore, a bottom–up approach sheds light on the hierarchical nature of standards, the processes of inclusion and exclusion, and the dynamics of elevation and marginalization that hierarchies generate. Finally, it prompts us to look beyond de jure standards. As a producer of cheap commodities for developing countries, China has long been a maker of informal, or de facto, standards that grow out of repeat transactions and mutual agreements among actors along these value chains. Only by considering the human, hierarchical, and informal dimensions of standardization can we fully understand China’s rise as a global standards power.

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“…WhatsApp and WeChat are also used to co-create new garment designs with China-based designers and producers (see also, von Pezold & Driessen, 2021). Mozambican shop owner Fenias, for example, commissions exclusive menswear designs from China.…”

Section: Switching and Bridging: Whatsapp In Chinese–mozambican Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Global China and everyday mediation in the Global South: Selling Chinese fashion in Mozambique via WhatsApp

von Pezold

2023

Global Media and China

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Combining online and offline data collection during six months of ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Mozambique in early 2021, this paper explores how media and its everyday use in the Global South are impacting on, and are in turn being transformed by China. It specifically looks into the creative and personalised ways in which Chinese-made garments are sold and promoted in Mozambique via the messenger service WhatsApp. Examining how Mozambican and West African traders use WhatsApp groups and status updates to mediate the fashionability of these Chinese goods, this paper shows that the consequences of Chinese interactions with the Global South on the global media landscape transcend the mere spread of Chinese hardware and software. Going beyond dominant, state-centred narratives of Chinese influence abroad, this paper demonstrates the key role of individuals and their agency in shaping the digital impact of Global China. By doing so, it also highlights the importance of analysing media practices in their specific local contexts.

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Made in China, fashioned in Africa: ethnic dress in Ethiopia and Mozambique

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

Historical and Current Status of China-Africa in Economic and Cultural Exchanges: A Case Study of the Chinese Hongyu Company in Zimbabwe

Historical and Current Status of China-Africa in Economic and Cultural Exchanges: A Case Study of the Chinese Hongyu Company in Zimbabwe

Chinese standards from the ground up

Global China and everyday mediation in the Global South: Selling Chinese fashion in Mozambique via WhatsApp

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