China as a Cultural Threat in Ethiopia: From Food to Cultural Appropriation · Global Voices Advox

Officially, China and Ethiopia boast of a strong partnership. Ethiopia has attracted almost 700 Chinese companies and is the second African country to receive loans from China. Ethiopia's rapid economic growth, combined with the adoption of Chinese-built and modeled manufacturing and industrial parks, has led some media to describe Ethiopia as "Africa's China." Ethiopia's main political parties, the Prosperity Party, and formerly the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), have maintained strong relations with the Chinese Communist Party. Ethiopia is also one of China's main Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partners in Africa.

In Ethiopian popular culture, however, the Chinese presence is often seen as a multifaceted cultural threat. On the one hand, there is a widespread concern, expressed through social networks, about the Chinese community as bearer of exotic cultural practices, especially with regard to eating habits. On the other hand, there are concerns about Chinese cultural appropriation of traditional Ethiopian culture, such as cheaper versions of Chinese-made Ethiopian handicrafts and clothing in local shops and markets.

As in other countries that have joined China's Belt and Road Initiative, the arrival of Chinese emigrant and business communities in Ethiopia created some friction. It is difficult to determine exactly how many Chinese residents there are in Ethiopia, but some estimates suggest that there are at least 60,000.

Food: A Sensitive Subject

These tensions on the Ethiopian side are often expressed through discussions of Chinese people's eating habits. In particular, they are accused of violating Ethiopian food customs. Ethiopian cuisine consists largely of cooked vegetables and lentils, as well as meat dishes and spicy stews, all served on a sour flatbread made from teff grain, injera. Meat is limited to lamb, beef, and chicken, and shellfish (with the exception of a single fish) is consumed very little. The Chinese are often described as voracious consumers of prohibited animals such as donkeys, as well as exotic and even illicit items such as snakes, insects and rats.

Ethiopian social media commentators criticize Chinese people's willingness to eat donkey. Some comments allege that donkey consumption by the Chinese is occurring on a massive scale. One article claims that up to a million donkeys have been illegally taken from Ethiopian farmers and sold to Chinese donkey slaughterhouses that use them to produce the traditional ejiao medicine. This medicine, made from donkey skin, is used in China to improve blood circulation. The social media post expresses concern that donkeys will disappear within 10 to 15 years in Ethiopia if this mass sale and killing is not stopped. Some Ethiopian media, such as the private Ethiopian Reporter, also reported widespread concern over the disappearance of the donkeys. Citing a Brooke Ethiopia study, one article notes that "China's ejiao-producing industry is seriously endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor Ethiopians."

In Ethiopia, donkeys are used exclusively for transportation and, like domestic animals such as dogs and cats, are not intended for food consumption. In rural areas, donkeys are especially revered, since especially women and young people use them to transport goods.

According to the British organization Donkey Sanctuary, almost 80% of the Ethiopian population depends on donkeys. Ethiopian commentators point to the dangers that the slaughter and export of donkeys pose to Ethiopia's rural development, and also to its moral fiber. For example, one comment notes that opening the donkey slaughterhouse is against Ethiopia's sacred and religious traditions. Ironically, this commenter suggested that it might be acceptable for the Chinese to open their own donkey farms, as long as they did not take the donkeys from Ethiopia.

Other food-related comments offered sarcastic and dramatic exaggerations of Chinese eating habits. A Facebook post tells the following joke: “If Adam and Eve were Chinese… we could have continued on in heaven. Because the Chinese Adam and Eve would have eaten the snake instead of the forbidden fruit. Another post jokingly urges the Ethiopian government to turn to the Chinese community to deal with the locust crisis, but not with technology, but by making the locusts eat.

It's important to recognize the mix of exoticized and racialized messages in these food-related comments. Using food motifs, Ethiopian social media commenters also appear to question the humanity of Chinese residents, portraying them as repulsive and aloof "others." In a video, this message is conveyed more directly. The video shows a group of famous Ethiopian actors in a Chinese restaurant making fun of Chinese food. While the Chinese waitress serves different ingredients for a hot dish, including seafood, the actors make fun of the ingredients, especially seafood. Comments about food also transgress the Chinese. When one of the actors enters the bathroom and finds his friend still sitting at the table, he says: "If you marry her there will be no problem. You will send it to the patio of the house and it will eat everything it finds”. This comment takes the account of a rat-eating Chinese lodger and portrays the Chinese waitress as evil and almost dangerous.

These associations of the Chinese people with exotic eating habits have taken on new geopolitical significance in light of the pandemic. Some online commenters attribute the consumption of prohibited foods to the initial outbreak of COVID in Wuhan, suggesting that God got angry and punished the Chinese. Others are more direct, linking the global suffering of the pandemic to the food choices of the Chinese: "The Chinese ate the food... and the people of the world are washing their hands of it."

Memory Production and Cultural Appropriation

In addition to the different cultural habits of Chinese communities, Chinese cultural appropriation has emerged in the popular discourse on China in Ethiopia. The debate over Chinese production of traditional Ethiopian coffee pots is a notable example. Ethiopia prides itself on being one of the largest coffee producers in the world and is also known as the birthplace of coffee. The traditional coffee preparation technique uses elegant elongated black clay pots called jebena, made by Ethiopian artisans. But recently, Chinese-made jebenas have appeared in Ethiopian markets and shops.

Public reaction has been mixed, ranging from some admiration for Chinese efficiency and even hopes of modernizing Ethiopian jebena production, to concern that some Chinese will claim jebena as their own invention, to criticism of its inauthentic characteristics, like its white color instead of the traditional black. Some netizens claim that buying Chinese-made jebena is disrespectful to the traditional product and jeopardizes the income of Ethiopian artisans.

Chinese manufacturing of traditional Ethiopian garments is another hotly debated topic. Traditional garments, made of delicate, fine cotton, often worn in religious ceremonies, are expensive and handmade. This changed with Chinese manufacturing, which produces a much cheaper version with typically synthetic materials. Although these cheaper products are bought and sold in Ethiopian markets, Chinese production has received much criticism, some even targeting consumers themselves. "We do not wish a happy holiday to those who wear cultural clothing made in China!" reads a Facebook post.

Other critical comments shame local officials, in this case from the Amhara region, for accepting traditional Ethiopian clothing made in China and wearing them during the Ashenda celebration. Some comments are directed at the general Ethiopian public for not developing the Ethiopian hand-knitting industry into an exportable product and letting the Chinese appropriate traditional Ethiopian clothing designs and profit.

Public interest in Chinese exotic food habits and the possible appropriation of traditional Ethiopian culture speaks to further rifts in Sino-Ethiopian encounters. At the official level, the Sino-Ethiopian relationship seems to continue to evolve as a partnership. Recently, 300,000 doses of Chinese vaccines were delivered to Ethiopia. Despite this gesture of generosity by China, there is widespread social concern in Ethiopia over China's growing presence, masquerading as exotic and dangerous, and China's economic strength as intrusive and unwelcome in "modernizing" Ethiopian culture.

Ethiopian officials will continue to welcome Chinese loans, investments and vaccines, but the flow of capital may not translate into deeper cultural encounters. Finally, economic commitment will continue to coexist with cultural fears and subtle expressions of resistance in Ethiopian society.

This article is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into the competing narratives of China's Belt and Road Initiative and explores how societies and communities have different perceptions of the potential benefits and harms China-led development. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here.