Even with existence of records of ancient contacts between China and Africa, little is known about the extents of these relations. Modern relation between the two dates from Mao Ze Dong’s era after the Communist Party of China won the civil war against the nationalists in 1949. In the aftermath of the civil war, China aimed to play a major role in the developing world in general and Africa in particular. Its first major footprint in the continent was the construction of the Tan-Zam railways connecting Tanzania to Zambia. With the support of many countries in the continent, The People’s Republic of China was accepted as the only and sole representative of China in in the United Nations in 1971. Many countries in the region moved to normalize their relation with the PRC. As famously argued by Mao, “It is our African brothers that carried us into the United Nations”. This brotherly relation has been brought forth by China in its engagement with Africa countries whereby Africans are called “feizhou xiongdi”. However, numerous of discrimination against Africans have led many people to question the reality of this brotherhood.

Keywords: China, Africa, Xenophobia, discrimination brotherly relation