African Diaspora in China: Reality, Research and Reflection

Were Africans in China in Early Times? There is a long history of China-Africa contact, illustrated by Chinese classics such as dynastic histories (2) and classics by Du Huan, Duan Chengshi, Zhou Qufei, Zhao Rukuo, Wang Dayuan, Fei Xin, Ma Huan, etc., and contemporary studies (Dart, 1925; Zhang, 1930, 1977 [1930]; Cen, 1935; Duyvendak, 1947; Filesi, 1972; Ma & Meng, 1987; Shen, 1989; Brunson, 1995; Li, 2006, 2012a; Wyatt, 2010). Yet whether Africans existed in early China is another question. Scholars have done studies on Black people in China since the 19th century (Lacouperie, 1887; Li, 1928; Weidenreich, 1939; Ling, 1956; Coon, 1963), yet the Black people mentioned in their works seem to be Pygmy, Negrito, or Oceanic Negroids of Melanesoin type (Yang, 1995). And it is also suggested that people of African heritage in early China were related to the Rouzhi (pronounced as Yuezhi, Yueshi) or the Persian (Chen, 1993; Schafer, 1991:46). Chinese historians generally agree that African people came to China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) (Zhang, 1928, 1930; Xu, 1984; Ai 1987; Jing, 1998). Yet, archaeological discoveries seem to challenge the view. Archeological evidence indicates the possibility of contact between China and Africa in an earlier time. An excavation report on the Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century B.C.) sites at Anyang, the capital of Shang, shows that there are similarities between the skull that was discovered and that of the Oceanic Negroids and people in Africa (Chang 1968; Yang 1969). Many Negroid images in stone, metal and jade were also found in Anyang. Sati burial existing in Nubia, Egypt and Mesopotamia, and thousands of cowrie shells used for money and more than five hundred of jade objects were also discovered in the tomb of Lady Fu Hao (14th century B.C.), who served as the principal consort and general to Shang King, Wu Ding, described as the "evidence of African participation in royalty" by Brunson, who concluded that "[I]t can be safely estimated that an African presence existed in China from a most remote period and an evolution of this physical type is an indigenous phenomenon. " (Brunson, 1985). The estimation is rather bold. In Guangzhou, a city of south China, more than 1000 tombs of the Han Dynasty have been excavated since the 1950s, where 152 pottery figures were found, some looking like Black people (Qin 2010). Three explanations were offered for the Black origin, first, they were from islands near Indochina, and therefore the indigenous people of Indonesia, and people of West Asia or East Africa (Guangzhou Shi, 1981). Second, Qilin, an imagined fortunate animal in ancient China, appeared in a stone sculpture in the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.), resembling a giraffe (Xuzhou Museum, 1980), as indicated in Picture 1. (3) [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Third, during the Han Dynasty, Ethiopia and Alexandria were mentioned in Shi Ji (Records of the Grand Historian, 104-91 B.C.), Han Shu (History of the Han, 80 A.D.) and Wei Lue (Brief Accounts on the Wei Kingdom), and next, the astronomer-geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus of Alexandria described China and the silk-road in his Geography in the 2nd century. The earliest indication of Black people (hei-se-ren) in China seems to be in Juyan Han Jian (4) Hence, sixty pieces of Juyan Han Jian recorded individuals with their identity, such as jun (as prefecture, unit above county), xian (county), li (grassroots unit), rank, age, height and skin color. With height and skin color as identity elements, it is possible to understand the physical features of individuals at the time. Two studies are particularly interesting. According to Zhang's study, 55 cases with skin color are identified among 60 individual cases, and 53 recorded as "black". (5) In addition, one was labeled "brown black" and another "yellow black". This is very impressive even considering that Han China was a multi-ethnic empire. Were the black-skinned people from a specific area? …