Chinese families choosing an African education

In 2018, while I was conducting fieldwork in Zimbabwe, I met a Chinese man who shared a surprising story. One night, he heard his 4-year-old daughter sleep-talking in English. The next day he called his wife in China and the couple decided to send the child back home. Only after the girl finished elementary school was she brought back to Zimbabwe to attend secondary school. She then went on to secure a place at the University of Washington in the United States  -  an achievement that most Chinese parents would consider akin to hitting the "educational jackpot."

Over the course of our fieldwork, my research partner and I learned that this was a surprisingly common experience among Chinese families in Zimbabwe. China is Zimbabwe's second-largest trading partner, and many Chinese companies send staff to the country, some of whom choose to stay long term. Prior to the pandemic, approximately 10,000 Chinese were living in the country. Those with children faced thorny questions regarding where to send their children to school. Many adopted a three-step approach involving China, Zimbabwe, and a Western country, allowing them to leverage the best of the educational resources available to them to help their children ascend into the global elite.

The first step in this approach involves sending the child back to  -  or having them remain in  -  China to receive basic education, typically overseen by the child's grandparents. Almost all the parents we interviewed talked about the pain this separation entailed, but they were firm in the belief that having their children undergo elementary education in China was the right choice, since they considered this to be the best period for their children to learn Chinese. Just like the father I mentioned earlier, who made up his mind because his child was sleep-talking in English, these parents were unwilling to accept that their children might not master their native language.

This is partly a matter of national identity  -  Chinese parents living abroad naturally hope that their kids can maintain their identity as Chinese. But there are also practical considerations: Many parents believe that China's rise will increase the value of Mandarin proficiency, giving their kids an edge in the job market. "If you can't master the language, you will lose a lot of opportunities in the future," one parent told me. "China is getting stronger now, and Chinese may also become a global language."

The second step involves the child reuniting with their parents in Zimbabwe to receive secondary education. Secondary schools in the country generally follow the British education system, and the qualifications and certificates they issue are recognized worldwide and accepted by Western universities. Many of the Chinese parents we interviewed thought highly of Zimbabwean schools  -  at least the international or private schools they typically chose for their children  -  and praised their emphasis on creating a happy learning environment. Compared with the strong importance placed on academic performance and college admissions in Chinese secondary education, they believed schools in Zimbabwe were more focused on students' interests, encouraging kids to select a wider range of subjects based on their interests and abilities, and respecting individual choices and wishes.

For example, they cited Zimbabwean middle school students who have won archery championships in regional African competitions, become fashion models, or explored interests in areas such as filmmaking and fashion design. They also liked that many secondary schools in Zimbabwe adopt a distinctly British approach to education. Time allotted to curricular studies is not particularly significant, and students are strongly encouraged to participate in activities, student clubs, and sporting competitions. Many Chinese parents in Zimbabwe praised the local schools for their emphasis on sports, believing that it provides both physical and mental health benefits.

Another advantage of Zimbabwean secondary schools cited by Chinese families was their international nature. Many schools have diverse student bodies, with children from all over the world attending classes and taking part in activities together. For Chinese parents, this allows their children to experience and adapt to the multicultural atmosphere of Western universities. One 24-year-old former student who has lived and studied on four different continents told me: "When I was studying in Africa, there were few Chinese at school. My friends are very diverse. Some are Black, some are white. I'm okay with it. I think everyone is similar. I can speak many languages, and I wouldn't be judgmental of their cultural backgrounds. I adapt to new environments quickly and easily make friends."

The final step and ultimate goal of this approach is for the child to be admitted to a Western university. Based on our interviews, most Chinese families in Zimbabwe prefer to send their children to universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, or Australia. They follow university rankings closely and keep track of preferential policies available to graduates of prestigious global universities back home in China  -  including funding for entrepreneurship and access to local household registration, or hukou. One woman I interviewed told me that she and her husband "basically haven't even considered (letting their daughter) return to China to study at university."

College admissions in China are highly competitive  -  fewer than 2% of the country's high school graduates will gain entry to a top-40 school. The parents I interviewed believed that secondary education in Zimbabwe offered an alternative, one that would greatly increase a student's chances of being admitted to a top university overseas, since the training methods, academic certificates, and other documents issued by these schools are widely accepted. One parent I interviewed also believed that Chinese secondary students abroad had an easier time standing out from the pack: "Our children have their advantages. Chinese people are hardworking, we can bear hardship, and are good at mathematics."

This optimistic outlook eases the anxiety regarding education felt by Chinese parents in Zimbabwe, at least to an extent. Like most Chinese parents, they care strongly about their children's grades; however, they are also more comfortable allowing space for their children to develop their own interests and social skills.

Looking at Chinese families in Zimbabwe, we find a unique example of geographic arbitrage within a globalized and postcolonial world order. Although most immigrant families move to Zimbabwe for work rather than educational opportunities, they see in local schools a chance to change their children's lives and help them achieve social mobility  -  provided the child doesn't lose touch with their identity in the process. Ultimately, their three-step educational strategy turns the targeted and temporary global mobility that comes from engaging in cross-border labor into a more open-ended global mobility for the next generation.