In the Shadow of the States: The Informalities of Chinese Petty Entrepreneurship in Nigeria
Author: Allen Hai Xiao.
Xiao, Allen Hai. 2015-03-23. "In the Shadow of the States: The Informalities of Chinese Petty Entrepreneurship in Nigeria." Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 44 (1): 75-105. https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/816
The burgeoning interstate relation between China and Nigeria is in fact hiding the vulnerable condition of transnational Chinese petty entrepreneurship. Small-scale Chinese entrepreneurs in Nigeria are faced with everyday corruption practised by both Nigerian authorities and ordinary Nigerian people, the dominance of self-interest over cohesion and mutual support among the Chinese compatriots, and variations in state policies due to dynamic and changing interstate relations. To overcome their position of weakness, small-scale Chinese entrepreneurs strategize their interactions with both Nigerian and Chinese nationals. Informality is a characteristic of such interactions. Economic informality is primarily embodied in the documentation service businesses that are indebted to those popular corrupt practices in Nigeria; while social informality takes place in cyberspace. Interaction via the Internet among Chinese involved in Chinese–Nigerian businesses helps small-scale Chinese entrepreneurs to cope with fluctuations in interstate links at the macro-level and to develop a sense of community.Published: 2015-03-23Typ: journalArticleISSN: 1868-4874