RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND SOUTH AFRICA FROM THE 17TH CENTURY TO THE MID-20TH CENTURY

It was after South Africa became a Dutch colony in 1652 that the Chinese had contact with it,as was evidenced by records.For catering to the colony's demand on skilled labor,the Cape Colony authority requested many times to import Chinese labor from the Dutch Java.Following the 'Red Stream Incident' in which the Chinese in Java rose against the Dutch colonial rule,the colonial administration tranported the Chinese political prisoners to South Africa as slave labor.After taking over the Cape Colony in 1815,Britain imported for several times both the contract labor and indentured labor from Canton.The discovery of the Rand Goldfields attracted thousands of Chinese from the Mauritius to Transvaal.Between 1904-1910,the South African goldmine corporations imported from China altogether 63,695 contract laborers.For 300 years,the Chinese South Africans,like the black people,were subject to brutal oppression by the white racist laws,living a humiliate and sad life.The Chinese South Africans with their limited number waged struggle in various ways for defending their dignity,attaining the stature of a deeply moving history in making unremitting efforts to improve themselves.Without the complete elimination of the racial segregation system in South Africa in 1994,it would have been impossible for China and South Africa to establish normal and friendly relations.