Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China

"This is a striking book in which Saro-Wiwa goes out in search of so-called ‘black ghosts,’ the African economic migrants who live and work in the People’s Republic of China. A lot of these individuals are legitimate traders and professionals, but there’s also an underclass of people living a precarious existence slightly outside of the law because of visa problems and other red tape. Noo Saro-Wiwa dives into this world. She meets a whole cast of characters, from a cardiac surgeon to a drug dealer, and several ‘visa overstayers,’ as they are called. She tells all of their stories. It’s very informative and entertaining, and Saro-Wiwa is a really diligent guide who is persistent and brave. Sometimes she’s meeting quite shady characters. She’s enjoyably sweary at times, when she gets frustrated. That was something we, as a group, enjoyed, that this book has a very strong, honest guiding voice. So there was solid agreement among us that this should be the winner. She’s a British-Nigerian writer. Several of the people she meets in China are Nigerians, and they have an instant rapport. But the humour feels quite British. I think it was a case of ‘we knew it when we saw it.’ I guess one thing would be that it transports you to a place. Another is a personal quest that feels authentic. Then it’s about the style, the sheer beauty and enjoyment of the words, the quality of the writing itself. That’s true. Although sometimes I still yearn for that kind of book, where someone sets out for the sheer, serendipitous joy of it. The curiosity. On the other hand – and I think this is partly due to the colonial legacy, especially in British travel writing – there’s a greater expectation now to make clear why you are doing it, and why you think you have the right to do it."