Maafa II

Today's Straits Times had three stories about China - the case of young people enslaved as brickworkers in Shanxi, the problem of there not being enough rural immigrants coming to the big cities for unskilled labour, and the rising interest in African students in learning Chinese.

Which suggests the future scenario that soon low-skilled African foreign workers will be imported to China, with human rights abuses comparable to those of slaves. :(

Of course, Africa's a long long way away from China, so it mightn't be economically viable. And who knows if the Chinese economy's going to break down in a decade or so. When he heard the news, my father scoffed and said a few decades ago, everyone in Africa was trying to learn Russian.

Maybe if my copywriting picks up, I'll make enough money to go for a Swahili immersion course in Nairobi. :)