The image of a destination is built by a variety of influences, only some of which can be directly or indirectly attributed to the actions of destination marketing companies. This study proposes to identify, analyze and evaluate the factors that could impact positively and/or negatively on the image of South Africa as a tourist destination among tourists from China.

Sino-African relations have evoked a great deal of geo-strategic interest in recent years. Most attention has focused on China’s assistance to and growing involvement in the economic development of several African nations. Far less emphasis has been placed on Africans in China, and on African actors’ involvement in the Chinese economy, despite the importance of both to genuinely bilateral economic relations. This is one of the first studies to focus on South African foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mainland China. The research aims to identify and specify the key institutional factors that have contributed to the effectiveness or otherwise of South African firms entering and operating within the Chinese market. The research also investigates the characteristics and processes that have effectively shaped South African firms’ business strategies to negotiate the current Chinese institutional environment. The study’s primary empirical contribution is ten real-life case studies drawn from a cross-section of South African business actors who have sought to penetrate the Chinese market. These case studies are interrogated conceptually by means of a three-dimensional institutional model which explores the role of formal and informal business processes and practices in influencing business success and failure in the Sino-South African context. It will be of value to researchers, academics, policymakers, Sino-African business practitioners, and advanced students in the fields of international business, political economy, strategy, and Asian and African studies.

With the pace of trade and investment picking up, coupled with closer international cooperation with Beijing through the G20, FOCAC and BRICS grouping, South Africa-China ties are assuming a significant position in continental and even global affairs. At the same time, it is a relationship of paradoxes, breaking with many of the assumptions that underpin contemporary analyses of ‘China-Africa’ ties. This edited volume examines the South Africa-China relationship through a survey of its diplomatic partnership, economic ties, and broader community relations. These important aspects that are often conflated as a single relationship, yet what is important to explore are how these components reflect different China-South Africa relationship(s), and how they intersect.

One part riveting account of fieldwork and one part rigorous academic study, Brand New China offers a unique perspective on the advertising and marketing culture of China. Jing Wang’s experiences in the disparate worlds of Beijing advertising agencies and the U.S. academy allow her to share a unique perspective on China during its accelerated reintegration into the global market system. Brand New China offers a detailed, penetrating, and up-to-date portrayal of branding and advertising in contemporary China. Wang takes us inside an advertising agency to show the influence of American branding theories and models. She also examines the impact of new media practices on Chinese advertising, deliberates on the convergence of grassroots creative culture and viral marketing strategies, samples successful advertising campaigns, provides practical insights about Chinese consumer segments, and offers methodological reflections on pop culture and advertising research. This book unveils a “brand new” China that is under the sway of the ideology of global partnership while struggling not to become a mirror image of the United States. Wang takes on the task of showing where Western thinking works in China, where it does not, and, perhaps most important, where it creates opportunities for cross-fertilization. Thanks to its combination of engaging vignettes from the advertising world and thorough research that contextualizes these vignettes, Brand New China will be of interest to industry participants, students of popular culture, and the general reading public interested in learning about a rapidly transforming Chinese society.