why do chinese think africans come from a desert or some sort of a big village

why do chinese think this about africans

I'm sure not all Chinese think that...but here's one reason (my guess ): Make an image search for "Africa" on Google, Yahoo, Baidu and most, not all but most pics are of deserts, villages, animals on the grasslands, etc.

It seems kamally ran into some poorly informed Chinese. For some Chinese, under-development is associated with rural areas or countrysides that they often use. A village is a basic unit of countryside/county in China. The system in China has been reluctant to let Chinese people living in China be well exposed to the real world outside China through controlling access to information, which is unfortunate.   

Most of the Chinese are relying on the media to feed information to them, you know who run the international media. Very few has the opportunity to go to Africa, and not many of them can obtain information from the web as they are not familiar with English. The same thing also happens in USA or Europe on people who do not know the Chinese language for ther impression about China, the same reason.

African cities photos appear on Chinese furum web site, with some comments and comparsion with Chinese cities.

http://www.daqi.com/bbs/20/971402.html

African cities photos appear on Chinese furum web site, with some comments and comparsion with Chinese cities.

http://www.daqi.com/bbs/20/971402.html

Cool pics! Will read their comments now...thanks for sharing the site.

Sadly, its not only Chinese, some other races as well think so..
I guess thats how you tell their level of ignorance..

Sadly, its not only Chinese, some other races as well think so..
===============================================
African have to promote their images themselves, they cannot just rely on the international media which are controlled by the west to do that,  they WILL NOT do that. Just like when they report on China, they are only interested in reporting the negative images. I am not sure as to whether they promote the negative images and such bias reports on non western countries do serve a political purpose, or just because of their white man's ego.

Sadly, its not only Chinese, some other races as well think so..
===============================================
African have to promote their images themselves, they cannot just rely on the international media which are controlled by the west to do that,  they WILL NOT do that. Just like when they report on China, they are only interested in reporting the negative images. I am not sure as to whether they promote the negative images and such bias reports on non western countries do serve a political purpose, or just because of their white man's ego.

TRUE, its left to each person to promote him/herself, but then again People, races, media will always judge you and in most cases negatively..
What I don't understand about this thread is whether you are speaking on how the Chinese/the World sees Africa in terms of :

Self Image (the way they portray themselves) OR
Africa ( the continent/place/geography as a whole)

These are 2 different issues.
If its the former, then its left to each and every individual to represent and portray himself in his best possible image;
if its the latter, then you can't blame them. The National Geographic Channel  is a good example. I have discussed with a lot of people that some of those places shown on National Geographic Channel are distant places away from most of the big cities in Africa , but in sad reality, there are some  places in Africa which are still villages,deserts and still underdeveloped.
But then again, Ignorance is bliss 

Plus people need to stop using excuses as white man ego/white man, yellow man that, blue man this and all other forms of racism. Take it or leave it Racism is real, but as a person you NEED to PROOVE your WORTH to others irrespective of race, when you do that, then the due respect is given..

Pssshh phew!!

Plus people need to stop using excuses as white man ego/white man, yellow man that, blue man this and all other forms of racism.
===============================================================================
That is not an excuse and there is no racism, that is just the reality of who control the media control the reality. People are relying on the media, and the real world for most of the people are just what the media represented to them. You cannot simply say people who form his image by seeing what the media feed to them are all ignorance. Where else should they obtain the information and image from ? That is why I say the African should promote their image, not only by the individaul, but by the media as a whole. Even countries like USA and Japan spend a huge amount of money to promote ther country's image in media, they are not doing that without purpose. Not many people have the privilege to walk the earth to see the reality by his own naked eyes, so media do play a very crucial part in forming the image of a country/continent or its a culture  to outsiders. Unfortunately up to this day English is the international language and international media also means the English media, you may tell who is controlling the english international media.

Honestly, the first time I traveled to Africa, I was shocked to see buildings and highways.  I thought everything was going to be desert, bushes, and wild animals running around.  Those were the only visuals I saw on TV.  Anyway, I pleasantly surprised with some of the living conditions and I vowed to myself not to believe everything that is on television.  But I have to admit that I didn't like the fact that there were baboons running everywhere. 

@topic
There is only one way to change that;Take over the world...lol
On a serious note,I just avoid those images like a deadly pestilence cos all they do is annoy me.On the other hand,I try to educate one at a time or a small group cos I don't have access to a large audience.Slowly but surely,it many more Chinese less convinced by those things on tv.

There is only one way to change that;Take over the world...lol
===============================================
Just take over the media. Even France is now running a 24/7  English news channel with a view to fighting against the US dominated English  media.

http://www.daqi.com/bbs/20/971402.html
[/quote] 
 Thanks alot man for the link,the photos are of Nairobi city in kenya and i think they will save me alot, i have been trying to explain for some time to my chinese friends that african cities are not as big as theirs but are quiet developed too,the reason why our cities are smaller is because most of us africans tend to live in the housing estates around the city unlike here where there are many apartment blocks even right down in the cbd area, but my friends would have non of that. but now i will try to erase some of this ignorance, am planning to post more photos here after i take a trip to  africa soon and share with them some of the photos of  living estates,apartments/flats,mansions in the rich suburbs with swimming pools and all.another thing that irks me is when i hear some of my chinese brothers say that africans should not have let the white man run wild and loot africa, if they were bright! but i try to tell them african ancestors who were there when this happened were not slow its just that they were not coniving people  hence their lack of ill will towards the white man who came to them as a friend first holding the bible and teaching them about jesus, but at the end left them holding the bible and he was holding the land?? they were not slow its just that they overtrusted him and  did not look at the bigger picture or their future. since africa has the best weather in the world no winters or very hot and humid summers, those ancestors were just chilling man and were in no hurry to change their laid back lifestyles, while the white preachers had  major plans,and were in search of solutions to save their own kind from future hardships,most africans speak on avarege two to three languages i and am not blowing my own horn, speak 9 languages fluently,4 of them internatinal languages, and i landed in guangzhou 5 yrs ago with only 6000 rmb and a plan and have been blessed alot by  God each day while doing my business there and i can say now am worthy 818k us dollars and i sponsered myself to come and do my electronics export business n was only 20yrs old then......are we slow...by the way am not a racist and i hate all racists be they black,brown, white, beige, yellow or luminous....and i think most of we young africans are not mad that our ancestors were duped by whites, its all good those were their issues back then its for us now to change that and by the way if africa/america/australia had been like europe then i think the whites would be the poorest people on earth  right now,so its ok the strong had to support the weak.

This is a forum talking about skyscrapers all over the world, the link below is particular about Africa. A lot of updated information.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=665