The Michael Jacksons

A nickname for women in Tanzania who use skin-lightening products in an attempt to attract a Chinese husband.

Reporting from Dar es Salaam for The Times of London, Jonathan Claytonrevealed:

Zaina, 28, a tall Tanzanian woman, intends to cash in on the new Chinese presence in Africa. She is planning to find herself an oriental husband. …

As her eyes darted around the appropriately named Jolly nightclub and bar, she admitted that she faced an uphill struggle. The competition is ferocious. Apart from a solitary Chinese man, quietly sipping a beer at the bar and a group of young men playing pool, the favourite after-work drinking hole is overflowing with groups of young women, chatting excitedly.

“It is early, Chinese men work hard and come later, they not lazy like Tanzanians,” Zaina said. “Problem is many, many girls; me not really their type. I am tall and slim. They prefer small, fat ladies with paler skins,” she said, confiding with a whisper that some of the girls were busy applying skin-lightening ointment. “They buy it in Congo – we call them the Michael Jacksons.”

According to Clayton, those critical of the relationship between China and Tanzania have suggested that some Chinese are using marriages to Tanzanian women in order to overcome restrictions on land and company ownership, and residency. However, Clayton noted:

Word has spread through Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s main commercial centre, that many of the Chinese men who have flooded into the country in recent years are open to marrying local women. In reality, only a handful of marriages have taken place.