# Past African presence in China  
Beyond the presence of surprising animals, such as zebras and giraffes (Chau Ju-Kua, 1911; Ferrand, 1919, 1922; Filesi, 1970; Wheatley, 1961; Talib and Samir, 1988), a number of Africans, through different indirect channels, ended up living in China as early as the first quarter of the eighth century. According to the Chronicle of the Tang Dynasty, in 724, the King of Srinijaya, from Palembang, Sumatra, offered a Zanj [black] girl, among other things, as tribute to the Emperor (Talib and Samir, 1988, p. 732; Ferrand, 1922). This practice was repeated several times during the following centuries, in 813,818 and 976 . In 813 and 818, the rulers from Kalinga, an Indonesian kingdom, offered several Zanj boys and girls in three successive missions to the Tang Emperor HsienTsung. In 976, under the Sung dynasty, the Imperial court received 'a black K'un Lun slave with deep set eyes and black body' (Chau Ju-Kua, 1911) from an Arab trader (Talib and Samir, 1988, p. 732).  
Although, indirectly and through Arab and Indonesian intermediaries, the slave trade reached China, mainly through the entry port and distribution hub of Guangzhou (Canton). The enslaved Africans were 'employed on shipboard to caulk leaky seams below the water-line from the outside as they were expert swimmers who do not close their eyes under water' (Chau Ju-Kua, 1911, pp. 31-2; Talib and Samir, 1988, p. 732; Wheatley, 1961, p. 55). Others were gate guards and household servants for the wealthy families in metropolitan areas. According to Chau Ju-Kua (1911, p. 32), 'many families buy black people to make gatekeepers of; they are called kui-nu, or "devil-slaves" or bei siau ssi (black slaves or servants)'. There is clearly much more research to be done in this direction, if oral histories and family archives can be collected systematically.