Informality and Social Networking: The Huan Qian Practice of the Chinese Business Community in Morocco

Abstract

This article examines the informal financial practice of huan qian within the Chinese business community in Casablanca, Morocco. Huan qian—a low-stakes, small-scale currency exchange primarily between Chinese business owners and expatriates—operates in a regulatory gray area but functions as a vital social and economic tool. Based on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Morocco (August 2022–December 2023), this study analyzes how and why members of the Chinese community engage in this informal practice to cultivate interpersonal trust and social networks, rather than to maximize short-term economic gain. By comparing huan qian to the more widely studied hawala system, the article underscores the distinct social logic of huan qian transactions, which initiate and strengthen social ties while reproducing hierarchical relationships within the diaspora. The concept of “networking informality” is introduced to capture how this everyday financial practice contributes to community cohesion and social order within the Chinese diaspora, while also fostering cross-cultural relationships with local Moroccans. In doing so, this research enriches the anthropological understanding of informality and the embeddedness of economic life, while offering new insights into the grounded, everyday dimensions of China–Africa and China–MENA relations beyond state-level or geopolitical frameworks.