China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing's Expansion in Africa

by Serge Michel, Michel Beuret, Paolo Woods (Photographer)

China has now taken Great Britain’s place as Africa’s third largest business partner. Where others only see chaos, the Chinese see opportunities. With no colonial past and no political preconditions, China is bringing investment and needed infrastructure to a continent that has been largely ignored by Western companies or nations.Traveling from Beijing to Khartoum, Algiers to Brazzaville, the authors tell the story of China’s economic ventures in Africa. What they find is tantamount to a geopolitical earthquake: The possibility that China will help Africa direct its own fate and finally bring light to the so-called “dark continent,” making it a force to be reckoned with internationally.

Genres: Africa, China, Nonfiction, Politics, Asia, International Development

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 2008

Reviews

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was impressed with this book.

In community development research everything starts with the entering of a village/small town. There are several signs indicating the well-being of the inhabitants. The first one is to observe the center of town. In South Africa it still is, and was, clearly evident who historically established the town by looking at the buildings in the center. Afrikaners centered a town around a church, since freedom of religion and movement were all they aspired to and to escape a government they despised. English towns had a business center next to a mine, with a railway line straight to the nearest harbor. As a researcher it was important to know who the BIG BROTHERS would be to deal with, hence the surveillance of the heart of the establishment.

The second observation was made driving through the residential areas. A happy woman would plant flowers in anything, even in the desert, even if she lived in a shack. No flowers, promised interesting times ahead!

A third observation was to be in the center of town around noon and note who were there and in which capacity. Only then could the official project be started. In a sense this book followed much the same modus operandi, even though my explanation is a much simplified version of the African story, or the research projects for that matter.

This book can loosely be regarded as the story of Africa since ancient times. In a comment, many many years ago, I was of the opinion that Africa always had overlords. Through the centuries the color of skin as well as the outfits changed. But Africa never stood on its own feet. In another conversation I said that we should stop bickering about languages. We all need to learn Mandarin since we needed to understand our new Big Brothers. Tongue in cheek it was, but it turned out to be ironically true. Reading this book, made it final and very clear.

I am kind of tired of reading how lazy the Africans are. It is simply annoying. The reason is that nobody is taking into account the huge difference between the northern- as well as southern hemisphere climates. In the former, since the beginning of mankind, people had to be severely disciplined to survive. Short summers were spent frantically preparing for the long hibernating winters. Long, cold and dark periods of time were spent indoors. They kept themselves busy( or sane, if you will) with literature, science, art, music, etc. Hence all the masters of everything were born in the north. The rules of correctness is a good example of the results.

The southern hemisphere had sunshine throughout the year. They could reap and plant longer periods of time, they lived mostly outdoors. Fruit and other foods were present in abundance in any season. There was no need for a rigorous discipline to survive. Winters are milder and mostly sunny.

The biggest difference between the two hemisphere's people is their outlook on life. Southern hemisphere people are much more outgoing, relaxed, a lot friendlier and less driven. Most so-called 'Third World' countries are in the southern hemisphere. The sun, yes, the sun, is making all the difference. As simple as that. It is always amazing to see how a northern hemisphere observer struggles to understand the lifestyle and mind-processes of southern hemisphere inhabitants. They almost always get it wrong due to the lack of this important fact. It doesn't matter where the northerners migrate to, they take this inherit discipline with them.

It is with this thought in mind that I have read this book. Not that it determined what I would take from it, but as a starting point. It then comes as no surprise to me that hungry, greedy, desperate 'Northerners', once again, have to rape and then escape Africa to feed their ever increasing need for natural resources. The clash between America and China won't take place anywhere else than in Africa. It is destiny. According to the book, it won't be long before it will happen. Americans, as well as everyone else, should read this book. And also read all the others written about Africa. Every single country in this world is connected to it, there's no escape.

Another essential book is: Partners and Rivals: The Uneasy Future of China's Relationship with the United States  by Wendy Dobson

The world's biggest problem as I see it, is that democracy brought freedom to millions of people, but allowed uninformed people to make uninformed decisions about their destiny, simply because we prefer to stick our heads in the sand and avoid books like these. A person with a doctorate in any science, spending his entire life behind a microscope, is just as dangerous as a mother of fifteen, living out in the African bush, who has never seen a book in her entire life. They have one privilege in common: the right to vote. Both pretend they know what they are doing. If we ignore the elephant, it will go away. If we ignore the hungry lion it will find another meal. We have become our own worst enemies, by choice! We simply do not want to know! Most wars in Africa are fought by desperate people who try to change their destiny, but most outsiders react with their own version of the truth provided by high-octane media coverage with its own perspectives and agendas. For Africans this book is not breaking news of course. We daily experience the impact. It is just great to see the entire story, made possible by impressive legwork, compacted in one text. The research was outstanding.

China is occupying Africa. It is not a secret anymore. Africans are inspired, brainwashed even, to kick the Westerners out. That's no secret as well. The tactics used to kick Westerners out is a very effective blueprint everywhere. For instance, mines belonging to 'outsiders' (colonialists, or descendants, or Westerners) are targeted for labor unrest, bombarded with strikes and often vandalized, forcing the mines to close after losing too much income and watching the stock-price fall through the floor. The mines are either closed, or nationalized, and then sold to Chinese companies a few months or years later. As soon as the Chinese are established, the labor unions are mysteriously pacified. Several American companies have been kicked out in similar ways. This book explains the modus operandis of the new conquerors and their African puppet leaders.

To fully understand the African reaction, it is necessary to read the history. The Scramble for Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912   by Thomas Pakenham, is a must-read for everyone who want to understand their own country's wealth and prosperity. This is the "White" history of Africa. It has come and gone. (I will revise my review when I have time to reread this gigantic piece of text).

China Safari explains the current world politics, the behind-the-scenes intrigue, the detailed truth about human rights and manipulation; the real motivation behind democracy that has nothing to do with human rights. If you do not understand your leaders' decisions, you will do so after reading this book. But before you decide to renounce your right to vote, read the book first, and get to know the reasons why your leaders make the decision they do. They not only have to provide in your needs, they also have to juggle the balls between corrupt, greedy African leaders who kill their own people and strip-mine their own countries for their own personal benefits. Africa is being mined for absolutely everything that can be shipped off. Its natural resources are vanishing by the speed of lightning. Everything! As is the case with America, the African countries are held captive with humongous loans. It is impossible to get out of it. China has done its planning extremely well.

For those who are interested, I have added a few thoughts from the book as a spoiler. The book is outstanding in the context of our modern history. It is neither anti- or pro anything. The objectivity makes it a reliable read. For Africans this book is a light version of the actuall events playing itself out. It is also a mild enema for the constipated rich and righteous. A necessary one, if I dare say so.

P.74: The stock explanations -- that the Chinese work hard while Africans are lazy, that the Chinese direct their own destinies while Africans leave their fate in the hands of God and aid agencies -- are as logically flawed as they are racist. A brief glance at teams of African workers toiling under the equatorial sun, wielding axes to perform tasks long since assumed by machines in the developed world, is proof enough that the Chinese have no monopoly on hard work, in addition to the armies of African women who come home after a full day in the fields to the tough demands of housework, only to return to work the next day with their children on their backs. But as later chapters will show, in countries like Congo and Algeria, just as in every corner of the continent, a profitable African-run-business--whether state-owned or private--is too rare. Successful businesses risk being looted by the political elites, whose predatory, corrupt practices have deliberately prevented the emergence of a middle class capable of threatening the status quo."

P.134: China's strategy in Chad was not a new one. The same game of playing off rebels and governments against one another had been used with marked success by the likes of France, the United States, and the USSR.

The circumstances in this instance were remarkable, however, in that, according to a sensational report by Amnesty International of June 2006--two months after the failed rebellion--China had just become the world's biggest small-arms exporter. The report went on to denounce China for "having supplied a vast selection of military, security and police equipment to countries accused of massive violations of human rights." It's impossible no to feel that the likes of Britain, the United States, and France must have been just a little annoyed that China was doing it so much more effectively than they were."

P.163: So there are Chinese to drill the oil and then pump it into the Chinese pipeline guarded by Chinese strongmen on its way to port built by the Chinese, where it is loaded onto Chinese tankers headed for China. Chinese laborers to build the roads and bridges and the gigantic dam that has displaced tens of thousands of small holders; Chinese to grow Chinese food so other Chinese need eat only Chinese vegetables with their imported Chinese staples; Chinese to arm a government committing crimes against humanity; and Chinese to protect that government and stick up for it in the UN Security Council."

P.167:

"We must simultaneously be cautious, smart and quick to act if we are to procure the spoils of that magnificent cake, Africa." --King Leopold II of Belgium, 1877.

P.177: China's advances in Africa's oil-rich regions have been viewed with concern bordering on paranoia in the United States. In recent years, countless confidential reports, U.S.Senate committees, and think tanks from both political parties have all evoked the image of the 'strangulation' of the US oil supply. They have worked the angle of a "war of resources" in Africa that could, it is said, deteriorate into a head-to-head clash between China and the United States, prompting the kind of open conflict that some see as inevitable by 2030. Already the United States has had to go to some lengths to obstruct CNOOC's $18.5-billion offer to buy the California-based UNOCAL, the ninth biggest company in the world. U.S. officials have dusted off the cold war rhetoric and now talk about "containment" of China.

P.184: By and large, Washington's Chinese experts may be divided into two groups. The "panda huggers" are those who don't see China as much of a threat; the "dragon slayers" are all locked and loaded for World War III. "

P.185: It seemed that the panda huggers held sway over the American Enterprise Institute too. This is particularly surprising because this think tank has a reputation for deep conservatism, having supported overseas military ventures including the Iraq war. Resident fellow Mauro de Lorenzo, who has written extensively on China's activities in Africa, stressed the importance of the infrastructure contracts won and completed by the Chinese and the Chinese tendency to put business interests above humanitarian issues. In doing the opposite over the past few decades, he believed, the West had actually caused considerable harm to Africa as a whole. "The fact that we favor humanitarian aid over economic opportunity is seen by Africans as a sign that we still don't take them seriously. We continue to act arrogantly, using aid as a way of controlling Africa. This is a strategy that no longer works now that we're not the only ones active there. We could," he empathized, "learn a lot from the Chinese. "

P.192: Competing with the Chinese has become more difficult since international organizations like the World Bank and the European Union have started to distance themselves from Ethiopia's dictator, Meles Zenawi.

The regime instituted a reign of terror, similar to that of General Pinochet's in Chile, right after it consolidated power in the May 2005 elections. As a consequence, financial aid, which makes up 40 percent of Ehtiopia's budget, has fallen off considerably, a situation that suits China. And China has not let itself be hindered by "Ethiopia's Tiananmen Square," the massacre that followed Zenawi's order to his troops to fire live rounds at citizens marching peacefully in the streets of Addis Ababa in protest against perceived election rigging. Opposition leaders were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or assassinated or they simply "disappeared." In total, some 30,000 people were jailed without trial.

P.206: That China is no longer communist, though, isn't to say that it poses no threat. It is still a dictatorship whose essentially authoritarian, totalitarian structure is replicated wherever China holds sway. However, the Iraq war, rendition flights, Guantanamo Bay, and America's support for Zenawi in Ethiopia have used up most of its political, and moral, capital. It is no longer in a position to lecture Africans on right and wrong.

When China does business with the outside world its successes help validate its own worldview. Advocates of the free market in America and elsewhere find themselves confronted by a system that mixes capitalism with authoritarianism to great effect, chalking up success after success. In 2006, Beijing held more than a trillion dollars in foreign currency reserves, 70 percent of which was in U.S dollars. Beijing is also the largest holder of U.S. government bonds (Treasury bonds). In other words, China helps finance America's public debt, which, as of January 2009, stood at more than ten trillion dollars.

P.238: Such was the state of affairs when NFC Africa Mining came to Chambishi in 1998. It found a mine that had been closed for several years, but there was little doubt that the company had grandiose plans and the money to realize them and was greeted at first as a saviour. It soon became apparent, though, that the saviour would operate only under certain conditions: visas for Chinese workers and managers, low wages for the local workforce, no unionization, only token taxation, and the stipulation that any negotiation of these conditions must be carried out directly with the umbrella company in Beijing or, at the very least, with the Zambean president.

P. 253: For these kinds of reasons it isn't hard to believe that China will succeed where the West, despite all its Institutes for African Studies, its academics, its libraries and museums devoted to African art and culture, has failed. One American diplomat in Brazzaville put it bluntly but accurately when we asked him about his competitors. "God bless the Chinese. They build roads and dams, and quite frankly we don't have what it takes to do those things any more. All we do is give English classes and try to sell our technology."

P.259: So China has achieved something very important. It has given Africa a real sense if worth, as much in the eyes of Africans themselves as in the eyes of foreigners. If China has bothered to invest so much time, money, and energy in Africa, then there must be an opportunity there that's been overlooked by the West.

Yan's official history, meanwhile, censures the West for its actions during this period. Since 1991, it says, the Unites States and Great Britain have, in their customary deceitful fashion, made democratic progress a condition of financial aid, a stance that's considered 'interference in Africa as well as in China under the pretext of human rights. "Fortunately, the scurrilous machinations of the West, which have caused so much tension within African nations, have been foiled, and 'the waves of democratization on the continent have started to weaken since 1995." (P70)

"The information China Safari offers about the Chinese exploitation of African (and Chinese) workers is a hefty wake up call for those in the pursuit of global fair trade and environmental and human rights.... The authors leave no stone unturned. The amount of research they did for this book is staggering." --Feminist Review

The Seattletimes.com reviewer says: "The book takes the reader on a tour of Guinea, Congo-Brazzaville, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, Angola and Zambia. It's not a story of AIDS, war, poverty and stagnation. It is about growth: restaurants and housing development, highways and TV stations, logging projects, uranium mines and oil."

In an interview with Amy Goodman of www.democracynow.org , about the book, one of the French authors, Serge Michele, summarized their experience of Africa:

"China, unlike France and Britain, doesn’t have former colonial territory in Africa. It has a blueprint to go in every fifty-three African countries. And in these countries, China is doing almost everything. I mean, they are extracting raw materials. They are building infrastructures. They are investing. They have private pioneers going there. They have settlement plans for Chinese people. And it has really changed the face of the continent. We did this book about — it took about two years, and we went around twelve African countries. We met different Chinese, I mean, entrepreneurs, workers, bankers and farmers. We discovered that, in many aspects, Africa, which is like a place — as a Westerner, you would go there with empathy, because of misery, civil wars; Chinese go there with just the aim of making business, making a fortune, and they believe that this move will also benefit Africa."

Do yourself a favor though, and read the book.

Other great reviews:

Public Intelligence Blog

The Washington Post



Another recommende book, which I have not read is: China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence – by Robert I. Rotberg (Editor)

[ashok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Was expecting a highly critical book about the Chinese role in Afria. Refreshingly instead, this book stands back and takes a look at the bigger picture. Unhindered by colonial guilt, the chinese have made themselves an unstoppable force in Africa. While the west sees Africa primarily through the prism of aid and handouts -- the chinese see only business.

This book revolves around interviews and stories of Chinese businesses and workers, the writer travels to the source in China where the companies are and where the workers are recruited and then travels to various countries in Africa. This is the story of the fall of an empire and the rise of a new one.

This is also a book that highlights indirectly why aid to Africa will never work -- Aid is about giving money for indefinite periods with indefinite and vague goals -- the Chinese are all about investing money into business all of which have definite goals and tangible end products. Clarity of vision always yields a winner!

[Aroa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough investigation about the role of China in Africa. We are presented with information about different aspects such as infrastructures, investments, social help.... We must know that Africa is becoming an essential part of the world and China doesn't want to miss the opportunity to spread its influence and take advantage of a continent where everything is still waiting to be discovered. In my opinion there are 2 sides to this Chinese influence: one where they help different African countries in a win-win situation and another where even though Africa is developing, they are doing it by sacrificing their environment, their rights and their way of living.
I really enjoyed the book even though sometimes I got lost among so many figures and statistics. However, this is just me, because the authors were able to apply now and then some humorous anecdotes.

[Jeffrey Cavanaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

While a bit dated for such fast-changing topic, the authors' work nonetheless paint a picture of a continent quickly being economically penetrated - some would say colonized - by China. If you are in any way interested in the latest incarnation of The Great Game, this is probably a must read.

[Artemis]

interesting and informative work though the authors definitely have a franceafrica bias no matter how much they critique it. i felt like at time things could be mire tied together and maybe even delved a bit deep. there were a lot of interviews and though some people, including the authors, pointed to western coups orchestrated to install puppet dictators, a lot of people seemed to say that the west yapped on and on about human rights. im sure the imperialist bufoons did talk heavy numbers of that bullshit but it was almost always word for word and by the time i saw it lfor the like 8th time i had to hit the the rock eyebrow

a very interesting point about how in response to claims of the chinese economic colonization of africa the authors bring up singapore. there are 2000 active chinese companies in singapore yet there are no claims of economic colonization whereas throughout all 54 african countries there are 900 active chinese companies and it dominates the discourse
this book was released more tgan 10 years ago so dont know what those numbers are like now but reminded me of the part in The Fourth Time We Drowned, where Sally Hayden writes how in the “worst year of african migration to the eu” as determined bu far right dickheads, which brought about increased sanctions and restrictions on migration, there were only about 1.5 milli migrants whereas during the first year post russian invasion, there were 7 million ukrainian mugrants and not a single far right slophuman said anything

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a depressing book to read. The only people benefiting from the China-Africa relationship are the Chinese and African politicians. The Chinese politicians and businessmen get rich, the African politicians get their kickbacks and bribes, while the ordinary Chinese and Africans don't get the benefits. The Chinese workers aren't paid that much and are in constant danger of kidnapping. The ordinary Africans don't benefit either because the imported Chinese are the ones who are getting the work to build the infrastructure. Also in the end, the infrastructure the Chinese build is so substandard that they don't last that long for the Africans to enjoy.

[Charlie Burdett · Rating 4 out of 5]

No actual safari in this

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book written by French journalists who spent a year in a few African countries for personal interview with various China enterprises, private business, China conglomerates to discover Africa nowadays with a heavy dose of heavy China scent. i) Authors are very humorous to point out objectively that Europeans who used to fuck up Africa in looting the resources, and now China does the same thing ii) This is not a book written by often, if not many, subjective American authors who only write good things about America. No..these authors write very objectively and often with a mockery tone towards their own French past and existing leaderships. iii) Authors write objectively about the business tone of China business practices: no political interference. Unlike America, who constantly talk about human rights. And from African standpoints, human rights, democracy are simply NOT the foundations for putting food on the table..and some countries are exhibiting the extreme "goodwill" from China private (national) China Foundation Funds channelling to build water plants, bridges, schools, reservoirs, roads, highways, train tracks, etc..Chinese are using their money to build infrasture first. America loves to inject fake freedom, and equality which have absolutely no use in developing countries. And which is quite true. Regardless of the end result, China still carries a sense of "cannibalism of African resources" and slowly drifting to interfere with some countries' internal politics. Authors point out that at least the China provide and build the basic necessary FIRST instead of looting like the Europeans and Americans. Here are the conclusions with the selected countries in which China invest heavily. And the Chinese's work ethics are that they work alongside with their African under-workers and they get their hands equally dirty. a) Algeria b) Chad: Civil War, but the Chinese continue to build infrasture to turn things around in which EU and American countries believe that this country violate human rights, so they refuse to build. c) Niger: Massive Uranium Ore d) Guinea: Natural mineral ores e) Nigeria: New West f) Cameroon: the crossroads of Africa which China is here to capture g) Gabon: deeply enjoy China influence with great respect h) Congo: the war ridden, US, EU left behind where China is here to take their forest away i) Angola: A country are feeling discomfort with too many Chinese and their inferior product safety j) Egypt: a country ridden with fake democracy, but in love with China products k) Sudan: a country with extreme rich in oil underbed, but filled with death and extreme violation of human rights at all level. China is there to capture the oil l) Congo Republic: another minerals' hot bed m) Zambia: a country with hatred towards China because Zambia is more maturally democratic than China n) Zimbabwe: the China's favorite friend o) Mozambique: China is here to position the African' East p) South Africa: with one of the largest Chinese populations. MUST READ!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swiss journalists Serge Michel and Michel Beuret spent a couple of years touring much of Africa talking with Chinese construction workers, merchants and miners where they could find them--which was just about everywhere--and getting a ground level view of how the People's Republic of China is investing in and buying up resources, hiring African workers and setting up companies. They combined hundreds of interviews, uncounted hours of observation and a raft of secondary sources in creating China Safari, a book that is as much about life under African “big men” as it is about China’s intervention.

The Chinese are building infrastructure that could help unify the continent; the roads, pipelines, ports and airports that they construct could be the basis for tying together currently disparate and often hostile African nations. A major advantage they have is that successful businesses run by Africans risk being looted or taken over by political elites while Chinese businesses are a much tougher target. The Chinese approach differs from banks in the U.S and western Europe in that they have no interest in the imprimatur of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund—they don’t insist on democratic elections (usually just window dressing to qualify for loans) or progress on human rights for their citizens.

Michel and Beuret found that Chinese in Africa have the same prejudices and racist assumptions as the former colonial masters, that Africans are “naturally” lazy compared with their ambitious, hardworking countrymen. In China, they claim, if farmers don’t plant rice in the spring they will starve in the autumn while in Sub-Sahara Africa “you can just pick fruit from the trees all around you.”

The social, economic and political outcomes of China’s move into Africa continue to evolve. Zambian copper miners working for a Chinese company were fired upon by managers during labor unrest, but Zambian government and police the mine operators sided with against the striking workers. In Angola low interest loans from the Ex-Im Bank of China and the China International Fund are spent on infrastructure with most of the work being done by workers from China which excludes Angolan workers from experience in construction work and management. The loans (over ten billion dollars over a few years) are repaid in oil.

No one but the Chinese would have built communication and electric power networks in southern and central Africa. While China is there in pursuit of its own interests, they have offered their African hosts a vision of the future that was inconceivable in the colonial and post-colonial past.

[John Rouse]

I just finished reading “China Safari: on the trail of Beijing's expansion in Africa” (2010) by Serge Michel and Paolo Woods. The amount of facts and figures these two journalist authors were able to pull together on China’s growing investment and business activities on the continent is impressive. Even more remarkable is that they have done it in a entertaining way. The driving force behind this expansion of interest appears to be China’s rapidly growing appetite for non-renewable energy and mineral resources.

[Franco Olcese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quand j'ai reçu le livre, j'ai attendé un livre très critique vers la Chine et un point de vue rempli de peur vers le pays asiatique (standard point of view i found in France). Mais, les auteurs essayent d'être objetifs. Ils donnent une responsabilité (soit des choses positives soit des negatives) aux gouvernements africaines, point de vue que je trouve intéressantes. Bref, ça vaut le coup, il est bien écrit et plein des entretiens aux parti prenante.

[Michel]

I look forward to reading this book.
I remember being shown in Grenada the Chinese-built bridges, and hospital and power-plant. While we dole out guilt-money (or send in the Marines when their democracy veered too far to the left), the Chinese offer real help, no strings attached. Of course they have an ulterior motive, but meanwhile, they bring progress.
I am sure the US and Europe have a lesson to learn from their African policy.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book that I have come across discussing China's growing investments in Africa. While many people seem vaguely aware that China is sponsoring a growing number of "aid" or development projects in Africa, this book points out China's growing investments in Africa's real estate and natural resources and considers the possible long term implications.

[Ankit Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two journalists set out on a trail of Africa to investigate what China has been upto in the last decade. They come up with an image of a continent that's grateful as well as uneasy regarding China's long-term ambitions and its growing clout. China's attention has brought its wake renewed interest from western powers anxious not to miss out on the party and counter Chinese influence in the region.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is sarcastic, but since it is written by French journalist, I believe some of the opinions towards China are very western-manipulated, and it is a little exaggerating and biased. Yet it is a critical book that is nice for people who wants to “peep into” the complex and tangled relations between China government and also societal influence with Africa.

[Lynette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking read that called up questions about the west's approach to growing Africa through international aid premised on achieving human rights milestones. Versus a more capitalist approach of business first, executed by a widely recogniZed communist country. Is china still communist and on what counts? Food for thought.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating book. I knew nothing about China's interactions with Africa and this was eye-opening. Like all good books it has provoked more interest and I will look for other books on this topic. Interesting from a business, cultural and political perspective.

[Juha · Rating 4 out of 5]

China's incursions into Africa are a hot topic these days. I found this book to be quite balanced, based as it is on the authors' travels to Africa and to China and interviews with people from different sides of the relationship.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, and measured analysis of China's foray into Africa. Problem with books of this nature is that they are already 'dated' when they appear in print. Not sure if English translation has been updated with more current events.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book! I often felt it was lacking continuity and that is was obvious that the book's writing was split between two authors. Some parts were wonderfully sarcastic and wry and then the next chapter would be written in the voice of an article from Newsweek or something.

[Seth D Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sino-colonialism in Africa fascinates me, this is a good, personality-rich set of scenes from the Sino-colonial world. Would love to see a status update as of today, after the political turmoil that led to new regimes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and South Sudan.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with a fresh perspective that I had not seen fully expressed in US centric media.

[Ivan Kapersky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expectig more information regarding how chinase related and interact with the africans,the book focus on the adventures of the authors through Africa.