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

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China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing's Expansion in Africa Pub. Date: 6/29/2009 Publisher: Avalon Publishing Group

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Overview

"God bless the Chinese," one senior American diplomat in Brazzaville put it bluntly. "They build roads and dams, and quite frankly we don't have what it takes to do those things anymore. All we can do is give English classes and try to sell our technology." China Safari tells the amazing-and largely unknown-story of the rise of China's economic empire in Africa and how it will change the twenty-first century. China is Africa's second largest business partner, with trade now at more than $100 billion a year, and growing. Where others see chaos, corruption, an endless civil war, the Chinese see opportunities. With no colonial past and few political precondition China is bringing investment and infrastructure to a continent that the West has either exploited or has only seen fit for handouts. China seems destined to succeed where the West has failed. But is China starting to repeat the imperial arrogance of earlier colonial power?

Combining brilliant on the-ground reporting, and profound new insights and analysis with extraordinary photographs that visualize the largely "unseen" phenomenon of China in Africa, china Safari sheds light on a geopolitical earthquake that rarely gets attention in the West.

Editorial Reviews

Michela Wrong

Frustrated by the empty rhetoric of the 2006 China-Africa summit attended by 48 African nations, they spent nearly two years talking to those lower down the food chain: Chinese loggers in Congo-Brazzaville, ditch-diggers in Angola, curio sellers in Egypt. The result is a work whose style may occasionally come across as peculiarly baroque…but whose message is clear: Africa has much to gain but needs to be on guard. …Michel and Beuret are admirably even-handed
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.

With trade between Africa and China estimated to reach $100 billion by 2010, China recently over-took Great Britain as the continent's third largest business partner. Journalists Michel and Beuret offer an intrepid and intelligent analysis of how Chinese economic investment is changing every-day African life-and the implications for China's role in the international community. From a nation that historically discouraged emigration, China has made a radical volte face-president Hu Jintao actually encourages citizens to seek their fortune in Africa-and this shift has resulted in investment in such areas as hydroelectric dams, textiles and tourism. The authors bring back stories from the rain forests in Congo, the uranium mines of the Sahara and the oil fields of Nigeria-frisking every statistic and detailing the human and environmental impact of China and Africa's relationship-and how it is perceived by the Western political, economic, and humanitarian institutions that have long dictated Africa's parameters of economic growth.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library Journal

A significant book that insightfully examines China's role in Africa, China Safari reveals not only the complexities of Chinese immigration to Africa, but also the political rivalries that result from it. While much scholarship has focused on the economic and political context, European-based journalists Michel, Beuret, and Woods emphasize the day-to-day social and cultural interactions and relationships that are often excluded in such analyses of Chinese-African relations. Through in-depth interviews with Chinese sojourners and Africans, the book reveals Africa as the new "Wild West" frontier for China; Africa is experiencing exploitation of its resources in a way reminiscent of its colonial past. Paradoxically, as African countries such as Zimbabwe, Congo, and Sudan are willingly dependent on Chinese capital to sustain their economies, the Chinese laborers there face increasing anti-Chinese crimes—robbery, blackmail, and personal violence—particularly led by opposition political parties and civil society groups. VERDICT Recommended for all interested readers.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781568586144
Publisher: Avalon Publishing Group
Publication date: 8/24/2010
Edition description: First Trade Paper Edition
Pages: 336
Sales rank: 710,356
Product dimensions: 6.44 (w) x 11.04 (h) x 0.91 (d)

Meet the Author

Serge Michele is West Africa correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde.

Michel Beuret is Foreign Editor of the prominent Swiss magazine l’Hebdo.

Paolo Woods is an award-winning photojournalist. His photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Stern, Le Monde, Geo, and many other international publications.
www.PaoloWoods.net

Countries Visited for China Safari vi

Prologue 1

1 Rolling Out the Red Carpet for the African Continent: China-Africa Summit, Beijing, November 2006 11

2 How the Chinese Found Their Wild West and Called It Nigeria 29

3 In the Heart of the Congo Forest 45

4 A Short History of China and Africa from 1421 to 2008 61

5 Trouble Governing? Outsource to China! 71

6 Uranium Mania in the Sahara 95

7 An Invasion of Junk 113

8 For Sale: Weapons for Dictators (Made in China) 131

9 Gaining Ground in Sudan 145

10 Oil Above All 167

11 The New "Great Game" 183

12 The Chinese Locomotive Begins to Lose Steam 209

13 A Friendship Between Peoples-of the Bittersweet Kind 233

Conclusion 249

China's "Great Leap" in Africa 262

Acknowledgments 265

Notes 269

Bibliography 281

Index 295

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