The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa

by Ching Kwan Lee

China has recently emerged as one of Africa’s top business partners, aggressively pursuing its raw materials and establishing a mighty presence in the continent’s booming construction market. Among major foreign investors in Africa, China has stirred the most fear, hope, and controversy. For many, the specter of a Chinese neocolonial scramble is looming, while for others China is Africa’s best chance at economic renewal. Yet, global debates about China in Africa have been based more on rhetoric than on empirical evidence. Ching Kwan Lee’s The Specter of Global China is the first comparative ethnographic study that addresses the critical Is Chinese capital a different kind of capital?
 
Offering the clearest look yet at China’s state-driven investment in Africa, this book is rooted in six years of extensive fieldwork in copper mines and construction sites in Zambia, Africa’s copper giant. Lee shadowed Chinese, Indian, and South African managers in underground mines, interviewed Zambian miners and construction workers, and worked with Zambian officials. Distinguishing carefully between Chinese state capital and global private capital in terms of their business objectives, labor practices, managerial ethos, and political engagement with the Zambian state and society, she concludes that Chinese state investment presents unique potential and perils for African development. The Specter of Global China will be a must-read for anyone interested in the future of China, Africa, and capitalism worldwide.

Genres: China, Africa, Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 3, 2018

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent ethnography of China in Zambia.

Lee concludes that, though there is much discussion of Chinese State-Owned Entrprises (SOE's) functioning as neo-colonial apparatuses of Beijing, most of that is overblown journalistic claptrap that is not backed up by evidence. She is careful to be clear about the case she is making and the case she is not making. She says that, from her vantage point, she cannot see any evidence of a concerted neo-colonial effort by China, and that Chinese SOE's are often able to be more flexible when working with the Zambian government, where as private companies, driven by a neo-liberal profit motive, are less flexible in how much play their deals have.

The book is well researched, and she lets us hear the voices of local Zambians, Chinese SOE bosses and Zambian government officials. She makes a compelling case, and, for anyone interested in thinking about China in Africa, this should be the first book you read.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read on the role and impact of Chinese state capital in Africa. Rarely for us Zambia hands, this account is based on years of research on Zambia's construction and mining sectors. After the first chapter which is more written for academics, her description of business practices, management ethos, and labor in these sectors is instructive on how Chinese state capital is managed in a strategic sector like mining versus a non-strategic sector like construction. Great anecdotes in the last chapter on the challenges of doing research in Zambia. Highly recommended!

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

shapes my scholarly pursuit to some extent.

[Matthijs · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Specter of Global China, Hong Kong sociologist Ching Kwan Lee argues Chinese foreign investment and presence on the African continent is largely misunderstood and misrepresented. Rather than looking at all Chinese money that is floating around through infrastructure projects, development loans and businesses, lumping it together as a single organized entity and extended arm of the CCP, Ching makes the case that we should differentiate between private and state capital. While Chinese state capital, defined mainly as directly controlled SOEs and government to government loans, does seem to follow certain strategic aims at the continent (although those are not always strictly adhered to due to local forces that require adaptation from the Chinese side), private capital on the other hand should not be clumped together since it often has no bearing whatsoever on attaining such goals.

Based on several years of field research in the Zambian mining and construction industries, Ching argues the currently widespread tales regarding China's influence (and accusations of neo-imperialism) on the African continent fail to take into account that the receiving side, the African countries and communities receiving an influx of Chinese money, is a lot more powerful than often acknowledged. Chinese policymakers have to continuously adjust and react to these local conditions, making the 'scramble' for resources not as straightforward and smooth as often depicted. Moreover, state capital actors are often much more heterogeneous than is usually represented, including competition between Chinese ministries for power because of conflicting goals.

Ching is convincing in outlining the complexity of Chinese capital and the danger of simplifying numbers in order to make broader arguments regarding China's reach on the global stage. However, she fails to justify how the ethnographic case study of China in Zambia could truly be extrapolated to the entire continent. If anything, the book at times is more of an ethnographic case study of Zambian society itself, detracting attention away from the overarching topic of 'Global China' in Africa. While a solid read for anyone interested in learning more about Zambia, it doesn't live up to its promise of tackling the broader topic of 'Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa'.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on a six year on the ground study of the Chinese involvement in Zambia, focused mainly on the copper mining industry, Ching Kwan Lee lays out how Chinese capital operates in developing countries. The book illuminates the structure of overseas Chinese capital in all of its many facets. A very important book for understanding on how Chinese capital operates in the world and what we might expect from its inevitable expansion.

[Qing Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally for second comp, but did not use it for the exam. Later referred to it in my first book review on IMR.