Drawing on data collected through comparative ethnographic fieldwork on Chinese investments in Zambia in the past five years, this talk addresses the questions: What is the peculiarity of Chinese capital? What are the impacts of Chinese investments on African development? Rejecting both the Western rhetoric of “Chinese colonialism” and the Chinese self-justification of “south-south cooperation”, Prof. Lee examines the mechanisms, imperatives and limits of Chinese power through a double comparison: between Chinese and non-Chinese companies, and between copper and construction.
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