When China Met Africa

Filmmaker siblings Nick and Marc Francis's When China Met Africa brings a human aspect to what would otherwise be a back-page economics story in the U.S. media: China's increasing role in the economy of Zambia. Chinese entrepreneurs and developers—who covet Africa's resources in exchange for spurring Zambian development—start farms and undertake a paved-highway project here to reach a remote and impoverished district. Naturally, there are the expected culture-shock moments as the Zambian ministers puzzle over Chinese-writing characters, while a Chinese work-boss wields a computerized translator (into English, the lingua franca) in order to communicate with laborers. Meanwhile, a Chinese farmer in the village marketplace discovers that his local customers are very well acquainted with the art of haggling over prices. With one exception, the Africans here are laborers or field hands, some of whom complain that they are viewed by the Asians as untrustworthy idlers. The international economic crisis of 2008 (from which powerhouse China was not immune) ends the narrative on a downbeat and disillusioned note. Perhaps unsurprisingly, none of the interviewees discuss how the Zambian venture differs from the old-style Western-imperialist colonialism that left behind so many problems for Africa (and, for that matter, China)—an unacknowledged African elephant in the room. Still, this is a timely film on the ongoing shift in the balance of global power and the scramble for remaining natural resources. Also featuring a condensed hour-long version on the disc, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)