Author: Deborah Bräutigam.

From a distance, Makali, Kpatawee, and the other Chinese agrotechnical stations looked strikingly like patches of rural China transplanted into African rainforests and savannah: the intense green of paddy rice, flocks of long-necked, white cattle egrets, and rows of hard working farmers, faces hidden under Chinese straw hats. Propped against the wall of Sierra Leone’s Makali station headquarters, a peeling and faded blue sign welcomed visitors (in English) to ‘Makali Commune.’ The Chinese carved a bit of Africa into a green and fertile reminder of the fields and villages they knew in Sichuan, Fujian, and Guangzhou. Some of what they transferred took root in this alien setting; much did not.