Author: Peter Kragelund, Spencer Henson, O. Fiona Yap.

China’s role in African development is much debated among academics as well as among private sector organisations, trade unions and politicians. Notwithstanding the recent upsurge of interest, the lion’s share of the current studies on ‘China in Africa’ is still based on a combination of aggregate figures and sporadic information from news agencies. Although much of the hysteria surrounding the ‘China in Africa’ debate has now evaporated — at least from the scholarly debate — the local debate is highly politicised and of a very dichotomous nature: China is either seen as benign or malign to African development efforts. This paper seeks to go beyond this dichotomous view by examining the multifaceted nature of Chinese investments in two sectors of the Zambian economy. It argues that these investments to a large extent resemble other foreign investments but the sheer size and growth of the investments trigger local reactions.