Review of When China Met Africa (2011) by Mike M — 04 Oct 2011
Remains scrupulously neutral, unwilling to editorialise on whether this neo-colonialism is entirely good or bad, and - if it isn't - whether you or I have any power to stop it; it secures access to high-level meetings seemingly just to reinforce the idea we don't usually get access to high-level meetings.
The results are interesting - affording us the sensation of eavesdropping on trade talk, getting the skinny on how our planet will be shaped in the coming decades - but somewhat limited in its aims and impact, particularly when set against 2009's extraordinary "Last Train Home", a more human and expansive depiction of the heightened Chinese work ethic.
By way of compensation, the Francises carry over from "Black Gold" their acute visual sense, contrasting underdeveloped African outposts with the futuristic metropoli where the brokers and moneymen negotiate the fate of millions, and - in both locations - making much of the posters, murals and banners that seek to impose Asian business ideals on their immediate surroundings.
As one Zambian exec states, the writing is, in every sense, on the wall. This would appear China's world now; the rest of us are merely living in it.
This review of When China Met Africa (2011) was written by Mike M on 04 Oct 2011.
When China Met Africa has generally received positive reviews.
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