Mark and Nick Francis's When China Met Africa presents a modest portrait of Chinese investment in Zambia and follows the lives of three individuals trying to secure a place for themselves within its economic dynamic.
Mr. Liu grew tired of struggling to make ends meet in China and moved to Zambia in search of opportunity. He's done well for himself and his family and has recently purchased his fourth farm.
Mr. Li manages the construction of Zambia's longest road for a multinational Chinese business and runs into trouble after government funding dries up.
At the same time, Zambia's Trade Minister travels to China in order to secure finances to encourage his county's economic development.
External narration and constant statistics do not support the film's construction as it simply presents brief insights into the daily activities of these men and the ways in which they conduct their affairs.
Zambia is meant to stand in for Africa in order to demonstrate how Chinese investments are changing its economic landscapes but I hesitate to draw strict parallels between its experience and that of other countries insofar as Africa is an extremely diverse continent whose multidimensional politico-economic markets resist such characterizations.
The film may have been more appropriately titled When China Met Zambia.
Mr. Li's attitude is stoic and wise as he encounters setbacks and delays and his stable and calm disposition no doubt have facilitated his capacity to endure.
The influence of capital is examined at local, national, and international levels as Mr. Liu must pay his workers, funds must be secured to encourage infrastructure development, and that development encounters difficulties trying to ensure its structural integrity (which corresponds to Mike Holmes's comments regarding home building on Canadian Reserves).
While When China Met Africa provides an explicit grassroots examination of Chinese investment in Zambia and its related projects at micro and macro levels, its lack of accompanying statistics leaves you hungry for more information (nice).
The film also functions as a strong investigation of the ways in which English functions as a prominent international language of communication as the international characters negotiate, manage, and interrelate in different English dialects.
The ways in which business is conducted on the ground are eye opening in regards to the negative environmental effects of deregulation.
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