China's African Empire

China has become a major force in Africa – a successor to the old European empires. This is how they did it.

'A must read' Peter Frankopan

From the bestselling author of Dictatorland, this is the long and turbulent history of China’s growing influence over African states.

People are increasingly fascinated by – and terrified of – the role of China in the modern world. In Africa, this role has become something akin to a new colonial power. With unique insight into how China operates overseas, Paul Kenyon charts the country’s extraordinary success in exploiting Africa's natural resources, consumers, workforce and political institutions.

In the 1950s African states gained independence from one set of colonisers and quickly struck up deals with a new, more insidious kind. Kenyon tells of how Mao and his comrades cultivated new African leaders – Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania and a young Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe – in exchange for lucrative deals and political influence that has never left. Now, Chinese power is built into the very structures of the continent, from roads to jobs to internet access.

Today China's presence is ubiquitous in Africa, both visibly and invisibly. Whilst Xi Jinping offers huge building projects, joint exploitation of mineral wealth and easy credit to African states still struggling to develop, Chinese tech companies have gained control over the continent’s data, technological infrastructure and social media. This is a terrifying and ever more important story about the new economic and political hierarchies that shape our modern world.