SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

BBC 3283: DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: FILM REVIEW

WHEN CHINA MET AFRICA DOCUMENTARY

PREPARED BY:
ANDI NUR ELISYA SYAHIRA BINTI BAHRI
AIU18092007 (COHORT 1)

PREPARED FOR:
ASSOC. PROF. DR. SURAYA HANIM MOKHTAR

SUBMISSION DATE:
11TH DECEMBER 2020
 A film documentary about China's foray into Africa through the lives of Chinese
explorers and Zambian power brokers as they quickly and quickly navigate the difficult waters
of this easily. vital relationship is when China met Africa. Its biggest strength is the simplicity
of the documentary. The three leading characters, each set in Zambia, provide critical Insights
into the momentum and dynamics of the dynamism of China and Africa contemporary ties.
This documentary aims to examine the effects of the expansion and investment of China in
Africa. The film also explores the effect on average citizens of international trade deals, and
the collision of cultures in a globalised economy.

The documentary introduces a few striking moments at the beginning, where I was
given a fly on the wall view of China's personal relationship with Zambia. I see small-time
Chinese entrepreneurs joking with their Zambian workers on a micro-level, always working
together in cooperation with them. Adversely, this documentary also introduced financial
institutions to avoid progress halfway through programs, employers failing to pay their
Zambian workers, and Zambian employees being fired for diarrhea in one case.

The documentary concentrates extensively on passive-aggressive boardroom meetings

at the macro level. This is best expressed by Zambian Trade Minister Mutati, who is easy-
going, optimistic, timid yet passionately motivated by his country's desire for a better future,
whereas his Chinese counterparts seem to be very cut-throat, determined, and persuasive,
reflected in their charming female interpreters. In addition, the documentary has implemented
Chinese investment at several levels, from investment fairs in central Zambia to vital
infrastructure projects such as houses, refineries, ports, hotels, highways, bridges, airports and
railroads. Equally significant, for both its poor people and its new tourists, the documentary
does a great job of looking for the Facts and for the truth struggles from life in Zambia, to pause
to reflect on the smaller one, daily information. Staff from Zambian collected across a minor
oil spill containing plastic cans ready to scoop up every last drop, Chinese immigrants in one
eye-opening scene or coping with the world and the language.
 Undoubtedly, one of its strengths is the camera work of the film, highlighting the
gruelling essence of everyday life while also cleverly pointing out the vast difference between
the polished Chinese streets and skylines and the dirty, poor local Zambian equivalents.
Although the film does a great job of exposing the advantages of Chinese foreign investment
for the Chinese and Zambian elites, it shows their counterparts, the local Chinese and Zambians
struggling to make ends meet and work in challenging conditions to make a living and to
complete projects signed and sealed by the elites. One gets the impression from these scenes
alone that what happens between states and foreign actors does not suit people on the ground;
more precisely, the Chinese small-time entrepreneurs and local Zambians, leaving a sour taste
in their mouths.

The documentary also highlights how local Zambian companies are being undercut
because of the final size of all the economies that Chinese businesses can offer. In essence, this
puts both groups at a disadvantage and one group crawls over the other in systems that are
fundamentally unfair to get ahead. Many local Zambians, for example, are struggling to make
profit because their Chinese counterparts can be more successful in the marketplace and they
have the advantage of more money acquired from back home. The farmer supports this fact in
the documentary by saying that he can beat the competition because he has a long-term view,
access to resources that some local peers do not have.

Finally, the documentary makes it clear that even as people continue to learn to
understand each other, there are obstacles, such as linguistic barriers, that reach beyond their
everyday circumstances. The dedicated Chinese engineers in the movie, for example, discuss
the speaking and understanding fluent English, their insecurities, and this causes a divide
between them, and between Zambia locals.