The Specter of Global China : Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa

242 Pages·2017·4 MB·English

by  Ching Kwan Lee

The Specter of Global China

The Specter of
Global China
Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa
Ching Kwan Lee
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2017 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more infor-
mation, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2017
Printed in the United States of America
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 34066- 1 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 34083- 8 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 34097- 5 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226340975.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lee, Ching Kwan, author.
Title: The specter of global China : politics, labor, and foreign investment in Africa / Ching Kwan Lee.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2017029440 | isbn 9780226340661 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780226340838 (pbk. : alk.
paper) | isbn 9780226340975 (e-book)
Subjects: lcsh: Investments, Foreign—China. | Investments, Foreign—Zambia. | Capitalism—China.
Classification: lcc hg5782.l43 2017 | ddc 332.67/35106894—dc23
lc record availaable at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029440
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1 992 (Permanence of Paper).
For Shen Yuan

Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Preface xi
1 Unnatural Capital: Chinese State Investment and Its Travails in Africa 1
2 Varieties of Accumulation: Profit Maximization and Beyond 31
3 Labor Bargains: Regimes of Exploitation and Exclusion 57
4 Managerial Ethos: Collective Asceticism versus Individual Careerism 93
5 Contesting Capital: Aspiration and Capacity from Below 123
6 Eventful Global China 152
Appendix: An Ethnographer’s Odyssey:
The Mundane and the Sublime of Researching China in Zambia 167
Notes 187
Index 203
Figures follow page 104.

Abbreviations
15 MCC: China 15th Metallurgical Construction Group Company
ADB: African Development Bank
AGM: annual general meeting
AGOA: African Growth and Opportunity Act
CCP: Chinese Communist Party
CCS: Chambishi Copper Smelter
CDB: China Development Bank
China EXIM Bank: Export- Import Bank of China
CNMC: China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Company
CNPC: China National Petroleum Corporation
CSR: corporate social responsibility
EBITA: earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization
EPZ: export processing zone
EVA: economic value added
FDI: foreign direct investment
FOCAC: Forum on China– Africa Cooperation
GDP: gross domestic product
GNP: gross national product
GRZ: Government of the Republic of Zambia
HIPC: Heavily Indebted Poor Countries debt- relief program
IMF: International Monetary Fund
JICA: Japan International Cooperation Agency
JXI: Jiangxi International
K: kwacha (the Zambian currency)
KCM: Konkola Copper Mines
KPI: key performance indicator
MCAWUZ: Mine Contractors and Allied Workers Union of Zambia
MCM: Mopani Copper Mines