The Specter of Global China - Ching Kwan Lee

from China 21 · host 21st Century China Center

UCLA sociologist Ching Kwan Lee discusses her new book that is the result of over six years of ethnographic research in Zambia on Chinese capital and labor. In The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa, Prof. Lee analyzes the peculiarity of outbound Chinese state capital by comparing it with global private capital in copper and construction in Zambia. Refuting the rhetorical narratives of “Chinese colonialism” and “south-south cooperation,” Prof. Lee chronicles the multi-faceted struggles that confront and differentiate these two varieties of capital, and discuss their uneven potentials for post-colonial African development, China's Belt-and-Road Initiative, and telling a more nuanced story about Global China. The book is available via Chicago University Press in December 2017: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo22657847.html This episode was recorded at UC San Diego Host & Editor: Samuel Tsoi Production Support: Mike Fausner, Anthony King, Lei Guang, Susan Shirk, Amy Robinson, Michelle Fredricks Music: Dave Liang/Shanghai Restoration Project Episode illustration credit: Ching Kwan Lee

What this episode covers

UCLA sociologist Ching Kwan Lee discusses her new book that is the culmination of over six years of ethnographic research in Zambia on Chinese capital and labor. In The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa, Prof. Lee analyzes the peculiarity of outbound Chinese state capital by comparing it with global private capital in copper and construction in Zambia. Refuting the rhetorical narratives of “Chinese colonialism” and “south-south cooperation,” Prof. Lee chronicles the multi-faceted struggles that confront and differentiate these two varieties of capital, and discuss their uneven potentials for post-colonial African development, China's Belt-and-Road Initiative, and telling a more nuanced story about Global China.

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The Specter of Global China - Ching Kwan Lee

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