Chinese immigrants of the recent past and unfolding twenty-first century are in
search of the African dream. So explains indefatigable traveler Howard W. French
, prize-winning investigative journalist and former "New York Times" bureau chie
f in Africa and China, in the definitive account of this seismic geopolitical de
velopment. China's burgeoning presence in Africa is already shaping, and reshapi
ng, the future of millions of people. From Liberia to Senegal to Mozambique, in
creaky trucks and by back roads, French introduces us to the characters who make
up China's dogged emigrant population: entrepreneurs singlehandedly reshaping A
frican infrastructure, and less-lucky migrants barely scraping by but still conv
inced of Africa's opportunities. French's acute observations offer illuminating
insight into the most pressing unknowns of modern Sino-African relations: Why Ch
ina is making these cultural and economic incursions into the continent; what Af
rica's role is in this equation; and what the ramifications for both parties and
their people--and the watching world--will be in the foreseeable future.
