The recent unrest sweeping through northern Africa has raised eyebrows in China, highlighting growing links and influences between the continent and the Middle Kingdom. It’s a topic thoroughly explored in Deborah Brautigam’s new book The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa. Brautigam deftly slices through Western stereotypes that paint China’s involvement in Africa, which has flown for quite some time under the international news desk radar, as one of a villain. What Brautigam (an American academic) shows is a much more complex picture. She demonstrates that many African countries are benefiting from Chinese-style assistance, which emphasizes low-interest loans and infrastructure development projects over free aid money. These mutually beneficial arrangements see China increase much-needed resource bases while helping build and strengthen the communities from which those resources flow. Not everyone is happy about China’s increasing presence in Africa, but Brautigam proves that many are, and for good reason.

Deborah Brautigam, The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa: OUP Oxford, available at The Bookworm, ¥180