Angry Syrian and Libyan demonstrators threw rocks, eggs and tomatoes at the Chinese embassy in Tripoli to protest China's veto of a UN Security Council resolution urging Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down: more ›

Perhaps due to the special relationship between the governments of Sudan and China, 14 of the 29 workers held by rebel militants in the southern region of Sudan (not to be confused with South Sudan, the world's newest country) were rescued by the Sudanese Army only two days after their capture by militant rebels. more ›

Forbes China has released its first overseas investment "risk list" for Chinese investors. Like all risk rankings, they gauged things like regional political stability, government corruption, legal system factors, and indicators of social stability and economic opportunities. Whether the Chinese follow these risk assessments is another thing entirely. more ›

In accordance with rapidly-waning Western influence on the African continent, China has surpassed the World Bank as biggest lender to the credit-poor developing world in the past year, according to US-based Asia Society. more ›

“There is an artiste; a world famous artiste who has donated the most to philantrophy causes, who is also the most misunderstood and suffered the most pain in the world. You may guess many names but actually, this one is Michael Jackson, the superstar of the United States. more ›

Is China Africa's new colonial master? This Sunday, sit back and enjoy this 28 minute-long film by Brent Huffman and Zhou Xiaoli who travelled to Senegal in West Africa to find out. Read interviews with the filmmakers here and here. For previous Shanghaiist Sunday Shows, click here. more ›

Ghana's Citi News reports that Chinese women are being trafficked into Ghana to service expatriates working in the country, according to the Accra-based non-governmental organisation Enslavement Protection Alliance West Africa. more ›

For those of you that weren't in Shanghai today, just know that the weather has affected the city's regular serotonin production in a significant way. Suffice it to say, the day's lack of sunlight and non-stop gray drizzle means that a great number of us are going to spend the evening moping about indoors, and we have just the perfect thing for it: an hour-long BBC documentary on China's expansion in Africa! more ›

China is not just building roads, railways, bridges and stadiums on the African continent. It's also building its churches. Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Pentecostal -- China's building them all at a price that the Africans can swallow. From the Ecumenical News International:

“We have worked with them before and we have had a very good experience with them,” the Rev. Anthony Mwituria, who oversees constructions in the archdiocese, said in an interview. “We issued a tender and they came with the best deal.” Church officials say the companies are reliable, quick and efficient. more ›

The move came Monday in the form of a written statement from Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu -- "China respects the choice of the Libyan people and attaches great importance to the status and the role of [National Transitional Council (NTC)], and has kept in close contact with it." China refused to take sides during the civil war, and found itself in hot water earlier this month concerning allegations over arms deals with Qaddafi forces during the conflict. As of September 7th, we'd been waiting for China to pledge support for the NTC, specifically for "when conditions are ripe" as stated by the Foreign Ministry last week. It appears those conditions have come into fruition somehow, potentially related to the NTC agreeing to all prior Libya-China treaties and agreements (China has an estimated $20bn invested in Libya). China is the last permanent member of the UN Security Council to recognize the NTC. more ›

Louise Redvers writes in The Mail & Guardian, a Zambian newspaper:

The first thing you see when you step off the plane at Lusaka International Airport is a giant billboard advertising the Bank of China. more ›

• A video of the Turkistan Islamic Party claiming responsibility for the recent attacks in Xinjiang has just been uploaded. When are all these cells just going to get together and start their own Jihadtube?
• 360buy.com is (allegedly) crossing its fingers for a $5 billion USD IPO next week, in what would be the largest internet-related IPO ever. Meanwhile, its CEO is a little coy about the whole affair, weibbing that he'll be in the middle of a desert.
• The Globe and Mail (who recently made the CCP lose major face) meditates on 9/11 and what it's meant for China.

So, as we all know now. China has been caught selling weapons to Libya under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. But have the two countries always been the best of buddies? Not really, says Brian Spegele of the WSJ's China Realtime Report:

In recent years, the Libyan regime clashed with the Chinese on everything from the rising power’s inroads into Africa to Col. Gadhafi’s economic and political ties with Taiwan. China, which is scouring the world for resources to feed its economy, saw its crude imports from Libya more than double since 2008. But its state-owned oil companies seemed to lack the needed political capital with the Gadhafi regime to gain significant stakes in crude-oil assets in Libya, home to Africa’s largest proven oil reserves. more ›

As part of their "spectators" series, Netease put out this excellent photo set taken of the "Chinese Pioneers in Africa" (拓荒非洲的中国人) this week. We've seen some excellent galleries on the subject before, but not often from Chinese media. These pictures capture the life of the Chinese living in Africa in Côte d'Ivoire, Angola, Zambia, South Africa, and Senegal. more ›

Is this what Mugabe came over to Shanghai for? Rumors are rising that Zimbabwe may be considering using the Chinese yuan as legal tender, rather than their now completely useless Zimbabwe dollar (officially stopped in 2009). Allegedly, tourist department head Hon. Walter Mzembi told , "I hope that in the future, people in Zimbabwe will be able to use Chinese bank cards and the yuan to make purchases, even take out RMB loans." more ›

• Earlier, the South China Morning Post accidentally put the Chinese name for Hu Jia, human rights activist (currently under arrest and recently denied medical leave), in a story about Hu Jintao. ESWN garnered reactions from the press. [ESWN]
• We've mentioned tongqi - the wives of gay men - and their troubles before. But, not that anyone needed reminding, life isn't easy for the other half either. Here's a good piece on why gays decide to marry, even when they're absolutely sure of their sexual orientation [Christian Science Monitor]
• "All across Africa, new tracks are being laid, highways built,ports deepened, commercial contracts signed—all on an unprecedented scale, and led by China, whose appetite for commodities seems insatiable. Do China’s grand designs promise the transformation,at last, of a star-crossed continent? Or merely its exploitation?" [The Atlantic]

• A lot of China's work in Africa has been called everything from "rogue donating" that "hurts ordinary system," but there are a lot of myths and half-truths that need to be addressed before we can accurately assess what they're actually doing there. [Aidwatch]
• China apparently has 8,000 or so credit risks, since it holds billions of dollars in off-balance-sheet debt that would vastly undermine its 9% growth rate. [WSJ]
• More than 300 villagers attacked a Guangdong government building on Sunday to protest a project that would've diverted some of its water to a neighboring town. [China Daily]

"Ethnic Blossom," a Habesha fashion show featuring designs by Sheilla Constance Sidney, took place at the Xiang Yang Elite Villa on Jianguo West Road Friday night. Sidney was born in Guyana, grew up in Paris, and named her fashion collection "Habesha" after an Ethiopian word meaning "to mix." Sidney's clothing line fuses traditional African and Chinese styles and patterns. Habesha will also be online (nothing there now, the website is still under construction). more ›

Angola is the fastest growing economy in Africa. It's GDP expanded 19.9% in 2006, 15% in 2007, and is likely to grow 16.30% this year. And China is playing a huge role in facilitating all that growth, improving Angolan infrastructure, building roads, railways, buildings and hospitals. This new report from Current TV offers a look at China's influence and impact in the ex-Portuguese colony today. It's 24 minutes long and well worth every minute of your time. more ›

From Al-Jazeera:

General Laurent Nkunda, rebel leader of the National Congress for People's Defence (CNDP), has said he wants to re-examine a $5bn dollar deal the Congolese government has struck with China. more ›

A museum designed to help Chinese people learn about all things African has opened up in Shanghai, says Xinhua:

The Museum for An Experience of African Lifestyle, which is now in open to the public, is Located on Xianggang Road near the Bund. more ›

From Al-Jazeera:

China's staunch support of Sudan's government has led some to question Beijing's involvement in the UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur. more ›

Last Wednesday's episode of The Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English dealt with Chinese industries in Africa. Khan hosted a debate among three experts on the subject: Richard Behar, an investigative journalist and author of an article this month in Fast Company titled "China Storms Africa;" John Afele, former director of the International Program for Africa at the University of Guelph; and David Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia. The question on the table:

Is China exploiting African nations and reflecting colonialism, or is it offering them real economic growth and opportunity?

As China rapidly climbs to world economic power, some enterprising individuals are emigrating here in the hopes of finding a new version of the American Dream. Blogging For China translates an article from the Southern Metropolis Daily on African traders who move to China (notably the city of Guangzhou, which currently holds an estimated 100,000 Africans) with the same burning desire of an earlier generation who emigrated to America: a better life. Many of them face strong prejudice against blacks in China and struggle to integrate themselves into their villages. The reporter follows one Liberian trader as he greets Chinese store-owners in his neighborhood:

He’ll loudly greet them, “Friend, how are you recently?” His “friends” don’t respond. Some pull out a cell phone and intentionally ignore him. Others impatiently wave at him, and say in a combination of Chinese and English: “If you’re not buying anything, then go… quickly GO!” more ›

Fashion designers in Shanghai are a jiao a dozen. What is rare is a designer with an innovative concept — not copied, borrowed or recycled from a different era. more ›