The December 3, 2007 Newsweek carries the story “China’s African Misadventures” about Chinese-run infrastructure development projects in Africa. You sort of expect passages such as
The Chinese thought they’d come in here and make a killing,” says a Western diplomat in the capital, Luanda, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “Now they’re facing the reality—it’s hard to do things here.”
My favorite is the following excerpt:
“They’re gone,” says a scrawny guard at the entrance to Catumbela’s paper mill, as he stares disconsolately at the tracks. “I don’t know when they’re coming back—they ate their dogs and left.”