Is Zambia slowly becoming Chinese?

When the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) project was completed in 1976, it was China's largest single foreign-aid package and a symbol of Beijing's support for newly independent African countries. China dispatched nearly 50,000 engineering and technical personnel to work on TAZARA. However, this mighty project has been waning since the late 1990s. Now the train transports more copper than people.

Zambia is constructing a China-funded mega project – the 321 km (200 miles) Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway. The construction is being carried out by China Jiangxi Corporation at a cost of $1.2 billion (€1.042 billion), paid with a loan from China's Exim Bank. At the groundbreaking ceremony, President Edgar Lungu called the project "a symbol of China-Zambia friendship in the new era."

Another example of spending on a lavish scale is the construction and expansion of the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. The total contract sum of the ongoing project is put at $360 million, also funded by Exim Bank of China and built by China Jiangxi Corporation. Many Zambians describe it as an unnecessary "white elephant" project.

The Bank of China has opened branches all over Zambia. It has been running a yuan cash business service since 2011, providing financial services to Chinese companies seeking to enter the Zambian market. It's however unclear whether the bank issues loans to local Zambians.

Copper is Zambia's main export commodity and Chinese firms have been active in the industry, for example, in the Chambishi Copper Smelter. However, they lag behind the major players like Switzerland-based Glencore, Canada's First Quantum Minerals and Barrick, and India's Vendanta. The Chinese are,however, rapidly increasing investments in the mines with a recent $832 million mine in Chambishi.

Zambia permits foreigners to trade only in wholesale, not in retail. Despite this, DW found out that quite a number of shops in the capital Lusaka were owned by Chinese businessmen, who come by once in a while to collect money. Local Zambians are hired as front men and the shops are registered under their names.

At this chicken market in the suburbs of Lusaka, vendors told DW that the large trucks from where chickens are traded are owned by Chinese investors. This angers locals who say the Chinese have taken away their livelihoods and deprived them of jobs. The Zambian government has denied that Chinese investors were engaged in activities such as rearing chickens and roasting maize.