Why Chinese Agriculture Engagement in Africa is Not What it Seems

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
The Western and African media have long fueled the myth that Chinese investors are buying up vast tracts of land across Africa as part of a neo-colonial plan to export food back to China. Sure, on one level, the theory appears plausible: China has...

Green Space

01.27.16

Kunming’s Stinky Lake, Beijing’s Saving Winds

Michael Zhao
Lake Dian in Kunming, the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province, suffered greatly when, in the 1950s, Chairman Mao Zedong called on the Chinese people to “conquer nature” and reclaim land by filling lakes with soil.Nowadays, Dianchi, as it’s...

The Real Story Behind China’s Alleged Conquest of African Farmland

Deborah Brautigam
Quartz
“A common perception is that China is supporting Chinese enterprises to acquire land abroad as part of a national food security strategy.”

Environment

03.11.15

China’s Polluted Soil and Water Will Drive up World Food Prices

from chinadialogue
China’s push for more intense farming has kept its city dwellers well-fed and helped lift millions of rural workers out of poverty. But it has come at a cost. Ecosystems in what should be one of the country’s most fertile regions have already been...

Reports

02.01.15

China’s Water-Energy-Food Roadmap

Susan Chan Shifflett, Jennifer L. Turner, Luan Dong, Ilaria Mazzocco, Bai Yunwen
Wilson Center
The water-energy-food nexus is creating a complicated challenge for China and the world. Energy development requires water. Moving and cleaning water requires energy. Food production at all stages—from irrigation to distribution—requires water and...

China Cloning on an 'Industrial Scale'

David Shukman
BBC
A converted shoe factory in Shenzhen becomes the world's largest cloning centre through "handmade cloning."

China Risks Hobbling its Economic Development with Too Many Policy Goals

Stephen Roach
South China Morning Post
(Op-ed) China's economic planners need to prune and prioritise their myriad policy objectives so the country can move with purpose towards the goal of structural rebalancing.