As China’s largest trading partner in Africa and host to an estimated 250,000 Chinese migrants, Angola is one of the most significant sites for analyzing China–Africa relations today. This paper, based on ethnographic fieldwork in both Angola and China conducted in 2013–2014, analyzes conversations about Chinese globalization in Africa to show how Chinese speakers spoke performatively about a politically charged phenomenon in which they found themselves implicated. Encounters between Chinese expatriates, a European journalist and an American anthropologist reveal the assumptions underlying which questions get posed about Chinese interventions in Africa and how Chineseness is articulated in response.
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