Much of the international press coverage of Chinese products in Africa has concentrated on the negative consequences on the African textile and clothing industry. However new research from Hong Kong academics Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong has suggested the impact of Chinese goods in the continent is much more complex.

At the Kabwata market in Lusaka, Zambia the local manager Edward Sitambuli disputes that claim.

There is a lot of improvement actually, we do accept the Chinese products in Zambia, especially here in Kabwata we have seen a lot of people in employment because of the products coming from China. The Chinese actually have done a lot here, the shops that you are seeing behind me here are run by the Chinese but they have employed Zambians so Zambians have got jobs. Of course we are not complaining about the products from China.

They are getting new clothes now, no longer going for second hand clothes because new products are there. These old clothes we don’t know where they are coming from but if you get something new these are really easy to access and the prices are fair.

Sautman and Hairong claim the African textile industry was in decline long before the shipments started from China.

Africans have benefited from the influx of relatively cheap Chinese goods, its enabled Africans for the first time for example to purchase new clothes. In the past they have had to buy used clothes imported from Europe or North America but now there are relatively cheap and reasonably well made Chinese clothes available on the market and there are Chinese household goods available on the market and Africans are able to purchase them for the first time.

You also have Chinese engaging in providing medical service to local communities, I think they have been quite helpful for the Zambian community, especially in the context that there has been quite a lot of drain of medical personnel from Zambia as well as other African countries to the West and so this is a gain for Zambia. Also you have Chinese engaging in farming this actually fits Zambian government’s own agenda in terms of diversifying its own economic activities instead of relying solely on the mining industry so they want to develop there agricultural sector and recently the Chinese government provided funds to build grain storage and that is quite important in terms of its own food security. So these have been interesting things that have been done which has involved a lot of Chinese effort. Of course most of these things have been done for commercial interest but they are things that serve the local Zambian domestic market and not aiming at the international market so I think on the whole they have benefited Zambian society.

In Lusaka the clothes markets are growing as young Zambians scour the stalls for the latest fashions.

Normally we come to Kabwata we like looking for Chinese products the reason being is they are much cheaper as compared to other products that’s why we really appreciate them and they are good quality. They are quite fashionable at least there is something latest every time we come here.

Video: D J Clark

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About D J Clark

D J Clark has worked worldwide as a photojournalist for more than 20 years. He specialises in working with international development NGOs to highlight social, political and environmental issues through long term photography projects. D J Clark researches and writes about photography as a vehicle for social change, the subject that drives both his photographic and academic work. More recently his work has concentrated on Multi Media news production.