How China reshapes Ethiopia

China has invested over 40 billion US dollars in Africa in 2016, mainly in oil and mineral extraction and in real estate and infrastructure projects. Thousands of Chinese companies are now operating in Africa and China overtook the US as the largest trading partner with the African continent in 2009. At the same time, China has awarded tens of thousands of scholarships to African students in recent years. Ethiopia belongs to the countries that profited the most from Chinese investments in the past years. New luxury hotels, shopping malls, an airport expansion and special economic zones were built. A railway between Djibouti and Addis Ababa, neglected for decades, was restored by China and China's first military base in Africa was opened in Djibouti. No wonder that thousands of Chinese workers have settled in the capital, Addis Ababa, where there are now dozens of Chinese restaurants and a dedicated Chinese market. I wanted to learn more about the impact of Chinas engagement on the African continent and embarked on a research trip in and around Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, as well as in Dire Dawa near the border with Djibouti. I investigated the question of how China's presence