The recent rapid growth in China's involvement in Africa is being promoted by both Chinese and African leaders as being conducted in a spirit of co-operation, friendship and equality. In the media and informally, however, a different, less harmonious picture emerges. This book explores how China and Africa really regard each other, how official images are manufactured, and how informal images are nevertheless shaped and put forward. The book covers a wide range of areas where China-Africa exchange exists, including diplomacy, technological co-operation, sport, culture and arts exchange. The book also discusses the historical development of the relationship and how it is likely to develop going forward.

Kathryn Batchelor is Associate Professor in the Department of French and Francophone Studies, University of Nottingham, UK.

Xiaoling Zhang is Associate Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, UK.

1. Introduction: Images, Nation Branding and News Framing

2. Beyond the Drama: Sino-African Ties in Perspective

Part I: Building Images through Cultural Cooperation and Diplomacy

3. Revolutionary Friendship: Representing Africa during the Mao Era

4. Giving 'Prominence to Politics': African Sportsmen Visit China in the Early Cultural Revolution

5. Twenty-first Century Sino-African Cultural Cooperation: Exploring Reciprocity

6. Confucius Institutes in Africa: Culture and Language without Controversy?

7. China Corner: Chinese Book Donations to Africa

8. China's Digital Public Diplomacy towards Africa: Actors, Messages and Audiences

Part II: Building Images through Media Representation and Communication

9. Chinese Media and Diplomacy in Africa: Theoretical Pathways

10. Newspaper Coverage of China's Engagement with Nigeria: Partner or Predator?

11. Media Construction of African Image(s) for the Chinese Media Public

12. Chinese Developmentalism and Television Representation of South Africa

13. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities of Huawei and ZTE in Africa

14. The Effectiveness of Chinese Technical Assistance and Knowledge Transfer in East Africa from the Perspective of Medium-of-Instruction