Do the Chinese Bring Chitukuko? Rural Malawian Understandings of Chinese Development

The Government of China assists Malawi with infrastructure, grants and loans, and Chinese businesses provide cheap commodities to Malawians. Despite this, Tumbuka northern Malawians do not conceptualise the Chinese as doing development. Rather, they perceive the Government of China as exploiting their government and conceptualise Chinese goods as signifiers of Malawi's underdevelopment. This article argues that Tumbuka apprehensions about China reflect a prominent Malawian discourse, where ‘development’ is associated with westernisation and is gifted into a nation and community by wealthy outsiders. This finding goes someway to explaining Malawians' reactions to Chinese ‘developers’ and presents a challenge to western development norms