A Review of the ``Empire of Dust: China in Africa'' Documentary

In lieu of a book, I rather chose to review a documentary, which have some advantages in comparison.
The documentary may be found at the following URL: https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=4LSuZGlqL34

This documentary details Chinese expansion into Africa, building a road in the Congo, in particular.
The previous infrastructure, highlighted several times during the film, was left by the Belgians and
left to return to dust by the Africans.  The roads, railways, and other infrastructure built by them
weren't maintained at all in the fifty years of independence, with this independence being mentioned
many times throughout the film; new promises, by new politicians, are being celebrated near the end.

I occasionally recall that my country be inadequate in several ways, and I'm right to feel this way,
but this documentary reminds the man living in society what he has, and what he could lose: It's not
only that workers don't generally steal petty things such as fuel, but also that they can count when
loading supplies into a truck; it's not only that people generally arrive on time for a meeting, but
that they similarly value their time; and it's not only that there's infrastructure, but that it can
and will be maintained rather than left to return to naught.  Even a bad society offers many things.

I was never taught much of anything about Africa in school, it's not hard to notice why; it would've
been nice to have been shown this documentary in school, but that's also not hard to notice why not.

This documentary is one hour, fifteen minutes, and twenty seconds long.  A bad book may easily waste
someone's time; even a bad documentary wastes much less.  I recommend everyone to watch this, and to
come to his conclusion about its significance.  Regardless, I very much enjoyed giving it a viewing.

At its worst, it's about a company trying to build a road, instead receiving only roadblocks.