I met with the staff in charge of agricultural assistance at the World Bank and other international aid agencies, but no one recalled hearing about a Chinese pledge to provide $800 million for rice production or any stories of public outrage or government denials of a plan to bring in Chinese settlers. At the International Monetary Fund's Maputo office, a staff member who had been tracking Chinese investment in Mozambique told me, "Agriculture is a priority area for the Mozambique government. A group of prominent Frelimo people want to find investors for the Zambezi valley. They have offered special tax incentives. There is Chinese interest, but nothing firm." – Quartz

Dominant Social Theme: The Chinese are coming!

Free-Market Analysis: This article in Quartz is actually an excerpt from a book, Will Africa Feed China? Since the full book is not available in the magazine, it is a little difficult to figure out the nuances of the argument it's making. But it seems clear that the author intends to debunk at least the most hysterical tales of a worldwide Chinese takeover.

Interestingly, as we can see from the above excerpt, a lot of the excitement – and fear – about Chinese investments may be exaggerated or simply untrue. Additionally, Chinese demand may have been damped by the recent China market collapse.

Fortunes of some of the country's most successful entrepreneurs have been considerably downsized. For instance, telecommunications entrepreneur Wang Jing, 42, possessed a paper fortune of US$10 billion in June. As of October 1st, that number had shrunk to US$1 billion.

His US$500 million investment into a $50 billion Nicaraguan Canal now looks a good deal more significant considering it comprises one-third of his net worth. The venture has attracted considerable, bitter opposition from locals.

It is surely true that around the world the Chinese have been purchasing various kinds of properties, developing others and buying farmland to feed its population of 1.3 billion. But as with the Japanese before, some Chinese activities are exaggerated and others simply don't exist.

The Chinese are now entering a new phase of "red capitalism." The recent Chinese stock market crash that wiped out some 30 percent of the market's value may well be a prelude to something worse. Nothing is guaranteed.

Last year, the IMF reported the Chinese economy was bigger than the US's "both in terms of raw GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP)." This was a most surprising statement and yet it seemed borne out by facts.