China is currently a source of technology for the developing world, yet little is known about its transfer of modern technologies before the 1980s liberalization. This article excavates a failed surgical turn-key project that China planned in the mid-1970s at Médéa in state socialist Algeria. The case of South-South collaboration analyzes how three principles - simplification, economization, and improvement of labor efficiency - dominated the negotiations and design process. The Chinese aspired to transfer technology suiting Algeria, but were restricted by capital input, technological capacity, and the pragmatism of convenience, as well as a distorted vision of Algerians´ needs. This article puts Chinese industrial aid into perspective within the history of appropriate technology, examining the asymmetries in perceptions, interests, and priorities that sank this early attempt at South-South cooperation. By uncovering the often-neglected perspective of Chinese aid technocrats, it also breaks the stereotype of Maoist China ignoring cost effectiveness in its foreign aid.

• Schlagwörter
  China, Algerien, Technologietransfer, Gesellschaft, Industrie