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.
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