The first of a two-part documentary in which Justin Rowlatt travels across three continents to investigate the spread of China's influence around the world, examining the validity of claims that the country might soon overtake America as the world's economic superpower. He begins by revealing how some Chinese entrepreneurs see Africa as a place of near-limitless business opportunities, setting up enterprises from Angola to Tanzania

Justin Rowlatt crosses Brazil and the United States on an epic journey as he continues to investigate the spread of Chinese influence around the planet. In Rio, local industries, including bikini factories, are threatened by cheap Chinese imports, and in the Amazon, Justin witnesses the phenomenal impact of the Chinese hunger for resources on the indigenous people and the environment. In the US, from California to the rust belt, Justin encounters the rising undercurrent of American fury over their own decline in the face of competition from China.