Dive summary:

• Taking on construction projects in developing countries can bring on challenges that do not favor any political ideology, and Chinese contractors are learning to deal with issues that would confront any company from outside the country.
• Some Chinese firms have learned that it can be necessary to harden both construction sites and support facilities such as worker housing in order to protect them from Asian or African attackers.
• The other lesson that is coming home to Chinese firms is the costs involved with rising wages and a downwardly revised exchange rate that catches up with them when foreign projects are paid in U.S. dollars and the companies have to convert the money into their own currency.

From the article:

Chinese companies completed overseas projects worth $116.6 billion last year, 12.7% more than the total for 2011, according to the CHINCA annual market report. ...