This chapter explores Chinese loan finance in Africa and its relevance for Africa’s economic modernization and structural transformation between 1960 and 2016. Drawing on an original database of Chinese loan finance China–Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-CARI), the chapter begins by outlining the changing actors involved in lending from China and the different kinds of loan instrument. It then examines the sectors in which Chinese lending clusters, shedding light on the degree to which African borrowers use these loans directly or indirectly to support structural transformation projects in industrialization and agro-finance, and related infrastructure. The chapter pays special attention to the modalities of structuring loan finance and providing guarantees of repayment in risky environments when many countries have only recently emerged from a long debt crisis. Finally, it considers concern over rising debt levels in a number of African countries.