Suspicions about Beijing’s role in the takeover were only magnified when, in his first week in office, Mnangagwa relaxed the “indigenization” law — and signed a $153 million loan agreement with China. Beijing, citing its official policy of noninterference, vehemently denies any involvement in the coup. And indeed, such subterfuge seems more in line with past actions of the United States, which secretly helped topple governments from Iran to Chile during the 20th century. But even if Chinese officials told Zimbabwe’s army chief in Beijing they merely hoped for a more stable investment environment, this could still be regarded as the first coup d’état carried out with the tacit approval of the 21st century’s emerging superpower.

China may be new to coups, but it’s one of the oldest players in the global money game. In the past few years, two separate teams of scientists have found medieval Chinese coins along Kenya’s ocean coast. These tiny discs essentially rewrite the history of global trade, showing that Chinese traders reached Africa in the early 15th century, nearly a century before the first European explorers. This is not just a matter of pride. As China now moves to expand its influence in Africa, its state-owned media outlets have seized on these discoveries as proof of China’s historical links to the continent — and as the perfect rationale for its return.

The coins themselves were symbols of monetary might. First introduced in the 3rd century B.C. by China’s first emperor, the uniform copper coin served as an instrument for China’s unification and later its expanding power. The round coins had square holes so they could be strung into belts of a thousand. The belts got so heavy that Chinese merchants in the 9th century began depositing them in one place in return for a paper receipt. They called it fei qian, or “flying money.” When Marco Polo returned from his travels to China in the 13th century, his tales of paper money were met with disbelief. Europe would not have anything similar until the late 1600s.

When Mugabe promised to make the Chinese yuan an official currency, it was mostly a symbolic gesture. There, as in many of the world’s poorest countries, the U.S. dollar reigns supreme, despite almost no American presence. But Chinese economic power is starting to challenge that status. Beijing’s push to internationalize the yuan is motivated by more than vanity. A yuan that circulates more widely would spur Chinese trade, reduce its dependence on dollar holdings and enhance its geopolitical influence. The yuan is hampered by restrictions on its trade on foreign-​exchange markets; Beijing fears that full convertibility would trigger capital flight. Even so, the yuan’s rise is beginning ever so slightly to nudge the system of global currencies away from the U.S. dollar. Last year, the International Monetary Fund added the yuan to its basket of reserve currencies. According to the Bank of China, as of last year, more than two dozen countries were accepting the yuan as a reserve currency, including six in Africa.

The American economy surpassed the British economy in size in 1872, but it took the dollar another 73 years to displace the British pound, at the end of World War II. Over the past decades, there have been other contenders and pretenders: the yen, the mark, the euro. But given its rapid rise — and its acceptance in distant parts of Africa — the yuan might be in the best position to catch the dollar. It may take decades, even centuries. But China, it should be clear by now, is in it for the very long haul.