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In the last decade China and other rising powers have received increased attention from policy makers, academicians and development practitioners. Notwithstanding a growing number of reports and books that intend to give an overview of the approaches, characteristics or influence of several rising powers in general or in a certain sector , there is still a lack of studies that analyze their presence and influence in one specific country and compare China’s approaches with that of other rising powers on the basis of specific programs and projects. This article explores this issue by comparing the governmental assistance in agriculture and food security of China to Malawi– a country which has only gained interest from the rising powers relatively recently - with that of Brazil, India, South Africa. It looks more specifically at the influence that these rising powers exert on the decision-making process in Malawi, as well as the discourse and practice of the development approaches. The main arguments of the article are that (1) the perception about the influence and potential contribution of the rising powers differs greatly between the traditional donor community and that of the Malawian government and this difference can be explained by the limited coordination and cooperation among traditional donors and rising powers as well as by the importance of ideational influence; (2) despite some similarities there are important differences in the type of influence and the modalities (incl. budget, financing mechanisms and capacity development approaches) between the four rising powers in Malawi Research project and methodology The study features in a four year research (2012-2015) entitled ‘Challenging the Status-Quo. The impact of the emerging economies on the global governance of development cooperation’ commissioned by the Flemish Policy Research Centre for Foreign Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Development Cooperation. The project focuses specifically on the governmental cooperation of Brazil, India, China and South Africa in the health sector in Mozambique and the agricultural and food security sector in Malawi. Some fifteen different projects and programs are studied in more depth: incl. in Malawi (for China:) the agricultural demonstration centre, the South-South Cooperation with FAO; and the agricultural technology transfer with DFID; (for Brazil:) the home grown school feeding programme with the WFP; and cotton four programme; (for India:) the Innovation bridge programme with USAID; the Technical assistance programme in cotton; (for South Africa:) the general cooperation agreement. This specific article uses the Anatomy of Influence framework - developed by Harmer et al. in their assessment of the influence of rising powers on global health - to analyze the ways influence is exerted and draws on information collected during field work in Malawi in 2013 (policy documents and interviews with more than 60 representatives of OECD-DAC donors, rising powers, the Malawian government and other development actors), interviews with Chinese experts in Beijing in 2014. Biography Tom De Bruyn is senior research associate at HIVA-KU Leuven (since 2002) and holds degrees in (social) geography (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB), Development Cooperation (Ghent University) and an MSc in Urban Development Planning (University College London). Before starting at HIVA, he worked at the Geography Department of the VUB and at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg (South Africa). He conducts research on (1) new state and civil society actors in international cooperation (emerging economies from the South, the fourth pillar, migrant organizations), (2) development education and raising awareness and (3) the linkages between migration and development. He also carries out evaluations of development programs and projects. Previous research focus included sustainable development, environmental evaluation and effects of offshore outsourcing of companies. In 2012 he started a PhD at the KU Leuven in which he studies the impact of the emerging economies on the global development cooperation system. This research features within the Policy Research Centre for Foreign Affairs, International Entrepreneurship and Development Cooperation.