ChinaTalk

Do you know your breaking porcelain from your eating human-blood-soaked steam buns? Slow Chinese author Andrew Methven (@AndrewMethven) joins me to talk about some of the newest and most interesting Chinese internet slang from the previous year and their origin stories. We discuss new words and phrases inspired by Haidilao cockroach scams, misbehaving tech companies and 996 culture, as well as: Which slang phrases have been co-opted into party talk Luckin Coffee founder Charles Lu’s latest venture Whether idioms are fortelling the fates of Chinese celebrities The best sites Chinese-language sites and accounts for Chinese news See Andrew’s full list here: https://newsletter.slowchinese.net/p/china-in-2021-in-21-words Outro Music: Hip Hop No Party MC (嘻哈沒有派對) HotDog (熱狗) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzfMegHg2tY Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author of China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy Peter Martin (@PeterMartin_PCM) and Schwarzman scholar Jason Zhou return to take us from the young diplomats venturing out of China in the eighties to today’s Wolf Warriors and the adoption of more nationalist rhetoric. We also discuss Chinese diplomats’ and Canadian retirement homes Xi Jinping’s father-in-law and his admiration for Thatcher Tiananmen and rebuilding China back from diplomatic isolation Why Chinese right-wingers send the foreign ministry calcium pills Whether Wang Yi can handle Maotai Check out Peter's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Civilian-Army-Warrior-Diplomacy/dp/0197513700 Outro music: I Am the Wife of Mao Tse-tung from Nixon in China by John Adams, performed by Kathleen Kim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mtMI_huRtY Public notice: ChinaTalk's editor Callan is currently in London and planning an informal meetup up on February 24th. Details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/china-nerds-meetup-tickets-261114549647 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why has China and its foreign ministry struggled to communicate with the world? In his book, China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, Peter Martin (@PeterMartin_PCM) traces the history of China’s post-1949 diplomatic corps, from the impact of Zhou Enlai’s experiences in Paris to reluctant guerrilla-generals-turned-ambassadors trying to get to grips with manning embassies half a world away from Cultural Revolution China. Along with Schwarzman scholar Jason Zhou, we dissect the international diplomacy up to Kissinger’s visit to China. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://patreon.com/chinatalk Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can US-China relations learn from US-Japan relations in the leadup to WWII? To discuss, I’m joined by Stony Brook University’s Michael Barnhart, author of the 1987 Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919–1941 and the more recent Can You Beat Churchill?: Teaching History through Simulations (https://www.amazon.com/Can-You-Beat-Churchill-Simulations/dp/1501755641), with Scholar’s Stage essayist Tanner Greer (@Scholars_Stage) cohosting. We discuss What motivated Japan to invade China Why FDR was particularly worried about a Japanese invasion of the USSR Why Japan and the Nazis thought the West would be on their side The benefits of paying attention to mid level bureaucrats For an ad-free feed, please consider supporting ChinaTalk on Patreon or Substack! Outro music: Bei Mir Bist Du Shein by The Andrew Sisters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe2UXccid40 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See here for the Year in Review in text form with lots of links: https://chinatalk.substack.com/p/2021-year-in-review-future-plans Support ChinaTalk on Patreon at https://patreon.com/chinatalk Fill out this form to help my 'market research' on how to construct the CCP course! https://forms.gle/dXKjzfXWyxyi2ixg9 Wanna cohost a ChinaTalk episode? Fill out this form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0DIG0PlM3PxRZVoBs6BZYiTgQr8945Y44llRazzqQVzwwjw/viewform Here's how to record a voice memo. https://www.npr.org/2017/08/15/496888150/nprs-guide-to-sending-audio Outtro music: 弹壳 Danko - 《ANYWAY》https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLcEXu4cSUA Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NYT bestselling YA author Xiran Jay Zhao (@XiranJayZhao) joins me to talk about her new book, Iron Widow, a Pacific Rim meets Handmaiden's tale sci-fi retelling of the story of Wu Zetian. Co-hosting is ChinaTalk's editor Callan Quinn (@quinnishvili). We discuss: Chinese history Easter eggs in Iron Widow Going viral and Youtube China content How censorship is stifling creativity in C-dramas Why Xiran thinks Confucius was an arsehole Link to Iron Widow: https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Widow-Xiran-Jay-Zhao/dp/0735269939 Rhodium' careers site: https://rhg.com/careers/ Outtro Music: Lexie Liu's Manta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fvUnPl5_BA Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's it like to live across the US-China scientific divide? Yale Law School postdoc, particle physicist and essayist Yangyang Cheng (@yangyang_cheng) joins me alongside undergrad Alex Liang to talk about understanding the other, how the personal can be lost in the noise of geopolitical tension and science across borders. We also discuss Power hierarchies and identities The “new red scare” and scrutiny on Chinese scientists The Large Hadron Collider as a Language as an instrument of state power "Brain drain" and other phrases Yangyang doesn't like Please consider supporting ChinaTalk on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk Links to Yangyang’s articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-china-US.html https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/05/west-china-threat-real-place-domestic-agendas https://thebulletin.org/premium/2020-12/the-edge-of-our-existence-a-particle-physicist-examines-the-architecture-of-society/ Outro music: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free by Nina Simone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inNBpizpZkE Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dewey Murdick, director of CSET, discusses how the organization has brought a new level of rigor to hot topics ranging from chips to immigration and AI safety policy. We also discuss: CSET's Map of Science and the fate of Google Scholar Being beholden to the checkbooks of funders Topics that make policymakers' eyes roll - but shouldn't The optimal employment conditions for growing temperate, nice, low-ego, tasty fruit Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk for an ad-free feed. Outtro music that Dewey eventually got around to sending me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U78QP8nBk Daisy Bell - the first computer to sing Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can eating your sons be morally justified? Stratagems of the Warring States is a collection of stories compiled during the Han dynasty about the many states that fought for control of all under heaven in the Warring States Period between the fifth and third centuries BC. Featuring tales of hostages, statecraft, assassinations and throwing shade on princelings, in this special episode of ChinaTalk, voice actors Jacob Guenther and Chara Lin perform excerpts of Jennifer Dodgson's translation into English, while Dodgson herself discusses each piece. Check out Jennifer's website hosting her translations here. Performances include Qin recruits troops and advances on Zhou to demand the nine cauldrons East Zhou wishes to grow rice Gong Ta defects from West Zhou Zhang Yi runs out of money in Chu An attack on Zhongshan The Queen Dowager of Zhao takes over the running of state affairs Outtro music: Prince Qin Breaking Through the Enemy Array, traditional Tang-era music performed by Hubei Chime Bells Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvTul5_js_A&list=RDadcGeuTMmBA&index=8 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the 6th Plenum communique tell us about where Xi wants to take China? What can you learn by reading the People’s Daily daily and writing a substack on it? And how would you design a course to learn how to read the CCP? To discuss, Manoj Kewalramani (@theChinaDude) of the https://trackingpeoplesdaily.substack.com/ and https://manojkewalramani.substack.com/ newsletters, joins to discuss. For an ad-free feed, please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk Outtro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m1Uf1hbrxU Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Winner of the inaugural Rhodium and China Talk essay contest, recent college grad Maggie Baughman discusses her essay on how the Chinese government uses Western social media to promote their desired image of China internationally with myself and co-host Jeff Kao, a computational journalist at ProPublica. We discuss: The companies offering Chinese entities access and marketing on western social media How China's approach to western social media differs to that in Russia and Iran Foreign influencers on Weibo Why tourism bureaus love pandas, sunsets and happy workers Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at patreon.com/chinatalk Outtro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reYOZ8BrVeg Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Red Roulette, Desmond Shum’s memoir of a fast life, deep in the bowels of Chinese politics, is the bombshell China book of 2021. It tells the story of his rise from an impoverished childhood in cultural revolution-era Shanghai and Hong Kong to his marriage to his social climbing wife with ties to the premier of China, and ultimate downfall as Xi’s anti-corruption push caught up with him. New York Times reporter Mike Forsythe (@PekingMike) and Lizzi C Lee (@wstv_lizzi), a journalist at the independent Chinese outlet Wall St TV, join me to discuss. We get into: Corruption crackdowns under Xi Jinping Western reporters reporting on China The not-so-well-hidden fortunes of Politburo members The dietary habits of traveling Chinese officials For an ad-free feed, please consider supporting ChinaTalk on Patreon at https://patreon.com/chinatalk Outtro music: The Reform Group is Two Years Old by CCTV feat. Xi Jinping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhU8C5RCbBs&t=3s Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China's energy problems are back in the news. Joining me to discuss them is Yan Qin, lead analyst at Refinitiv, with my Rhodium colleague Irina Liu as co-host. We discuss Whether China is serious about its climate pledge Why Chinese industry is moving westwards How "carbon neutral" became a hot topic The importance of global cooperation on climate change For an ad-free feed, please consider supporting ChinaTalk on Patreon here https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/1959352 check out masterworks.io/chinatalk to buy some art! Outtro music: 020 by Tizzy T https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKqjZMA-F88 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Porter joins me with Eric Lofgren from AcquisitionTalk as cohost to reflect on how R&D works and doesn't work `in the Pentagon. Lisa served as was deputy director of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in the DoD, founding director of IARPA, and executive vice president of In-Q-Tel. We touch on: How the error correction of free markets is absent in DoD A round of overrated/underrated on critical S&T areas How successful government organizations empower their staff Why the US lost its dominance in space launch Please consider supporting ChinaTalk on Patreon here! https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/1959352 Outtro Music: 甜甜圈🍩 - KKLUV/WOLF GANG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sj0_J1KnbM Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosts of the Dongfang Hour (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3UXwB0UbUIg4z4vssUHPBw), a podcast focusing on the Chinese aerospace industry, Blain Curcio and Jean Deville join me in another ChinaTalk space episode to talk about launches in China and public enthusiasm for space projects. We discuss The Belt and Road in space The differences between the Starlink and Guowang networks Europe’s dilemma on selling to the US and China China’s ambitious space projects in the 2020s Why the vibe in the Chinese private space industry is “smiley and optimistic” Check out https://www.masterworks.io/chinatalk Please consider supporting the show at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk Outtro Music: Young Thug ft Elton Jon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqIyH_9uaOQ Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Logan Wright of the Rhodium Group returns to the pod to discuss Evergrande's implosion, how we got here, and what this week means for China's economy. Read Credit and Credibility! https://www.csis.org/analysis/credit-and-credibility-risks-chinas-economic-resilience If you only have time for one section, start with section 6. Check out Jon's substack here https://jonathonpsine.substack.com/ Come work for Rhodium! https://rhg.com/careers/ My email is jorschneider @ gmail or on twitter at https://twitter.com/jordanschnyc Outtro music: 朱添澤 - 想 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfRvjlcMuoY Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julia Lovell, author of Maoism: A Global History and The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China, discusses translating Journey to the West (https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-King-Journey-Classics-Hardcover/dp/0143107186), for English audiences. Joined by translator Brendan O'Kane as co-host, on this episode we discuss: The origins of Journey to the West and the exploits of its primate protagonist Sun Wukong. Mao's relationship to the novel and how he saw himself in the Monkey King. Why performances of the story in the Mao era cut out more than 90% of the story Outtro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvA78U8sWn0 Great Sage Equal to Heaven by Hua Chenyu Want to meet up in the bay Oct 5-10th? Hit me up on twitter or at jorschneider @ gmail Outtro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvA78U8sWn0 Great Sage Equal to Heaven by Hua Chenyu Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Russian imperial ambitions and expansionism eastward change over time? Joining me on this episode is Chris Miller, author of We Shall Be Masters: Russian Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin. Chris is a history professor at the Fletcher School and Eurasia Director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Cohosting is independent researcher, journalist and fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute Kamil Galeev. Reach out to him on twitter if you have a place for him to live in DC! We also look at: How the fur trade spurred Russian interest in Alaska, California and Hawaii Russia, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party Why Xinjiang didn’t end up like Mongolia Chairman Mao’s new shoes Outtro music: Kamil's suggestion of what he tells me was a Soviet anti-Japanese war song (it slaps) Три танкиста (three tank men) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp22_BHJDJk Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I was a guest on the Compounding Curiosity podcast, a new show founded by a ChinaTalk fan that focuses on ASEAN, and we had a halfway decent conversation! Hope you enjoy. Mentioned Content: After Xi: Future Scenarios for Leadership Succession in Post-xi Jinping Era China Under Mao: A Revolution Derailed by Andrew G. Walder Outtro Music: 功夫胖KUNGFU-PEN -《阿修罗》https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRAO-f6LxUI Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much credit can the CCP claim post-1949 for the higher level of human development relative to the level of visible capital in China? To discuss, historian Adam Tooze and Matt Klein of the Overshoot come for their third ChinaTalk appearance. We go back to the oft-forgotten hyperinflation of the 1940s to why in the 80s the World Bank believed a little bit of policy tinkering would lead China’s economy to skyrocket. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://patreon.com/chinatalk for an ad-free feed! For a transcript and links to the stuff we talked about, check out the newsletter at https://chinatalk.substack.com/ Wanna cohost a ChinaTalk episode? Submit ideas for shows here! Outtro music: Capper - "牧羊少年/Ἐνδυμίων" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRQoE6dRGSo Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did SpaceX revolutionize the global space industry? To discuss SpaceX's origin story and secret sauce, guest Eric Berger, author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, joins the show. Cory Fitz, author of the TaikoNautica newsletter on China's space industry (http://taikonautica.substack.com), cohosts and shares his perspective on the Chinese launch ecosystem. We discuss: How SpaceX almost didn't succeed The role of government in the commercial space industry 996 culture vs SpaceX engineers Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk Outro music: Space Oddity by David Bowie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

@BadChinaTake, an anonymous twitter account that combined vicious takedowns of, well, bad china takes with a blog https://wokeglobaltimes.com/ that does deep dives into everything from tankie subcultures to China’s xinjiang policy, is one of the best things to hit China twitter. BadChinaTake was recently unmasked as Jake Eberts, a young DC-based China analyst. He joins us today to talk about his journey to twitter infamy. We get into Whether the CIA, Chinese government, or George Soros fund him Crisis, danger and opportunity Whether you should argue with children online The DC think tank complex and China Twitter’s redeemable qualities Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outro music: 不再是少年 by 猛虎巧克力 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0wuSbUl2gM Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2019, Thomas Colvin, Irina Liu and Shirley Han at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (https://www.ida.org/ida-ffrdcs/science-and-technology-policy-institute) were part of a team of researchers that published what is to date the most comprehensive English-language overview (https://www.ida.org/research-and-publications/publications/all/e/ev/evaluation-of-chinas-commercial-space-sector) of China’s growing space industry. We discuss Why Chinese space startups say business acumen is one of their biggest weaknesses How ITAR actually helped China’s space industry grow The space market in the developing world The state of my internet cables Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outro Music: Mi fai impassire by BLANCO ft. Sfera Ebbasta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJNOkLCIg5Y Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do Roombas illustrate the promise and peril of translational research? Which valley of death is really the worst valley of death? And how can woolly mammoths save the planet from climate change? To discuss, I have on: Andrew Sosanya, Policy Analyst for the Day One Project Adam Marblestone of Schmidt Futures (his policy proposal: https://www.dayoneproject.org/post/focused-research-organizations-to-accelerate-science-technology-and-medicine, his blog https://longitudinal.blog/, geo-engineering https://longitudinal.blog/co2-series-part-3-other-interventions/) Orin Hoffman at The Engine (his policy proposal: https://www.engine.xyz/news-item/a-unified-government-vc-approach-to-crossing-the-valleys-of-death/) Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIh4GFUKaSE Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Miller of Tufts and I discuss our report Labs over Fabs, our case for the US to be spending money more broadly than currently conceived by the CHIPS act. (https://chinatalk.substack.com/p/labs-over-fabs-risc-vs-promise) Please consider supporting ChinaTalk! https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ JP Kleinhans (@JPKleinhans) joins to cohost and discuss his April 2021 report that argues it's dumb for Europe to drop billions on some shiny new fabs. https://www.stiftung-nv.de/sites/default/files/eu-semiconductor-manufacturing.april_.2021.pdf The BIS filings we were talking about: https://www.regulations.gov/document/BIS-2021-0011-0001/comment Outtro music: Masiwei of Higher Brothers' Dark Horse sessions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qymY1YezhTY Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does Xi govern like he's running out of time? Rhodium's Dan Rosen and CSIS' Jude Blanchette discuss their recent Foreign Affairs pieces recapping the past years of Xi's rule from an economic and political perspective. We get into failed financial liberalization, anti-corruption, the prospects for war over Taiwan, lessons from Sputnik, and vertical farming. Dan's FA piece: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2021-06-22/chinas-economic-reckoning Jude's FA Piece: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2021-06-22/xis-gamble Outtro music (for my money the best propaganda song ever rapped!) PG One 破晓 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5JKHP0DtNc Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Chinese firms come to dominate the global solar industry? Now that the Biden administration has banned imports for some key components of solar panels made in Xinjiang, how will global solar buyers adapt? Andy Klump, CEO of Clean Energy Associates, a firm tasked with monitoring Chinese solar supply chains, joins the podcast to discuss. Outtro Music: 星球坠落（FALLING）by 艾热, a rapper from Xinjiang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN8lxL1gvOE&list=OLAK5uy_mxe6tOdJnF3FcOOYFaBPPW2wKbrE7mKwU&index=2 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is China different? Does secular stagnation apply? How have Chinese economic policymakers changed over time? Should industrial policy be a thing? What should American academia navigate its relationship with China? To discuss, ChinaTalk welcomes its first former cabinet secretary to the show! Larry Summers is a professor at Harvard, who previously served as Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury and Obama’s NEC Director. Cohosting with me is Logan Wright, Director for China Markets Research at Rhodium. Outtro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNtQth4yX4 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xi Jinping will not rule China forever. What have CCP leadership transitions looked like in the past, and what can we expect when Xi exits stage left? To discuss we have today Richard McGregor, an Aussie journalist with decades of experience in East Asia and author of three absolutely mandatory China books The Party, Asia’s Reckoning, and Xi: The Backlash, and Peter Vanderslice, a recent college grad who just wrote a fantastic thesis on CCP leadership transitions. I'm hiring a new editor for ChinaTalk! Please apply at: https://forms.gle/NNmY2vpm1fXibGYP7 Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ so I can pay said editor! Richard's report on Xi transition: https://www.csis.org/analysis/after-xi-future-scenarios-leadership-succession-post-xi-jinping-era Peter's favorite Liu Shoaqi speeches: https://file.io/ODncJdbhCC7d Outtro Songs: Whitesnake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyF8RHM1OCg Moody Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2L3UzM_FfE Rosemary Clooney: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGeMWB41maM Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave Aitel, who started his career at NSA and spent the past twenty years in offensive cybersecurity, comes on ChinaTalk to discuss What he's learned in his quest to read every cyber policy paper What blindspots remain in the field How China ranks in offensive and defensive cyber ceapabilities relative to the US and what we can all learn from the Tianfu Cup (http://www.tianfucup.com/) Why Cyberpunk 2077 is a masterpiece Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Apply to be an intern at Rhodium! https://rhg.com/careers/ Graded China Policy Papers: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D88loPVPBgGYj53lroS05rB1LJ2kA5DnbfRJIXghST0/edit?usp=sharing Graded Cyber Policy Papers: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pnISykZe1nn1wwWBJRiaxYaqDoj4ADeBtsoUL41Hw2Y/edit?usp=sharing Outtro Music: ICE-PROUD 🏴󠁩󠁳󠀱󠁿 🏴󠁩󠁳󠀱󠁿 🏴󠁩󠁳󠀱󠁿 CAPITALIST-ZIBENJIA feat. 李尔新- & FendigheeRicch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NFP2r6TcMU Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Reinhardt, an independent researcher and robotics PhD, discusses Why DARPA has so many hits to its name Why NASA wasted the past two decades What needs to be subtracted from the US research ecosystem Sci-fi book recommendations Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Intro Music: Mura Masa, Messy Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwXuBAd7Hh4 Outtro Music: 贝贝 / Melo - backbone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26EDDCQcPEQ Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Yan Zheng, senior technical staff specializing in microelectronics at In-Q-Tel, discusses What it's like to invest in startups for the CIA and the rest of the US intelligence community What's broken in the early stage chip ecosystem and how to fix it Why the US government should consider expanding its direct investments in hard tech companies How the US needs to counterbalance CFIUS with carrots How anti-Asian violence has influenced the research community Please consider supporting ChinaTalk! https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro music: ICE - 随便玩玩 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RIS09dQjSQ Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bell Labs is dead, long live Bell Labs! This week's guest, Ilan Gur, the CEO of Activate.org, has a plan to improve America's R&D apparatus: fund start-ups that allow entrepreneurial researchers to pursue the practical applications of their world-class basic research. We discuss why we're lucky to have Moderna and BioNTech (beyond the obvious reasons), the impact of research moving from corporations to universities, the Endless Frontier Act, why patents don't equal innovation, and more. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at glow.fm/chinatalk Outtro Music: עטר מיינר - זמן לדיכאון : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwSj4egHxvE (god that violin) Peled - Sababa 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Pe0Gxbx5c טדי נגוסה ויסמין מועלם - Teddy Neguse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajN_M2k_STM&t=98s Photo of Bell Labs, abandoned. Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Endless Frontier Act, the most important piece of legislation no one's heard of, got blown to bits in committee this week. Sam Hammond of the Niskanen Center joins to discuss. My recent coverage in the ChinaTalk newsletter https://chinatalk.substack.com/p/endless-frontier-the-most-important Sam's coverage: https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-congress-ruined-the-endless-frontier-act/ Outtro Music: Live As You Like by (my new favorite artist) Takayan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85NA-prJZJE Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why hasn’t North Korea emulated Deng’s Opening & Reform? Are China’s wealthy, educated, urbane youth liberals? Could the PLA cooperate with the U.S. military in the event of Korean reunification? Dr. Sungmin Cho of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies joins ChinaTalk for a discussion of the Korean Peninsula as viewed by Beijing. This episode is a companion to this week’s ChinaTalk with Odd Arne Westad. Ainikki Riikonen, a research assistant at Center for a New American Security, joins as today’s co-host. Thanks to CNAS for sponsoring this episode. Read Dr. Cho’s recent article on the joint recovery of fallen soldiers on the Korean Peninsula as a “guardrail to prevent the worsening of” any potential military crisis in the region: https://apcss.org/nexus_articles/the-joint-recovery-of-fallen-soldiers-from-the-korean-war-one-way-for-american-chinese-north-and-south-korean-soldiers-to-cooperate-and-reconcile/ Outtro Music: Dean - D (Half Moon) ft. Gaeko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eelfrHtmk68 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Odd Arne Westad joins ChinaTalk to discuss his latest book Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China-Korea Relations. Westad’s work is a diplomat’s handbook that connects the sweeping currents of history to the geopolitics of today. Co-hosting today is Danny Crichton of Techcrunch. We explore how Korea, past and present, navigates its relationship with the powerful empires on its doorstep. Korea’s unique Confucianism serves as a launching point into a discussion on empire and nation-state that takes us from the Joseon Dynasty’s navigation of the Ming Dynasty’s collapse all the way up to the present day (with snippets on espionage in Qing China, Korea’s own version of the Taiping Rebellion, and Japanese imperialism). We end on K-drama’s popularity in Zhongnanhai and how the flow of South Korean pop culture into China might complicate Chinese leaders’ decision to intervene on behalf of the DPRK in a conflict on the peninsula. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro music (which really is fire this time, stick around for three Korean bangers): Ash Island, Melody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8L2OLu6JZo Sooljalee (술자리) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJAKYX8A_WM NO:EL _ 00 (DOUBLE O) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sALhYkA-ij4 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Part Three of ChinaTalk's industrial policy series, we are joined by two leading lights of the American left: Saikat Chakrabarti, AOC's former Chief of Staff, and Zack Exley of the 2016 Bernie campaign. (Don't forget to check out Part One with Rob Atkinson and Part Two with José Fernandez.) Co-hosting is Vishnu Kannan, a junior fellow in Carnegie's Technology and International Affairs Program. Saikat and Zack take us inside the creation of the Green New Deal, lay out how bold leadership can change a nation's economic trajectory, lament Democrats' lukewarm appetite for industrial policy, and offer up their vision for an American developmental program that harnesses the full potential of its people and capital. We discuss everything from how Harvard teaches economics wrong to what CIA Director Bill Burn's declassified Iraq War cables have to do with the classic film Casablanca. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro music: https://youtu.be/DuVJeJcMod0 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Xu of the fantastic Interconnected newsletter, and formerly of Commerce and the Obama White House, ran through a grab bag of some of the hottest topics in US-China tech. We got into the politics of Tesla in China, what Morris Chang of TSMC thinks about the future of the semiconductor industry, how open source is key to the future of American industrial policy, why the Endless Frontier Act (which I wrote about in the most recent edition of the ChinaTalk newsletter) is the most important bill you've never heard of, and why Bytedance's Zhang Yiming deserves his own biopic. Student Research Symposium: https://forms.gle/FYoSeHS7t3ZLLwEh9 Work with me! https://rhg.com/job/research-assistant-china-technology-and-industry-research/ Outtro Music: Soft Lipa - An Epic | Warrior OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAOTdpEeZ6s Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Student Research Symposium: https://forms.gle/FYoSeHS7t3ZLLwEh9 Work with me! https://rhg.com/job/research-assistant-china-technology-and-industry-research/ Thomas Shugart joined me and Eric Lofgren on another cross-over episode of ChinaAcquisitionTalk. Thomas spent 25 years in the US Navy and is currently an adjunct senior fellow at CNAS. This possibility is made more dangerous considering the rise of China’s military, particularly in long-range missiles, bombers, and navy. The expansion of the PLA Navy over the last five years as been nearly identical to the legendary 1980s Reagan build-up. “For all the talk of them being next generation swarming and unmanned,” Thomas said, “they sure are bending a lot of iron building ships.” You can find some of Tom's writing on his CNAS page, including his War on the Rocks article, All about EVE: What virtual forever wars can teach us about the future of combat. His statement to the US-China economic and security review commission is here. He's on Twitter at tshugart3. Intro Music: PLA Rocket Force theme song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG1J8R3kweU Outtro Music: 当地人— Ansrj 李尔新Lilshin 孟子 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqFgUFwxHiY Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fascinated (or stunned) by China’s recent anti-monopoly moves against tech giants Ant and Meituan? Want to get inside the head of Chinese regulators as they plan their moves against the globe’s largest corporations? ChinaTalk has you covered. This week I’m joined by Dr. Angela Zhang, a professor at The University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, to discuss her new book “Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How The Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation”. Yvonne Yu, my colleague at Rhodium, cohosts. Together we dig deep into the past, present, and future of the Chinese regulatory state. Dr. Zhang tweets at @AngelaZhangHK and you can read her work in Nikkei Asia as well: https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-s-Alibaba-probe-is-not-all-bad-news Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro Music: 艾志恒Asen - 错意 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV1aEYpeteM Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enzo Chen, author of the Substack 推播助栏The Podcast Pick, and Caiwei Chen, the host of 定向跳转 The Redirect Podcast and the superb newsletter Chaoyang Trap, discuss all things podcasting in China and Taiwan. We get into the best Chinese-language shows, what makes China's leading podcast app so special, the demographics of podcast listeners, censors efforts to control the newly popular medium, and Jordan's auditory forays into classic Chinese literature. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro music: PGONE X H3R3 都是你 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLe3ksDaX1k Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What as the rise of streaming, idols, and increased censorship done to Chinese TV? Co-hosting is Ina Yang, one of the founders of the Chinese-language podcast Loud Murmurs. We discuss Chinese dramas with AvenueX, the intrepid YouTuber who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Chinese TV scene. AvenueX explains how the internet changed Chinese dramas (and not always for the better), why China’s censorship system leads to stilted plots (it’s not quite what you’d think), and why Zi Jinchen is the luckiest novelist in China (it’s not his books that made him famous) We also discuss our favorite shows of the past year, and our recommendations for those looking to get started in the world of C-dramas. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Links: The bad kids eng sub: https://www.iq.com/play/2ffkwrzp4tg The Long Night eng subs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqODiKTH8a4 Minning Town eng subs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8dv_IepPWg Outtro Music: Mercy, 'Wubba lubba dub dub' a Rick and Morty-inspired rap song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjvTke77240 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Huarong and why do its struggles explain the central contradictions of China's financial system? To discuss, Logan Wright of Rhodium joins the show. In the first ten minutes, Logan catches us up on the news of the week. Then in the following hour, I rerun an episode we recorded together in late 2018 discussing his report Credit and Credibility, which explains why the big one hasn't hit yet. Want to get in touch? We can be reached at [email protected] Outtro music: Miraie & Milkoi 『 ミユキ 』https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e66NfKGjRY Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What was the Chongqing Model and why does it still matter? Yueran Zhang, a PhD student in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses. We talk about how Bo Xilai utilized mass mobilization against his enemies in the central government and China’s labor movements, and the significance of the 2018 Jasic protests. Zhang’s two recent articles for Made In China journal, “The Chongqing Model One Decade On” and “Leninists in a Chinese Factory: Reflections on the Jasic Labour Organizing Strategy,” serve as the basis for today’s episode. Outtro music: some pro-Bo Xilai song written in 2009 to commemorate him taking on gangs (full story here: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%96%84%E7%86%99%E6%9D%A5%E4%B9%8B%E6%AD%8C) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND6fOAR4MWA While this song is hilarious, I couldn't find a good recording and didn't want to you have to listen to the whole thing. Also thought it would be funny to pair this with folks who idolize gangsters... Outtro music #2: GOSH Music 2020 cypher (the biggest Chongqing hip hop collective) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M0axMxBSWg The views expressed in this podcast do not reflect those of the Rhodium Group. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Rozelle (legend, Stanford professor, co-director of the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions) joins ChinaTalk to discuss his recent book Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise, co-authored with Natalie Hell. We discuss how China’s 900 million-strong low-income population will decide China’s future development path. Is China is the next Mexico? Why is it easy to solve poverty but not low income? Why don’t local governments spend enough on rural education and health? How has the relationship between academia and government changed from the Hu Jintao-era to the Xi Jinping-era? The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not represent those of the Rhodium Group. Outtro music: 刘思鉴 x 李佳隆 JELLORIO - "纸上谈兵" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44nfbyjzkMg Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To discuss, ChinaTalk assembled two of my favorite Japanese think-tankers, Yuka Koshino, a Research Fellow at the UK think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and Akira Igata, the Executive Director at the Tama University-affiliated Center for Rule-making Strategy (CRS). Joshua Fitt of The Center for a New American Security cohosts. Thanks to CNAS for making this show possible. Outtro songs: Takayan, What’s the meaning of living: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGDQQnBVUsk Hideyoshi, Majinahanashi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a3sPzbG68I You heard it here first, Takayan's gonna be huge. And if for whatever reason you want to get depressed listening to AR's propaganda rap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmAkYGQXv5Q Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek Sandhaus is the author of Drunk in China: Baijiu and the World's Oldest Drinking Culture and part of the team behind Ming River Baijiu, the first (good) Baijiu created especially for the international market. We discuss AA in china, Baijiu's origins, different varieties of Baijiu, the drink's evolving role in modern China, as well as the challenge of bringing such a polarizing drink to Europe and the US. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro music: Hiperson, Spring Breeze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHe1OrbuW5g&list=PL0Lwt5eNBHLmL8zP03KbqekrRbje8FCbu&index=48 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are the US and China in ideological competition? How does one go about answering that question? Dan Tobin of the US Intelligence Community's National Intelligence University and Ryan Manuel of Official China have a dangerous amount of fun debating guiding ideologies and what they mean for geopolitics. Dan's 2020 congressional testimony on CCP ideology: https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/testimonies/SFR%20for%20USCC%20TobinD%2020200313.pdf Ryan's PhD thesis on CCP bureaucracy (which really is fantastic, chapter 3 is an absolute must-read): https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:84ec884b-9bd7-46d7-a395-f6bf9ba501e0/download_file?safe_filename=RManuel%2BDPhil%2BFINAL.pdf&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Thesis This episode was recorded in late 2020. Dan's views are his own and do not reflect those of the US Government or the NIU. The only way I can hope to keep up this two-show/week pace is to pay my fantastic editors to clean up these episodes for you all. Please consider supporting the show at glow.fm/chinatalk. Outtro Music: 我的祖国 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3abtW9qrc Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Verwey of the Substack “Semi-Literate" (and formerly of Commerce’s BIS, USITC, and USTR) talks the history and future of China's chip industry. We get into government guidance funds, the CHIPS Act, “Fabs not Labs,” export controls, and more. John's substack: https://semiliterate.substack.com/ Outtro Music: Justice‘s Genesis (Live Version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdsEaSx7u90 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michèle Flournoy joined AcquisitionTalk's Eric Lofgren and me for another crossover episode of China-AcquisitionTalk. Flournoy is a former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, co-founder and new board chair of CNAS (where I'm a fellow), and currently the founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors. I dove deep into the archive, digging up copies of Flournoy's undergraduate and master's theses to discuss "psycho-social approaches to international relations" and 1980s nuclear policy. We also covered: China’s approach to systems destruction warfare How to make a compelling case for technologists to join DoD Nuclear policy and affecting the strategic calculus Whether “legacy” weapons need divestment A “Manhattan Project” for AI/ML Please consider supporting ChinaTalk https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro music: O.WEN《官方回答》 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXT3zITsydQ The views expressed in this podcast do not reflect those of the Rhodium Group. Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices