Rise and Fall of a Suzhou Soft Serve Baron
Mister Softee, the famed northeastern American ice cream brand, in Suzhou, China? Yes, that was a thing. Turner Sparks, rising from humble beginnings as just another English teacher making his way in...
2 Sep 20201h 6min
Land Wars: China's Agrarian Revolution
In 1927, Mao wrote that "In a very short time...several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be abl...
26 Aug 20201h 5min
Scholarstage on Xi, War in Taiwan, the CCP Toolkit, and the Chinese Tradition
Tanner Greer of the blog Scholarstage joins the show in a wide-ranging discussion touching on Xi's ideology, incentives in western China-watching, Mormons in China, why it's worth studying classical C...
18 Aug 20201h 14min
What China Wants
How do you even go about answering that question? Is there a consensus in Washington on how to confront China and does that consensus make any sense? Ali Wyne and Jessica Chen Weiss come on to discuss...
10 Aug 202042min
Superpower Showdown: Tale of a Trade War
Lingling Wei and Bob Davis of the WSJ discuss their new book Superpower Showdown. We dive deep into the personal dynamics within the Xi and Trump administrations as well as what the twists and turns o...
31 Jul 20201h
TikTok, Tesla, Kanye and Open Source
Should the US ban TikTok? What role does open source play in the tech ecosystem and the Chinese government's plans for self-reliance? Why does tech occupy such a unique role in the US-China tech cold ...
24 Jul 202011min
How Sanctions Fail US Policymakers
Eddie Fishman, who worked in Obama's State Department's Policy Planning Staff, joins to discuss his recent articles on sanctions and the world order. If you know of any job opportunities (or just ...
17 Jul 202035min
How Corruption Works in China
How can China be so corrupt and yet grow so fast? What's the relationship between corruption and competent governance? How does 'access money' at the higher levels differ from the 'profit-sharing' you...
10 Jul 20201h 4min
