Sinica Podcast

Adam Tooze, economic historian and Columbia professor known for work on global political economy and the energy transition, returns from Beijing to discuss China’s 15th Five-Year Plan and whether it signals a move away from investment-led growth. He explores China’s massive renewables buildout, the idea of a “big green state,” Western recalibrations captured by “Chinamaxxing,” and China’s influence on the Global South’s energy future.

Chang Che, journalist who tracked China’s renewed fascination with Greco-Roman classics. He discusses grassroots love for the Odyssey, the shift from independent scholars to state-backed programs, Xi’s outreach to Greece and its geopolitical meaning, and the role of Straussian thought and institutional politics in shaping China’s classics revival.

David M. Lampton, a leading U.S. scholar of China and emeritus director of China Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS, discusses a joint essay calling for urgent restraint. He covers why the collaboration mattered. He warns about accidental war from miscalculation, explains securitization and economic frictions, and argues Taiwan could be the unlikely starting point for stabilizing relations.

Ting Luo, associate professor of government and AI who studies digital governance, and Daniela Stockmann, professor of digital governance focused on platforms and state power, discuss how states, major platforms, and ordinary users interact in China. They introduce "popular corporatism," explain platform leverage over censorship, survey methods like GPS sampling, the social credit system's two subsystems, and why lurkers matter.

Yi-Ling Liu, journalist and author of The Wall Dancers, maps Chinese online life through vivid personal stories. She explores the metaphor of “dancing in shackles,” early netizen optimism, hip hop and sci‑fi’s rise and co‑optation, feminist activism and crackdowns, and how censorship and moderation became human and industrial. Short scenes show creativity and constraint colliding in China’s digital sphere.

Kyle Chan, a Brookings fellow and author of the High-Capacity newsletter, explains why China is moving from adopter to frontier innovator. He explores overlapping Chinese tech ecosystems, megawatt EV charging and battery scale, and how market forces keep US-China ties alive despite political pressure. The conversation covers firm strategies to navigate geopolitics and which interdependencies matter for global tech.

Patricia Kim, a Brookings fellow studying U.S. policy toward China and the Asia-Pacific, brings data-driven analysis to heated debates. She examines Trump's surprisingly consistent China aims, the limits of reindustrialization and tariffs, technology and AI competition, supply-chain de-risking, and the erosion of diplomatic and military ties. Short, sharp takes that cut through rhetoric to what is actually happening.

Ryan Hass, director of Brookings’ China Center and former NSC China director, offers clear-eyed policy analysis. He lays out three plausible pathways for U.S.-China relations. Conversation covers Trump’s personalistic China strategy, Beijing’s calculations on stability and self-reliance, the critical April visit, Taiwan as a flashpoint, and why mutual vulnerability may produce an uneasy calm.

Afra Wang, a writer living between London and the Bay Area who covers China, tech, and the Industrial Party, discusses The Morning Star of Lingao. She unpacks a crowdsourced alternate-history novel about time travelers bootstrapping industry in Ming Hainan. Conversations touch on China’s engineering-minded Industrial Party, techno-culture, crowdsourced worldbuilding, and how competence became a kind of salvation.

Jia Ruixue, a professor at UC San Diego, and Li Hongbin, an economist at Stanford, dive deep into the complexities of China's Gaokao, the crucial college entrance exam. They discuss how it serves as a formidable gatekeeper for social mobility, the intense pressure families face, and the limited alternatives within the labor market. The guests share personal stories that highlight how the exam system endures despite its flaws, and why reform efforts often fail. They illuminate the intersection of education, inequality, and economic growth in contemporary China.