Zhao Yanjing on China's Growth and More

New on the site this time, three fun texts:

Zhao Yanjing, “Preface to The Great Rise: China’s Economic Growth and Transformation,” which is Zhao’s own preface to his own book, which came out this year. Zhao is an architect who worked in urban planning before becoming a professor, and his book represents his thoughts about China’s growth over the past few decades. This is not a work of chauvinism, but a systematic study of what China accomplished through land finance and debt. I hope people read the book. They should at least read the preface.

Renwu/People Magazine, “Being a Big Sister has Become a Thing,” which despite the title is a feminist text – in fact a reader’s letter to the editor and the editor’s response- discussing the little girls who were hidden during China’s one-child policy. Organized feminism is impossible in China, but I am convinced that it is everywhere, just beneath the surface. There are lots of texts on young people these days too, although they are too full of memes and Internet slang for me to translate readily. The number of these texts makes me think that someone in China has realized that the kids are not all right.

Ren Ci, “After Two Endless Hot Wars, the U.S. Arsenal of Democracy Suffers a Severe Capacity Crisis,” a well-argued discussion of U.S. military capacity.

I will be in Paris beginning tomorrow, through next Tuesday. The only public talk I am giving is this one, a book launch to which you are all welcome (ha!). My weekend calendar seems fairly open so far if someone wants to share a coffee, a glass of wine, or a meal.

From Wednesday through Sunday, November 22-26, I will be in Barcelona, invited by the wonderful people at the ALTER research group at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. I will be giving a talk Thursday before lunch (which of course is late-ish in Spain). Let me know should you want to attend. We have not yet nailed down the logistics.

Forgive me for plugging my travel blog yet again. Four posts already!

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