I meant to post this last Friday with our newsletter but hey, the @TechBuzzChina China AI Atlas is now live! It's a free and interactive "field guide" to the top labs, talent and capital building China's foundation models and it is one of quite a few data tools we are building to map our "coverage universe" in China properly (the others being robotics / physical AI, advanced manufacturing, EVs, biotech, and more). The atlas itself is at ai.techbuzzchina.com and we are thankful to @Gracemzshao of AI Proem and @CRC_8341 China Research Collective for their contributions and help! Any errors that survive are ours. A thread on the Atlas & what the data shows in this alpha version. 1. As I mentioned before, one of the first things we did was to map the most important researchers and try to give you a flavor for their technical strengths, tech/product/life philosophies, personal journeys, so that you can get a better feel for how they differentiate from each other. To make it slightly more fun and interactive, we made it so that each of the top ~50 profiled researchers got a "stat card" that shows off their relative strengths and weaknesses in a few core metrics. And you can even have the labs "face off" against each other in a mock head-to-head, lol. *Scores are data-based but ultimately subjective and meant to spur discussion / be entirely for fun!!

Lololol

Crazy story of the week: The tragic incident surrounding the Netflix adaptation of the "Three Body Problem" series is not widely known among its fans. Lin Qi, a visionary and brilliant young billionaire, acquired the rights to the "Three Body Problem" with the ambition of creating various products from it. He enlisted the expertise of Xu Yao, a distinguished lawyer, appointing him CEO to spearhead the business operations, including securing a deal with Netflix—a feat for which Lin compensated Xu with a salary of nearly $3 million. However, Xu's performance did not meet expectations beyond the Netflix agreement, leading Lin to reduce his salary to $750,000 and bring in additional executives to enhance business operations. Xu, retaining his CEO title, was reportedly infuriated by this demotion and further aggravated by not being credited as a producer on the Netflix project. Driven by revenge and inspired by the TV show "Breaking Bad," Xu meticulously planned Lin's murder. He purchased 160 phones and established a company in Japan to acquire the necessary chemicals for his scheme, testing them on animals. Xu then poisoned Lin and his colleagues, disguising the lethal substances as an advanced probiotic. Lin unsuspectingly consumed it and soon after was hospitalized, where it was immediately apparent he had been poisoned, though the specific toxins were unknown. The police quickly suspected Xu, who, had he disclosed the nature of the poisons (later found to have included exotic substances such as pufferfish poison and mercury and at least three other poisons), could have saved Lin's life. However, he chose not to, ensuring Lin's demise. Just a few days ago, as the show was premiering globally, Xu was finally sentenced to death for the murder of Lin and attempted murder of two other colleagues, who survived but with lifelong injuries. Lin Qi, credited as an executive producer on the Netflix project posthumously, passed away at the age of 39. RIP 🕯️

Husband is on work trip & just sent this snap of a license plate he saw 😹

TIL Chinese people call Trader Joe’s 缺德舅 (Que De Jiu) which is a phonetic translation but the actual meaning is unfortunately Immoral Uncle

Last week, the WSJ reported on the decline of tech jobs, particularly entry-level and recruiting roles, suggesting they might be gone for good. I initially thought it was exaggerated, but then saw a UC Berkeley CS professor mention that even his top students are struggling to get job offers. That’s concerning. My kid is far from college, but I’m curious—how are parents of high schoolers approaching career guidance for their kids in light of this?

The feel good 💕story of the year: China's Good Will(a) Hunting, Vocational Fashion Student and Improbable Math Genius 17-year old vocational high school student Jiang Ping, who spends her days studying fashion design and literally making clothes, places 12th out of 801 finalists for the global Alibaba Math Contest. Unlike most of the other contestants, who hail from the top educational institutions in the world -- plenty from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and of course Tsinghua and Peking University -- she was one of the roughly 50% of kids in China who didn't even go to a regular high school and ended up at this vocational high school, where the primary purpose is to prepare them for a skilled, hands-on vocation. In her case, that is fashion design. She seems to have had just a super high aptitude for Math since she was young, and always found all the math problems in class very trivial. When she aced her first math exam at the vocational school, her Math teacher gave her a few advanced math books for self study. Armed with just a Chinese-English dictionary and translation app, she began to study in her spare time and found a lot of joy in exploring the beautiful universe that is Math. When asked if she likes fashion design more or Math more, she still said fashion design, and said that she saw her favorite, partial differential equations, present everywhere in fashion designs. She was quite intimidated initially and wasn't going to sign up for the prestigious math contest, but at her teacher's urging that it's open to anyone and totally free, she decided to give it a try. Now, the final portion of the Alibaba Math contest is 6/22, and she is just a "top finalist," not one of the five 1st place winners ... yet, but she has won already in my mind, and I really hope this stories inspires other talented, but also poorly-resourced students and teachers to go for their dreams. And kudos to @AlibabaGroup for setting up such an awesome, prestigious and yet open-to-all contest to discover more latent talent like Jiang Ping! h/t @passluo

Western Biotech’s “DeepSeek Moment” – China’s Rise in Pharma Innovation The WSJ article opens with how Summit Therapeutics’ cancer drug, licensed from China’s Akeso, outperformed Merck’s $30B Keytruda. But apparently this isn't all that special — Chinese companies now account for 31% of major pharma licensing deals, up from just 5% in 2020. How Did China Get Here? The investment bank Stifel listed the below provocative answers they think you'd hear if you asked Chinese biotech CEOs. (Some of these answers seem like they apply to multiple industries, especially #1 & 2.) 1️⃣ You didn't appreciate us. "We worked in your American labs, but you wouldn’t promote us. So we went back to China and built our own companies. Now that you see how good we are, don’t complain." 2️⃣ We run lean and fast. "Your biotechs are bloated with unnecessary FTEs, fancy executive suites, and endless meetings. We focus on innovation, not bureaucracy. You’re paying for overhead, not breakthroughs." OUCH?! 3️⃣ We don’t need to steal your secrets. "Finding novel epitopes and mastering phage display isn’t rocket science. We innovate just like you—except we work harder." 4️⃣ You pushed Wuxi out—we welcomed them back. "You decided Wuxi Biologics was a threat. Fine. Now they focus on our molecules, working faster at a fraction of the cost. Again, don't complain." Why Chinese Biotech Is Winning ✅ Lower costs & streamlined clinical trials ✅ Lean operations with minimal bureaucracy ✅ Better drug candidates at lower prices ✅ Faster R&D with Wuxi and other CDMOs driving efficiency Global Pharma’s Growing Dependence on China - Nearly a third of licensed molecules in 2023-2024 came from China. - VEGF x PD-1, a major oncology breakthrough for solid tumors, originated in China, where research remains ahead of Western counterparts. - China is rapidly advancing first-in-class biologics and fundamental life sciences research. Finally, efforts to cut off China (e.g., BioSecure Act) are losing momentum, as they offer little national security benefit. What This Means for Western VC & Biotech Chinese biotech isn’t just competing—it’s delivering better drugs at lower prices. If this trend continues, industry experts are predicting it could disrupt the U.S. biotech funding model, as VCs struggle to justify sky-high valuations when superior alternatives are available for less. Meanwhile, India is also entering the game, adding to the competition. I’m no biotech expert, but after loosely following the industry for the past two years, this WSJ headline doesn’t surprise me. A decade ago, when LPs asked me to look into China’s then-nonexistent biotech sector, I never could have predicted its rapid rise. What’s more surprising—and disappointing—is seeing the U.S., once the gold standard for efficiency, now bogged down in the kind of bureaucracy I used to associate with China. But as a consumer, I’m excited to see China, India, and others join the race for better drugs. Links below in comments.

One of the hottest trends in Chinese consumer internet this year … Revenue from short video dramas 短剧 — serialized stories of 1-2 minute episodes typically totaling 60-120 minutes, designed for vertical viewing on phones—has surpassed movie box office. Operators compare them to “mini games” rather than traditional long-form media. Creators attribute their addictiveness to the fact that they cram “2-3 movies’ worth of drama into one series” and the “3-7-21 rule,” where every 21 seconds must evoke a new emotion to maintain engagement. I forgot what the 3 & 7 stand for though 😂

3 miles away from Beijing Capital Airport and it looks like I’m in a 6th tier village (or lower). Lots of development still to go in China

I didn’t make this up, I had ChatGPT summarize a Chinese article on this, but here is the English coverage. And yeah Xu was sentenced just a week ago, on 3/22 in China pretty much at the same time as the 3/21 premiere in US. Justice finally. RIP cbsnews.com/amp/news/xu-yao-…

There’s this metaphor in Chinese business strategy that you see all the time, even though you never really hear it in Western business schools (at least I haven't). It’s called the “catfish effect,” and it supposedly comes from a Norwegian fishing practice. Apparently, when fishermen would transport sardines in tanks, a lot of them would die along the way because they’d stop moving and run out of oxygen. But if you put a single live catfish into the tank, the sardines would stay active, swimming constantly to avoid getting eaten, and more of them would survive the journey. The catfish made the environment slightly hostile, which weirdly made it more survivable. This story kind of floated around in Western motivational books for a while, but it never really stuck in business theory the way things like disruptive innovation or lean operations did. In China though, the idea of the catfish effect, or 鲶鱼效应, became pretty popular in corporate training settings and state-aligned business commentary, and it's pretty obvious that a main reason for that is cultural. There’s just more acceptance of discomfort as a developmental tool, and less hesitation to design pressure into the system from the top down. It’s not “disruption” as a natural market phenomenon, it’s more like managed agitation. Like, let’s introduce a little stress on purpose, because stagnation is the bigger risk here. And yeah, I'm sure some will disagree with this example, but in China, Tesla's arrival is considered a clear-cut case of the catfish effect in policy. At the time, the government was pretty frustrated with its domestic EV scene. The subsidy program, although improved from the decade prior, had still led to all kinds of abuse and fraud, with a bunch of half-baked companies just trying to cash in on government money without building anything truly innovative. It was getting embarrassing. So the government said, okay, fine. Let’s put a catfish in the water. They gave Tesla this rare set of approvals -- full ownership of their China operations, fast-tracked factory deals, land, logistics support -- the works. It was a provocation. Like, hey all of y'all Chinese companies, you guys need to be way faster cuz here comes the catfish. Swim! And sure, it wasn't all because of Tesla, but the pace of innovation has indeed picked up since then, in operations, design, user experience, everything. This is where it really differs from how Western business theory tends to approach competition. In the US, you see a lot more disruptive innovation. In China, competition can be curated, introduced, even welcomed -- not to destroy the domestic players, but to get them moving again. Of course, it doesn’t always work. Sometimes the catfish is too strong, or the sardines were already too weak. And sometimes you get eaten, LOL. But it's an interesting question -- is that tank you're in the best environment for you? Are you swimming because you want to, or because you finally have to?

I’m sorry to say that I’m expecting Sinophobia to skyrocket, you only have to read the comments on here to see it. Plus, it’s a natural consequence of the general public having no understanding of economics or business & needing someone to blame. Stay safe everyone.

😂 😂 this FT quote on Scale AI cofounder Alexandr Wang

My worst nightmare would be to raise a kid like this who can’t appreciate a foreign culture and is so effortlessly & righteously racist. Appreciating amazing dialogue art and scenery apparently makes you either a misogynist or ultra nationalist.

Even if the Chinese government allows the sale of TikTok US, why would ByteDance agree to sell the algorithm & operational playbook that powers a $146 billion global revenue business? Because that’s what would necessarily need to happen?! The US market, estimated at around $12 billion for 2024, accounts for less than 10% of that revenue, and the 170 million US users are also less than 10% of total user base. Selling the algorithm (and operational playbook, may I add, which is very important) would create a competitor, potentially one that could then expand globally, then even undermining ByteDance’s business outside the US. It also sets a dangerous precedent for other markets where they operate, signaling vulnerability to political pressure. Political pundits may overlook these implications, but business professionals should certainly understand the stakes? TikTok US is valued at something like $30-35Bn (highest I’ve seen is $100Bn). Kevin O’Leary offered $20Bn (lol). ByteDance doesn’t need this cash, it has more cash than it knows what to do with, you think it makes sense for ByteDance to sell (sure, a copy of) its most valuable IP for cash it doesn’t need? Why?

According to my mom, China stole all its EV tech from US, specifically Tesla Fremont HQ Her source: her Tesla salesperson, a Taiwanese person who said there are “suspicious” Chinese companies very nearby Okay …

Probably my spiciest China take: The one child policy was draconian, but it did the most to balance out Chinese misogyny (which is very extreme, sorry y'all Westerners have no idea), for which I am very grateful, as I personally benefitted from it, as did all Chinese millennial females & our moms And BTW yeah the misogyny is still very bad, but like seriously some of you have no idea how bad it used to be, like, very, very, very, very bad Yeaaah don't think you're gonna change my mind on this one, especially when it's pretty clear that so many women, now that they're free to have as many as they want, are choosing to have 0, a choice btw that they can even make precisely because the society is a bit more equal now

Oh look it’s all the men defending Huberman from his unwarranted “hit piece” making it sound like it was nothing. Well I read it out of curiosity fully expecting it to be nothing and it was very much something. He literally tells people how to live their lives and how he has so much therapy but telling all these lies and using all these women via years of lies is just totally irrelevant info? Okay lol. People get pissed at rich and famous people for all sorts of minor things but treat 5 (6? I lost count) women like crap, with total and utter dishonesty, over a period of at least four years then it’s “gossip that’s no one’s business”? Seems like a lot of the male Huberman stans are just pissed the women figured it out like we always do and got together and did something about it. PS I’m sure someone else will do more investigation into his so called time in the youth center too, no doubt the diehard believers will say that’s irrelevant too because science. As if they’re doing so much firsthand research on the science instead of listening to someone endorsing them expensive green powder Also newsflash, someone doing four rounds of IVF with you (esp ones that aren’t successful which are extremely emotionally painful, yes even you single dudes should be able to arrive at this conclusion if you aren’t completely starved of empathy) aren’t just someone you’re “casually dating.” And yeah even the spokesperson agreed they were making embryos. (The spokesperson also just made him look so bad lol.) You do know the dude in this case has to sign a ton of documents including morbid things like who do the embryos go to if you die, if you die within 96 hours of each other (a separate option) etc right? It’s a very serious medical procedure and legal process, but sure laugh about other people’s pain like this Sarah person is just some over dramatic ex gf. When it happens to your sister or your daughter you should definitely tell her to stop complaining and consider it an endorsement for the guy’s energy and time management skills and thus his science like so many are doing. Honestly soooo gross I mean yall feel free to buy his Athletic Greens without a second thought if it makes you feel better, but I’m happy to do more diligence on a dude who treats his intimate partners consistently like trash, seems to be a pathological liar to them and manipulate them for his ends, as I don’t really see any reason why he would treat a rando consumer like me with any more respect or honesty, but you definitely go on believing he puts your wellbeing above all else and continue ingesting that stuff daily undiscriminatingly into your stomach and brain! 😂

LOL maybe not quite that far

China said it won’t be raising tariffs anymore bc they’ve become “a joke” This is consistent w everything you hear from suppliers on the ground. When the first round of tariffs were put in place, everyone scrambled to find solutions. When it got to 100%+, they took the day off.

I mean, he’s probably doing it for the lolz and the ad revenue share but publications and journalists who amplify his embarrassingly bad BS takes should really have a better fact checking process

Wow didn’t know so many were going to find this tweet, another detail is that Xu, being a lawyer and premeditating this, apparently thought he was going to get away with an insanity plea and did a lot of groundwork to try establish mental illness. From an article titled “China's "Breaking Bad" case: Purchased poison-containing probiotics from Japan, sought to escape charges by feigning mental illness.” “In order to escape punishment, Xu Yao not only hired a team of lawyers for a not-guilty defense but also prepared extensively for a psychiatric evaluation to use this status to avoid legal punishment. It is known that Xu Yao previously purchased a large number of books to understand how to undergo psychiatric evaluations and searched online for papers and materials, inquiring into domestic and foreign cases where punishment was avoided due to psychiatric evaluation.” Full article in Chinese: m.jrj.com.cn/madapter/stock/…

Recent convo w a friend who was in real estate in China, reminds me of everything I hated about this sector: Friend: My friend has lost all their assets in China. Their partner was found to have been doing business with a corrupt govt official who’s now in jail. Me: oh so your friend wasn’t involved in the deals personally but lost their money anyways bc the company benefitted from corruption? Friend: yup. It was a massive amount of money. They still have a few mansions abroad and managed to get out of the country but the vast majority of their assets are gone. Taken by the government. Me: but it is true that their deals were crooked right? Friend: yup it was crooked. But you know, it’s real estate, which deal isn’t? Me: this is probably true lol (I worked briefly in real estate in China and my white American boss also went to real jail for bribery) Friend: the sense is that though only if you bribed the wrong person then you’re screwed, otherwise you are fine Me: what do you mean? Is there proof of that? Friend: well since everyone is dirty in this sector, everyone should be in jail right? Me: wait so because not literally every boss in the industry is in jail then that’s why you believe it’s politically targeted in nature? Friend: yeah I guess that is what I mean Me: but you are complaining that the govt is cracking down on private business activity, but at least for the real estate sector, you’re actually telling me that your friends are leaving bc they made money from crooked deals that they are being investigated for right? Friend: yeah but if they weren’t being investigated they’d stay Me: they’d stay if they were never held accountable for their ill gotten millions? Friend: yeah of course, wouldn’t you? China is such a convenient place to live Me: so they escape to where they can keep only a minority of the illicit gains they got, that’s what you guys are all complaining about right? Friend: yeah, life is over, no more making money, the country is totally uninvestable, who would wanna go there? Me: do you know anyone personally who lost their money and was innocent though? Friend: in real estate? Haha no

I asked both ChatGPT and DeepSeek to explain this meme. Neither got it remotely correct. Humans ftw

Friends don’t let friends read Noah Smith. He's a cheerleader for aggression, spinning warped narratives that flatter certain peoples' superiority complexes. His stuff is not analysis, it’s propaganda with a pseudointellectual gloss. Sure, as an unwitting rtrd, he probably doesn't know he’s wrong. He has zero intellectual humility though, so he'll never notice. Plus, real thinking takes emotional maturity in the form of a willingness to be proven wrong. Noah doesn't have that. All he has is ego & all he wants is the dopamine hit of sounding smaht to people who won’t look too closely. All this wouldn't bother me at all if he weren't influencing people who kinda matter who could make decisions that affect me directly. But unfortunately it could and I just hope it doesn't.

Why do so many of my fellow Americans hate infrastructure so much? Genuine question? I didn’t play that many city building games but intuitively roads are one of the first things you build? That’s one of the main things that keeps your cities poor because you can’t really transport in or out much goods if you don’t have high quality roads? As your roads get better your trade increases etc? “The Yaxi expressway is expected to play a key role in helping millions of Tibetan, Han, Yi and Hui people out of poverty, by supporting sustainable local economic growth in western Sichuan, an area rich in natural resources.”

DeepSeek is gonna last because it's built by idealists. In 2022, High-Flyer, the quant fund behind DeepSeek, donated 221.38 million RMB (~$31 million USD) to charities. Additionally, an employee known as "A Humble Little Pig" (possibly Liang himself??) personally contributed 138 million RMB (~$19.3 million USD) to support 23 projects across 15 charities, focusing on assisting vulnerable groups and promoting social equity. When asked about DeepSeek’s fundraising in 2023, Liang stated they hadn't found interested VCs. However, he noted they were well-positioned with chips, a strong team, and, if necessary, could redirect High-Flyer’s annual charitable donations — tens of millions of USD — to fund DeepSeek. These people aren't driven by greed. They just want to do the hardest thing, and win.

This list of grievances from a Stanford grad abt her education jives with the recent Harvard stats about Class of 2025 grads with inflated 3.8 average GPA & don’t go to class and just focusing on activities & networking for career advancement. When I visited a local elite Bay Area private HS recently I also found that it was overwhelmingly biased against the arts & everyone is just angling to cosplay a startup CEO. Parents should be concerned because it’s not just that it’s a waste of prime knowledge acquisition and self discovery time — this could (or will, imo, most likely) make your kids mentally very brittle and narrow, and they’ll have really ugly breakdowns down the road, and those can take a really long time to recover from, or not at all. Your worth as a human can’t be just valued on “equity value” and your “social graph” alone, but that’s what this is producing

A couple weeks ago, @AngelicaOung wrote a viral post about how many Chinese entrepreneurs intentionally compress profits, not because they can’t charge more, but because they think it’s smarter to build market share through efficiency and scale rather than pricing power. One extreme example of this mindset in action comes from Deng Zhuoming, founder of a Shenzhen-based company called 思傲拓 (Siauto), which makes robotic pool cleaners for the U.S. and European markets. The dude is allergic to fluff. He thinks that pricing a product above what’s justified by cost, capability, and scale is basically unethical. In his view, if a product is already delivering the best performance that current technology can offer at scale, with a healthy margin baked in, then raising prices — even if the market will tolerate it — is just exploitation. That's what Chinese people call a “智商税,” or “IQ tax,” meaning that you overpay because, uh, you're being a dummy. His background is in deep-tech, not consumer goods. He started out in chip design at SMIC and MediaTek, moved into robotics at iFlytek, and he's very transparent about pricing his product between $199 and $399, because it costs less than $90 to make. According to him, return rates are just 2-3% and he's a top 4 brand in the category. The company also remains very lean. The team is just over 40 people. There’s no branding push, no marketing department. Deng invests almost everything into R&D. When existing motor suppliers couldn’t meet their specs, they developed their own motors, sensors, and gearboxes, all optimized for friction, durability, and automated assembly. This cut motor friction dramatically and increased service life from 500 hours to 2,000, while keeping costs low. Siauto has also collaborated with Maytronics, the global leader, to supply key components for a new co-branded line, and demand is now exceeding capacity. Deng says they’re constantly being chased by customers for inventory, and for now, they can only prioritize existing buyers. Anyway, what stands out to me in all this isn’t just the technical execution, but the philosophical stance. When asked why he doesn’t build more features or increase prices, Deng just said: “Given current technology, this is as good as pool cleaning gets. Anything beyond this is just overpromising. It’s not real.” LOL. I'm a value buyer myself and I hope we’re going to see more of these founders. No IQ tax for me!

The hubby wrote this upon returning from China, I thought it was interesting so am sharing: "I just spent 10 days in China. It really showed me how far ahead — or how far behind — the U.S. is on some things. Here are five that stood out: 1. Eldercare in China is MILES ahead of the US Honestly, the eldercare community I visited in China made even top-tier U.S. retirement homes look third-world by comparison. Picture a place for 10,000 seniors that feels more like a vibrant college campus: swimming pools, daily classes, assistants on hand, and even the tiniest details like safety bars in every bathroom. It’s a whole different level of respect for aging well. 2. Life in China is literally UNIMAGINABLY convenient... Living in the U.S. my whole life never prepared me for the sheer speed of life in Beijing. E-commerce and food delivery there is so fast that Amazon’s same-day feels slow. More than once, if we needed something at dinner—like extra bowls at the apartment—we ordered and it arrived before we’d even finished eating. It’s a combination of top-tier logistics, a dense urban population, and a workforce that makes convenience almost unimaginable by U.S. standards. 3. ...and digital life is EVEN MORE seamless It’s not just the physical deliveries that are optimized to the hilt—the digital side is equally smooth. Apps in China felt insanely intuitive, and the mobile internet never had that clunky feeling it sometimes does in the U.S. While we were there, we could subscribe to a bundle of kids’ shows like Peppa Pig or Bluey for a whole week for about a dollar. No complicated sign-ups—just scan a QR code and you’re done. The delivery of digital goods was just as on-demand and effortless as the physical ones 4. The average 40-year-old male is in TERRIBLE shape, but the average 70-year-old male is in GREAT shape Walking down the street, you’ll spot a lot of middle-aged men who look like they’ve never hit the gym. Then you turn around and see a 70-year-old casually doing pull-ups in the park. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, but something about the lifestyle or healthcare here is producing a strange inversion. 5. Health priorities are weird In China, health priorities sometimes feel upside down compared to the U.S. I had elderly folks lecturing me that my kid would catch a cold for not wearing socks in 70-degree weather—while at the same time, grandpas were puffing away on cigarettes right on the playground, and nobody batted an eye. It’s a whole different set of health quirks and cultural standards that definitely took some getting used to. 6. Jay Chou has not aged a day since 1997 Anyone else been to China recently? What were your impressions?"

I’ve been spending more time on Xiaohongshu lately, and it’s reminded me just how deeply broken the Chinese education system is (a huge reason why people try to leave the country as well). It’s not just high-pressure … it’s an all-consuming circus, where everyone knows they’re miserable but feels trapped in the performance. That’s why I thought the 2021 ban on for-profit tutoring was a good idea and still do, in principle although not in execution. At the time, people were outraged. I had friends who lost their businesses overnight, and that pain was real. But the truth is, the system had become unbearable, and something drastic needed to happen. The pressure starts absurdly early. My friend showed me an elite Shanghai preschool worksheet with milestone targets starting at 18 months, to help parents judge if their baby was a “fit.” By primary school, it’s normal for kids to have hours of tutoring, plus homework, with no real free time. Parents, especially moms, often quit their jobs to manage this, only to be blamed by teachers whose own bonuses depend on how well their students perform. It’s a chain of pressure - teachers to parents, parents to kids - and it fractures entire families. Kids burn out & some become suicidal. Moms are anxious and exhausted. Dads, if involved, try to help, but often just add fuel to the fire. This is not rare. It’s the default. And it’s no wonder that so many young people are walking away from marriage and parenthood altogether. They’ve seen the cost, and they don’t want to pay it. So yes, banning tutoring came from a good place. But without removing teacher incentives tied to scores, changing hiring practices, or broadening definitions of success, the pressure just moves elsewhere, or emerges underground lol. There’s one sociology professor I follow who actually seems to get it. But she’s an outlier. Most people are still too deep inside to see just how much damage is being done.

AI is coming for jobs — so what should your kids study? 🇺🇸 US parents: "Plumbing, AI can't fix a leaky pipe." 🇨🇳 Chinese parents: "Ditch coding, study theoretical physics — AI can code, but it still needs humans to explain the universe." 🤔

A reporter recently asked what we might see in China that would really surprise people — something we wouldn’t find in the U.S. Across most of the technologies we looked at — quantum, eVTOL, EVs, AI applications — I wouldn’t say there’s anything entirely unique to China. There’s usually a counterpart in the U.S., whether in a lab, a startup, or a pilot. The real difference is scale — how quickly things move from concept to implementation. If I had to point to one example that captures this difference, that you might actually see on a trip to China in the next year or two, it would be autonomous deliveries. At the Logistics Expo in Shenzhen last month, at the new Automation exhibition hall, we met teams from autonomous logistics vehicle providers such as Neolix, ZelosTech, Meituan, and $JD. Neolix had just reached 10,000 vehicles, roughly ten times what it had a year earlier, and ZelosTech had hit the same milestone. In contrast, U.S. companies such as Nuro have been developing similar systems for years (9 to be exact) and have raised over US $2.3 billion, but their operations still seem to be “pre-scale” and "upcoming." (Correct me if I'm wrong.) It's probably a confluence of reasons but I'm sure it helps that the government is so hands on with the rollout in China. In my Deep Tech Trip Takeaways, I wrote that what stood out most in China wasn’t any single company or product, but the structure that tied them together, enabled by the government's strategic policies and services. Shenzhen’s rollout of autonomous delivery fits that description well. The city just published a report on “functional autonomous vehicles,” giving rare visibility into real-world activity. The August 2025 report — released in time for the Expo — summarized the following: - 764 vehicles operating across the city, including delivery, sanitation, and inspection units - 3,185 km of public roads open to autonomous operations - 230,000 km traveled and about 900,000 deliveries completed in one month (750,000 express parcels, 150,000 fresh goods) - SF Express (a big client of Neolix) led with 504,000 orders, followed by Meituan with 152,000 - Each vehicle averaged roughly 200 deliveries per hour, about twice a traditional courier van - Cost per delivery was around ¥0.1 (≈ 1 U.S. cent) lower than human delivery — not a major saving by any means, but important because new tech is often loss making in the beginnning - Accident rate: 0.04 per 10,000 km; manual intervention: 0.016 per km; public complaints: 23 cases citywide - And of course, I should highlight that Shenzhen isn't the only city working on this, it's just the most advanced that I found It’s not yet a profit story, but it does show that autonomous logistics in China has reached a level of operational maturity and regulatory acceptance that’s still emerging elsewhere. Shenzhen illustrates how local governments in China are building the deep infrastructure — physical, regulatory, and logistical — that allows new technologies to scale in practice, not just in theory.

Most people assume China already sees itself as the world’s top manufacturing power. But that’s not how China sees it. China sees itself as the world’s factory, which is not the same — and according to one of the most important official reports used by Chinese policymakers, the United States is still ranked number one in actual manufacturing strength overall. This report, "China Manufacturing Power Development Index Report," published annually for over 15 years now by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the China Center for Information Industry Development, and CCID Consulting, evaluates countries not just on how much they produce, but on the full range of capabilities that make a country a real industrial powerhouse. It’s one of the reference points that policymakers care about deeply when assessing China’s progress and setting long-term priorities. I recently read the full 2021 report (which ranked countries as of 2020). As of that year, the United States was firmly in the lead, scoring 173.19. China was still in fourth place, behind Germany and Japan. The U.S. had also gained the most in absolute score since 2015. At that time (2021), the index had four major dimensions, each with meaningful weight: 1. Quality and efficiency (29.31%) – Captures labor productivity, value-added rate, profitability, and brand strength. 2. Structural optimization (28.05%) – Reflects the technological depth and composition of the manufacturing sector, including R&D intensity and patent power. 3. Sustainable development (23.13%) – Measures energy efficiency, environmental impact, and digital transformation. 4. Scale development (19.51%) – Covers total manufacturing output and global export share, but is the least important of the four. So it’s not about who produces the most stuff. It’s about who does it best — with the most advanced systems, the most efficient use of resources, and the strongest long-term competitiveness. I couldn't find the full version of the 2024 news report, but it seems that since 2022, the index has now added a fifth dimension: innovation development. I don't have the new weights, but we do know this: the U.S. is still number one by a clear margin, and China remains at number four. You can see that in the screen cap below. So why is the US still #1 in China’s eyes? Because actually ... despite no longer being a maker of many things, the US still leads across nearly every major dimension. China, by contrast, scores well on scale and has made visible progress in structural optimization and digitalization, but it still trails in key areas like energy efficiency, profitability, and global brand recognition. The deeper takeaway is this: when people talk about China surpassing the US in manufacturing, they’re usually thinking about where goods are made. But from the perspective of China’s own top engineers and planners, being a manufacturing superpower is about much more than that. It’s about upstream capabilities, technological sophistication, and resilience over time.

A friend of mine in China runs a pretty big export business and has some U.S. clients. When the tariffs hit, I checked in on him, but didn’t hear back until tonight: Him: Sorry, was super busy. Me: Is everything ok? Him: Yup, I mean, how much worse can it get if it’s already the worst? Lol. Me: Oh OK I thought you would be super distraught or something. Him: Nah, this is what working in China makes you. Me: ? Him: Mentally indestructible.

China is now selling FSD L4 autonomous logistics vehicles that costs as low as $11 a day. Last week I mentioned that when people ask me what the next “surprise technology” out of China will be, my answer isn’t flashy — it’s autonomous logistic vehicles. (Consequently, the next topic we're writing about at @techbuzzchina.) One of the companies I highlighted was Neolix (新石器). We first heard about Neolix earlier this year, when one of their investors casually mentioned their revenue numbers and how fast it was growing — turns out, orders have grown 10x year over year, and they’ve already deployed over 10,000 vehicles. Their vehicles are surprisingly affordable: the compact X3, built for narrow city streets, costs about ¥115,000 ($15,900), while the larger X6, which can carry 1.2 tons and run 180 km (112 miles) per charge, is around ¥125,000 ($17,200). Both come with zero down payment, zero interest financing, a 5-year full warranty, and lifetime free FSD (Full-Self-Driving) upgrades — which breaks down to roughly $11–12 a day to own. Last week, Neolix announced a $600 million Series D round, led by Stone Venture from the UAE, with plans to expand into the Middle East. It’s now the largest private funding round in China’s autonomous driving sector this year, and one of the biggest across all Chinese private markets. For context, Neolix already holds the world’s first official public-road autonomous vehicle license in the UAE, and they’re positioning the region as their first overseas base. Not flashy, not sexy, but genuinely useful—and at these prices, it could scale quickly in regions with the right mix of density and regulatory flexibility.

Just finished reading a 17,000-word parent review of @AlphaSchoolATX, the now-famous “AI school” in the US where students supposedly finish all their academics in just two hours a day. I’ve been following Alpha for a while now (even spoke with their team once) though I haven’t had the chance to visit a campus yet. The school started in Texas, has billionaire backing, and is now expanding nationally. You’ve probably seen the headlines about how they use AI to “10x” learning, but after reading this incredibly detailed review from a parent with three kids enrolled, the real story is much more nuanced — and honestly, more interesting. Yes, the kids do finish their core academics in about two to three hours, including breaks. But it’s not because of some magical generative AI curriculum. Most of the content delivery happens through widely available edtech tools like IXL, all standard, third-party software you could use at home. In fact, many students still rely on human tutors (often based in Brazil) to help with parts of the curriculum that require more support. In the afternoons, teachers (or “guides,” as they’re called) shift toward life skills projects. These range widely: one fifth-grade project involved learning how to buy and run an Airbnb. But because families have very different views on what a “good” afternoon program looks like, Alpha is now launching a series of microschools. The academic portion stays the same, but the afternoon programming varies depending on the focus. There’s one centered on sports, another on esports and gaming. But the one that stood out to me — and to the parent writing the review — is the GT School, their gifted and talented microschool. His three kids are all enrolled in GT. In that track, the afternoons lean heavily into more academic and competitive pursuits like chess and debate. But what’s different is that everything is tied to real-world validation. For example, if students do a storytelling assignment, the goal isn’t just to write the story, it’s to submit it to The Moth and get it accepted. Chess isn’t just about learning strategy; it’s about earning a national rating. Debate is expected to lead to actual competition results. The point isn’t just to complete a task. The point is to complete it and get external recognition. What really stood out, though, and what the parent-reviewer said is the true engine behind Alpha, is the school’s internal virtual currency: Alpha Bucks. Students earn Alpha Bucks for completing tasks, reaching goals, and going above and beyond. They can then spend them on real things: physical products, school events, even internal auctions. It’s an economic system that shapes motivation and behavior. The parent’s core argument is that Alpha Bucks are what actually make the model work. As evidence, s/he points to Alpha’s $10,000/year homeschool package — which gives you access to the same software stack but no Alpha Bucks system. Students using the homeschool version tend to progress at the same pace as those in regular schools. The difference is striking. And the reviewer’s conclusion is that without the virtual currency system — and the behavioral incentives it creates — you don’t get the same outcomes. This lines up with what motivation research tells us: when incentives are well-designed, clearly linked to concrete goals, and not too abstract, external rewards can actually increase motivation, not kill it. So in the end, Alpha School isn’t really about AI. It’s about systems design — structure, autonomy, measurable feedback loops, and a currency that makes achievement feel meaningful. Reading this made me think a lot about how I’d design a school myself. I do think AI, especially large language models, can push this even further — there’s a lot of room for custom software that goes way beyond Alpha’s current stack. If anyone is building stuff like this, please point me to them!

4/ Energy is considered a solved problem. The Chinese government’s investment in sustainable energy — from advanced hydropower to next-generation nuclear — means that, relative to many other markets, electricity supply is secure and inexpensive. Everywhere we went, people treated energy availability as a given. This is a stark contrast to the U.S., where AI growth is increasingly tied to debates over data center power consumption and grid limitations.

Every Chinese person who has intimate experience with such areas looks at this and thinks, yup can be developed further, and then there are all the takes from people who don’t actually live in these places who are like, nah this is perfectly fine Hint: it smells vaguely like a combo of sewage and tobacco but “ok cool” to you if you think that’s amazing PS the reason why China has developed is precisely BECAUSE Chinese people take a look at this and are like, yup long way to go versus “i’m done here” and it’s a damn good thing they think that way

“Why are Chinese tech companies suddenly dropping AI models left and right?” It’s not sudden. It’s bc China’s AI Sputnik moment was ChatGPT’s launch two years ago. There was also a lot of freaking out then. So we are just seeing the result of relentless R&D since that time.

Robotics is actually hotter than AI in China. Most Chinese tech experts I speak with believe China will lead in robotics, while many think the US will continue to lead in AI. Smart technologists are asking us to take them to China to visit robotics companies.

No they didn’t die. And apparently two more were poisoned but not that seriously and collateral damage? Cuz he was mainly after two others. Tragic tho because they have lifelong side effects as the poisons were serious

% of Chinese GDP from high tech is expected to exceed that of real estate in the next two years. Pretty impressive when just 6 years ago real estate was still 2x high tech. This is definitely a healthier mix. Estimated by Bloomberg Economics back in March

Yes we have the game and are playing through it. A “native Chinese speaker” would have 1) talked to some Chinese gamers and figured out why they liked the game or 2) searched through Chinese social media for these answers or I dunno, done anything besides labeling the Chinese player base as being mindless automatons. A “journalist” would probably have done at least that and a lot more research (and included it in the piece), although I understand op-eds are often just written for clicks, but sure, not everyone has actual standards, just you know, some of us readers still do.

The more I think about this the more messed up it is, yeah I’ve been brought up to be non confrontational unless absolutely necessary and especially not against folks with power (look at this guy’s title, China bureau head at biggest financial media co vs my itty bitty newsletter) but what exactly is going on here? First of all even if my tone was too sarcastic for your taste what’s wrong with the statement I made? Absolutely can and does happen and not something unique to the journalist caught grossly exaggerating her credentials - Shannon Liao. So please do not 对号入座 when this is a broader ill. (Although I really have to chuckle here bc most people pick one or the other, native or fluent, and it’s true I’ve actually never heard of “native fluent” until her lol but mainly bc I thought they were kinda interchangeable and thus redundant. But … 我肤浅了。) Secondly, why can’t people call out bad behavior? Is using your large media platform and social media presence to spread the hateful (and completely baseless imo) message that all Chinese gamers are mindless ultra nationalists something I should not guard against as a Chinese American gaming parent? My child is full Chinese by ethnicity. So if they like, say, a Chinese made video game in the future (very likely as we will for sure let them play such games) are they by default going to be painted as being some brainless automaton indoctrinated by some “unholy alliance”? Thirdly, it all relates to the language issue bc Miss Liao claimed she can assert these statements w certainty bc she’s “spoken w countless Chinese gamers” I believe is what she said. Valid question to ask, uh, with your level of proficiency, how are you doing that again? So even if my tweet were directed at her (which it certainly was but only in part, or else I would have tagged her like I did before) it’s a pretty relevant point, not a “personal attack” (attacking character instead of argument) unlike the responses here by Mr Glamann, which are much closer to personal attacks as they have nothing to do with what I said, but only are trying to make me out to be some “journalist attacker.” A bullying statement if there is one since he must know that while I am not a journalist I interact with and am a source for plenty of journalists and rely on them for exposure and so by trying to stir up some sh*t here (Rui vs “journalist” as a class) is actively to hurt my reputation and business. Ultimately though, I am writing this post for myself — I have a kid now and I would like to model the behavior I wish them to take on. So I’m not gonna be intimidated by this dude with their big job title and censor myself bc that’s not what I want my kid to grow up doing. We had too many generations of that. To quote a recent (bad) movie (but with a good theme!), it ends with us.

No way. I don’t know how this survey was conducted but there is just no way. Just look at what people actually DO. I won’t speak for other Asians but how many Chinese grandparents would uproot their whole lives to take care of their grandkids? A lot. It’s almost expected. How many adult children would feel like they have to do the same to take care of ailing parents? Less so these days but still a ton. And have you even looked into how much Chinese parents financially support their kids? My goodness. Maybe meaning here means something different?!

Today I used DeepSeek to figure out how many bags of sand to buy for a yard project. And I realized something … The problem in the U.S. isn’t (just) that there is a new cheap SOTA AI on the block. (DeepSeek actually gave me a hilariously wrong answer.) It’s that at a Home Depot in the middle of Silicon freaking Valley I had to walk all the way back to the store entrance to get a signal to use any kind of AI at all.

I am crying inside for this finance bro who won’t be buying from Burberry anymore and can only vacation in Bali 巴厘 not Paris 巴黎

When someone says they’re a “native fluent speaker” of Chinese sometimes they do mean that they speak poetically like 董宇辉 but amongst ABCs apparently they can also mean that they speak at the level of my two year old who’s actually trilingual but most fluent in Mandarin

You know how earlier in the week a bunch of folks incl myself were saying that the loudest complainers abt Chinese economic policy are really the top 20% or even 1%? Well check out how this Bloomberg article opens -- what a crisis, no more $42K intl school for your kids!

It says a lot that the Figure CEO assumed this was a fake video. What exactly would anyone be faking here? There aren’t that many robots, and they aren’t doing much. If you walk through any tech expo in China right now, you’ll be surrounded by robot dogs and humanoids on the showroom floor. Why would producing a few hundred of them be considered unbelievable or worth faking? Because they aren’t collapsing like that Russian one? The video doesn’t prove much about real utility, but the reaction itself is telling. Just the fact that someone can manufacture these at scale already seems to create unease. And for what it’s worth, the robotics space in China is so competitive that if UBTech actually did fake this (and again, it would be a hilariously low-effort thing to fake), their many competitors would be all over it. But actually ... this volume is achievable by quite a few players already in China. It is totally believable. What is unanswered right now is what the heck are these things actually truly good for.

The comments proclaiming that these scientists were part of some massive spy operation is exactly why they’re leaving. Many lost jobs, their labs, see no future here, and a few killed themselves out of despair. So they’re found innocent years later, so what?

Thought experiment: You're a DeepSeek researcher. You show up in Silicon Valley (or NYC or some "tech hub"*). For whatever reason. What is the likelihood that one or all of the below happen? - You're immediately insinuated to be spying or stealing, or planning to do such. At best it's "reported," at worst you're investigated / detained for questioning etc. No one better talk to you, especially if they're of Chinese ethnicity, because then they're suspicious too. - At worst worst you're a Meng Wanzhou (CFO of Huawei who was detained in Canada at US request for 3 years) and it's an international incident. - Maybe the negative spin isn't right away but comes later when new DS version comes out. Either way your trip is dug up to be suspicious. Anyone who you've talked to is suspicious. What a fun trip you could have? I honestly don't even know how you can get a visa to the US at least at this point unless you already had one, but anyone with just a visa knows you can be sent back at the border or at the very least taken aside for extensive questioning. Honestly, the best thing to do is just stay away. Good thing I don't know any researchers at DS lol, and I don't think I will ever try to get to know one. *I personally think there are folks who would make a big deal out of it even if said employee went on a Kenyan safari.

I thought it was pretty bad but it’s much worse than I thought: “Stunning stat: Fewer than half (44%) of Americans strongly agree that Japanese American incarceration — the forcible detainment of 120,000 people with Japanese ancestry during World War II — was wrong” via @axios

I dunno guys how can America not win with visionaries like these?!

I hung out yesterday with a friend who has been running a macroeconomic data research firm in China for many years. His view is that China has largely caught up in many core parts of technological innovation, is leading in manufacturing, and is doing well enough in most other areas so that nothing is dragging the country down in an obvious way. The exception is finance. Compared to the U.S., China is clearly weaker here. Finance is an extraordinarily complex system. Incentives are hard to get right, risks often remain hidden until something breaks, and even in the U.S. it took more than a century to build a system that still fails honestly somewhat regularly. It is unrealistic to expect China to master it quickly. The current debt issues, for example, came from reasonable people making reasonable (if greedy) decisions given the policies, circumstances, and outlook at the time. Even now, finance is a significant weakness, but not a fatal one. It is simply painful, and possibly will be for Chinese citizens for a long while.

If you haven't heard, 19-year old Bay Area resident Stanley Zhong is suing the UC system after being rejected from five UC schools (16 colleges in total) despite allegedly top-tier academic performance—and enough technical skill to land a job at Google without a degree. I don’t know the details of his application beyond what’s been reported, but what’s BIZARRE to me is how many people assume he was rejected because he had "no personality" or "weak extracurriculars" and think that's totally valid. WHY? Why is "personality" a valid rejection criterion? Or more specifically, why does it get to outweigh everything else? This assumes that certain personalities are inherently more valuable than others. Unless he’s a verified sociopath, why should being "likeable" -- which is highly subjective and culturally influenced -- matter more than being smart, hardworking, or skilled? What’s grossed me out especially is seeing other Asian Americans gleefully tearing down his personality (without knowing anything about him) and bragging about how they got into UCs with much worse GPAs and test scores but "better personalities." OK, good that's what you focused on instead of actually learning stuff and demonstrating mastery of said stuff. As for extracurriculars, yes, they can reflect dedication, perseverance, and other qualities that predict success. But let’s not pretend they’re equally accessible to everyone. We all know they favor the wealthy and well-resourced. I thought most of us normies want to level the playing field, not reinforce privilege? And if we’re specifically talking about athletics, it’s pretty absurd to me that so many spots at top universities are reserved for athletes. I don’t know if Stanley was truly exceptional academically. Maybe he wasn’t. But the idea that not being the most socially polished 18-year-old is by itself a valid reason for rejection -- especially in favor of students with worse academics but “more personality” -- is absurd to me. And is this really how we plan to win the tech competition -- by allocating the best educational resources to the most personable kids rather than the most capable? No wonder so many youth feel anxious, depressed, and constantly judged. It's an endless, vicious popularity contest. PS: Before anyone starts lecturing me on “that’s just how college admissions works in the US” -- yes, I know how it works, but it's also become more and more of a black box. More transparency seems like it would be helpful.

Just got off the phone with a friend who recently returned to the U.S. after a trip to Western China. They shared some observations: One of their relatives is a supplier for a popular domestic product that also has some overseas demand, and apparently the local government has been very hands-on in helping businesses figure out how to expand internationally. This includes identifying new markets, maybe even helping factories connect directly with overseas buyers. The impression my friend got was that there’s a clear directive to help private businesses survive and adapt to the current environment. Governments are actively trying to gather resources, support business model changes, and make sure companies can push through and don't all die off, although of course some will. My friend also said they were surprised by the general mood. Even though everyone knows things are tough, the atmosphere didn’t feel especially anxious or panicked. In the case of their relative’s industry, which is currently more dependent on domestic demand than exports, people don’t seem particularly worried. The way they described it, most people are still focused on the basics. Can I still put food on the table? Will I have a place to live? Can I afford healthcare? Will my kids get a decent education? And so far, the answers to those questions still appear to be yes. Even if someone doesn’t have steady employment, they feel these core needs will continue to be met. What struck my friend most was that people actually seem less depressed than they were in 2024. That year felt like an extremely low point for a lot of folks in China. So the current mood came as a bit of a surprise. Maybe it’s psychological. Maybe people just can’t stay in a prolonged state of crisis. Or maybe it’s a quiet resignation that things are not going back to the way they were, and that slower, flatter growth is simply the new baseline. This doesn't mean the underlying economic picture has improved. But there does seem to be some shift in mindset. Less despair, more adaptation.

So Jensen’s meeting with DeepSeek founder was leaked by his own staff? Does that mean it was intentional? What’s the purpose, to show investors he will get back the Chinese market? Is he not the bravest CEO in America right now putting a huge bullseye on his back 🎯

Not really sure how that’s possible when this is the chart for fundraising amounts and # of transactions for the past 5 happy years from the same source, IT Juzi

I was very surprised at Chinese American friend's complaint abt how their trip to Shanghai last month was "terribly inconvenient." "China makes things so difficult for foreigners!" Turns out they didn't set up Alipay, didn't know about mini programs, and *took the bus everywhere.* Sure, the bus system in China is way better than in the US, but it is not really the best way of getting around when there are so many other very economical options. And the reason they did that was because their (very retired) mother, who'd left China decades ago & took them on this trip, preferred this way of getting around, because it was how she remembers China from her youth. I can just imagine the rest of the vacation ... My own parents aren't quite so old school (they do use the subway), but it's true that if I let them dictate where to stay / how to get around / what to eat in China, I'd probably also have a pretty miserable time. Oddly enough, they're happy to splurge elsewhere (as is my friend's mom, who lives quite well in the US), but not China. It's almost like they time travel a bit (backwards!) every time they visit. I told the friend that it's not quite fair that they are comparing their five star vacations in other locales to what are basically hardship conditions in Shanghai, but they didn't seem convinced. It's too bad, I think they're really missing out!

Just talked to someone from a listed Chinese software co (not on any list, not in a sensitive industry) who attended Nvidia GTC. 10 out of 14 of their Chinese colleagues were denied visas to the U.S. They applied under business visit and showed their invitation letters from Nvidia. Denied. Another colleague flying in from Singapore but is a Canadian citizen was detained for questioning at customs (this person didn’t need a visa). I didn’t know Nvidia GTC is such a sensitive event lol. But hey at least our borders are secure!

An Indian American tech exec I know did a very smart thing for their college aged kid. They said you can do anything you want after graduation but you must do internships in China, US and Europe so you can see for yourself the state of the world, not as a tourist or consumer but as an economic participant in the industries of the future. Obviously they’re well connected and helped their kid land the internships, but the real reward was having a kid that had a better understanding of how the world works today than most adults.

The story behind Black Myth Wukong, the studio that created it (Game Science), and its main founder (of 7), FENG Ji: 1/ Early Life and Education (1980s - 2004): Feng Ji was born in the 1980s into a modest family. He attended Huazhong University of Science and Technology, majoring in biology, and worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Biophysics Institute during college. However, Feng became deeply immersed in online games, particularly World of Warcraft, which was released in China in 2004. His addiction led him to abandon his plans for graduate school, spending all his savings at internet cafes and even borrowing money from classmates to survive. Although this period seemed like a detour, it laid the foundation for his future career in gaming. 2/ Entry into the Gaming Industry (2007 - 2008): After realizing his passion for gaming could become a career, Feng started applying for game planning roles. By 2007, he had become known for his critical article “Who Killed Our Games,” discussing the gaming industry’s problems. In 2008, Feng joined Tencent, becoming the lead planner for Asura (斗战神), a major game project. While working on Asura, Feng and the team created some humorous content, including a music video where Feng was humorously depicted fleeing from angry players due to poor game design. Despite the playful tone, his work at Tencent gave him valuable experience in game development and fueled his confidence in the industry. 3/ Founding Game Science (2014 - 2017): In 2014, Feng Ji left Tencent and, along with colleague Yang Qi and other former Tencent employees, founded Game Science. They saw the explosion of the mobile gaming market as an opportunity and launched their first game, Hundred Generals (百将行) in 2015, in collaboration with NetEase. However, Feng later admitted that it was essentially a re-skin of a popular card battle game. In 2017, Game Science released Art of War: Red Tides, a real-time strategy game. It became a success, earning the Best iPad Game of the Year award and attracting attention from international audiences. 4/ Development of Black Myth: Wukong (2018 - 2020): In 2018, Feng and his team began brainstorming ideas for a new game. Despite producing several concept art pieces, the project didn’t feel compelling until one cofounder, art director Yang Qi, strongly advocated for a game based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Feng agreed, and on February 25, 2018, he committed to developing a single-player action RPG based on the Journey to the West universe. The project, codenamed “B1” (Black Myth One), later became Black Myth: Wukong. Initially, only a small team of seven developers worked on the game, but by 2019, the team had grown to about 20 people. Despite slow progress and technical challenges, they pushed forward with their ambitious vision. 5/ Black Myth: Wukong Goes Public (2020 - 2024): On August 20, 2020, Game Science unexpectedly released a 13-minute gameplay trailer for Black Myth: Wukong, which caused a sensation worldwide. The video received over 10 million views on Chinese video platform Bilibili in a short time, crashing their website due to the influx of traffic. The trailer’s success brought international attention to the previously unknown team. Tencent quickly approached Game Science and made a strategic investment, acquiring 5% of the company while promising not to interfere in the game’s development. Following the success of the trailer, Feng and his team released more gameplay footage on August 20 in both 2021 and 2022. These videos continued to draw millions of views, but despite the increased attention, development remained challenging. The team, which had grown to 30 people, faced difficulties with new technology and changed the engine from Unreal 4 to Unreal 5, leading to delays. However, these changes greatly improved the game’s visual quality. 6/ Pre-Sales and Launch of Black Myth: Wukong (2023 - 2024): In December 2023, Game Science officially announced that Black Myth: Wukong would launch on August 20, 2024. The game received approval from China’s National Press and Publication Administration on February 27, 2024. Pre-sales began on June 8, 2024, on platforms like PlayStation, Steam, Epic, and WeGame. The game quickly rose to the top of Steam’s global bestseller list. On June 10, physical pre-orders sold out within five minutes on JD.com, with over 1 million reservations for the special and deluxe editions. Finally, on August 20, 2024, Black Myth: Wukong officially launched on Steam. Within two hours, the game had over 1.3 million concurrent players, setting a new record for a single-player game. Feng Ji reflected on the success, calling it a milestone not only for him personally but also for the entire Chinese gaming industry.

OMG when is this coming to SF?! Pinnacle of Chinese artistic dance. Palace Museum productions have been so 🔥. PS Extremely disturbed by how many folks only know Chinese dance through Shen Yun & dare compare this peak art to that slave cult piece of sht. Falungong is pure evil.

Another Chinese mom and I were talking abt the insanity that has infiltrated into "Chinese feminism" these days. Apparently there was a pregnant woman who wanted to have her kid delivered at 8 months to avoid stretch marks & a ton of other women supported her decision, bc you know, "one should love oneself." WTF? Although most babies at that age will survive, it is an extremely difficult and dangerous journey with potential lifelong consequences -- all so you can look better in a bikini?? This should literally be a crime.

Did you know that one of the earliest and most forceful advocates for electric vehicles in China was Qian Xuesen, yes, the same Qian who built China’s missile and space programs after being deported from the US during the Red Scare? He trained at Caltech, co-founded the Jet Propulsion Lab, and was considered one of the brightest minds in American aerospace. Then, in the 1950s, the US decided he was a political risk and forced him out. Many have cited his story in the context of today’s immigration debates, especially under Trump-era policies that make it harder for foreign scientists to stay. In 1992, decades after helping China develop its nuclear weapons, Qian wrote to the country’s top leadership urging them to skip internal combustion entirely and go straight to electric. China couldn’t act on that vision right away -- it was still far behind on basic auto manufacturing -- but it’s fascinating to imagine what might have happened if it had. And what if Qian were younger and could have acted on the vision himself? What a visionary. Here's the translation of his letter which is pasted below and mentioned whenever anyone ever talks about the EV industry in China: Dear Vice Premier Zou Jiahua, In this letter, I would like to propose an idea: our automobile industry should skip the phase of relying on petroleum and move directly into a new path that conserves energy, reduces pollution, and uses new energy sources. This year, our auto production will exceed 650,000 vehicles. By the next century 20s and 30s*, it is estimated that we will produce 10 million vehicles annually. Environmental protection will become a serious issue. Currently, the US, Japan, and Western European countries are all organizing technological forces to develop high-efficiency batteries and planning to launch electric vehicles. In this situation, we should no longer hesitate. We must formulate a development plan for battery-powered vehicles and strive to catch up and eventually lead in this area. This is entirely achievable. Recently, a trial base for nickel-metal hydride batteries has been established in Zhongshan, Guangdong, indicating that our country is capable of developing such technology. Electric vehicles using nickel-metal hydride batteries are now practically feasible. This type of vehicle, powered by this new energy source, can already travel over 100 kilometers on a single charge. With further advancement, a range of 250 to 300 kilometers per charge is possible, which would make them ready for widespread use. *Qian could have been slightly more optimistic as China exceeded 10 million vehicles manufactured per year around 2009

It’s pretty much become normalized / zero cost to insinuate anyone of Chinese descent of being a spy in SV these days and you can read the replies on these multiple threads to see for yourself 🤷🏻‍♀️

Massively mediocre take from someone who clearly doesn’t have the cultural or linguistic fluency to appreciate the painstaking detail that went into this gem. All the Chinese voice actors sound the same? Lmao.

This headline doesn’t surprise me, and I’m sure there are lots more like this to come. The sad thing is, most people are still clueless (or deluded) about the new reality. We saw this trend several years ago and started writing on it in earnest last year. The first ever @techbuzzchina EV trip, cohosted by @leixing77, starts on Sunday. The group is visiting 5 cities in 5 days and hitting 9 major companies across the supply chain. One of our attendees is already asking if we can do a more targeted battery components trip in the future. For sure that is part of the plan. EVs are here to stay, they will be huge, and batteries are more important than ever, with the push (rightly!!) towards renewables, and TBC will continue focusing on investment sectors that matter and are growing in importance. What’s sad though is that this trip we only have 1 American attending (one had to drop out due to a conflict last minute). Everyone else is from India and Europe. My challenge to my fellow American investors is, you don’t have to take our trips, but what are you doing to keep abreast of what’s happening in this very important industry?

Lol according to US based Chinese language independent media which actually went and interviewed a bunch of these people it’s because this route is so safe & commercialized now (popularized via social media eg TikTok) that you can easily hire porters to get you & your luggage across (just $100/day) and so many organized agencies teaching you how to “apply for asylum” (eg how to feign persecution) bc since it’s China, your chances of getting approved with a “I’m a political dissident or I’m persecuted because of my religion” story is 60% or even higher with good agency help (they give you a playbook to memorize). Most (all??) of the “talent” we’re getting via this channel are either not particularly educated or owe money in China and need to escape debts or whatever. Meanwhile, the U.S. recently denied entries for dozens of Chinese STEM students studying for PhDs at top universities (some in their fifth year!). But yeah the quality of the immigration flow is looking good and we win so hard! PS If you’re from LatAm tho you’ll get denied 90%+ of the time cuz “I am gonna killed by gang violence” is not as compelling as political dissidence justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1…

🧵Takeaways from WAIC and Company Visits in Shanghai The @TechBuzzChina AI Trip began as a personal mission to get a clearer view of what is really happening in China’s AI sector. When I mentioned it to a few other investors, the interest was immediate, and the group filled up so quickly that we now have enough demand for a second edition next month, which will focus more broadly on deep tech. It was my first time at the World AI Conference (WAIC), and also the first time in its eight-year history that the event had sold out. Tens of thousands of people showed up, the halls were packed, and for a few days it felt like WAIC had taken over the city. Friends in Shanghai joked that it was the only thing happening that week. We spent about 5 hours walking the conference floor but most of the remainder of the 5 days in smaller, more in-depth meetings hosted by companies, partners, and VCs. We met with companies ranging from Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT) to unicorns, as well as young startups founded less than a year ago. Almost all of these companies sell to enterprises, though a few were consumer-facing. Here are some of the clearest themes that stood out from the week:

The most mindboggling thing is that this is 100% how Americans teach sports and why we excel. So why approach academics in the completely opposite way?

Flight delayed, just paid $9 to sleep for 60 mins in a pod at Hefei airport in Anhui, China. Not very sound proof at all though, 2/5 stars

My Chinese gaming investor friend on the new regulations that wiped out billions of market cap from NTES and Tencent: “These government regulators understand gaming way better than Western gaming companies, the rules are surgically precise with regards to live-ops in user retention, conversion and ARPU improvement 😂 “

Was talking to an expat business exec who’s been in China for over twenty years Me: So lots of businesses have been failing right? Him: Yeah. But some of them hadn’t kept up with the times. Hadn’t made changes. Don’t understand the world outside of their narrow bubble and certainly not aware of how it’s going to change. Nor do they much care. The massive growth made it really easy to ignore everything. Let’s face it, a lot of those people who got rich two decades ago aren’t geniuses, it was purely right place right time. Some of them should be failing Totally agree with this. Sure there are some who are brilliant but let’s not mistake having the largest tailwind in history as having some outlier ability, intellectual or otherwise. For example, many of the real estate tycoons I was sent to diligence for investment back in 2007-9 had laughable Chinese literacy levels and more than one told me they didn’t finish junior high. They were gutsy (maybe more than a little shady) but they weren’t “smart.” The market will mature the rules of the game will change and guts (and some relationships) can’t be all you have

Huawei will focus on super nodes since it can't compete vs Nvidia on single chips: “Because of U.S. sanctions, we cannot manufacture our chips at TSMC, so our single-chip performance still lags behind NVIDIA. But Huawei has more than 30 years of experience in connecting people and machines. By heavily investing in interconnect technology, we’ve made breakthroughs that allow us to build super-nodes with tens of thousands of cards. This gives us the ability to deliver the most powerful compute in the world—at the system level.”

Here's an example of the 2023 problems by the way, so you can get a sense of how hard this is: (English questions & answers start on Page 21 of the PDF) cdn2.damo.alibaba.com/171024… And the contest page if you want to enter! damo.alibaba.com/alibaba-glo…

Just spoke w someone (not Asian) who moved recently for work from a 1st tier city in China to NYC. They were so shocked ("no one would put up w this in another country, these probs have been solved") they had to go read The Power Broker to understand "how things got this way"🤯 I actually LOVE NYC (I wouldn't move there now in my 40s, but it was the dream in my 20s) but I get their point, the dirtiness, the lack of safety, the crumbling infrastructure :( The food, energy and people do make up for a lot of it though!

The biggest drama in China right now is all about defending a female billionaire* (!), and honestly it is one heck of a "palace intrigue" soap opera. Beverage billionaire Zong Qinghou, who used to be the richest man in China back in 2010, 2012, and 2013, passed away last year, and everyone assumed his beloved daughter Zong Fuli (the one he had been grooming for years to take over the family’s Wahaha empire) was safely in charge and living the dream. But LOL, nope, plot twist after plot twist. Out of nowhere, three illegitimate (half)siblings surface, and the whole internet is like wait, what? Because for decades the story was that this man was a doting father (see magazine cover below hailing their "smooth succession"), and now we find out that when he sent his daughter to the US for high school and college, he also sent along a “guardian” who ... *drumroll* ... turns out to have been his mistress and the mother of 3 (?) of those secret kids. Cue collective jaw drop. These 3 illegitimate kids, all US citizens by the way, are now suing Zong Fuli, accusing her of illegally taking funds from a ~two‑billion‑dollar overseas trust that was supposedly set aside for all of them, and suddenly everyone’s thinking maybe this empire is waaay less Disney fairytale and way more bad reality TV. Chinese netizens, especially are not having it. They are loudly declaring that the legitimate daughter should not have to hand over a single cent to the children of illicit affairs, and they’re even running cheeky little online campaigns to show support by buying Wahaha drinks "to support their real queen." (LOL, somewhere in the marketing department, someone is popping champagne.) And the govt is also being dragged into the conversation, unwillingly. The largest shareholder in Wahaha's main entity (there are many) is a fund owned by the city of Hangzhou, so people are saying that public assets are at stake here, and that there is no way the Chinese public is going to stand by while money goes to kids born from secret relationships. Especially not US citizens who are taking all the money made off of the backs of Chinese consumers buying bottle after bottle of Wahaha water and drinks, and moving them overseas to "build up the wealth of foreign countries." The vibe is very much, we are watching and we are furious, and also, you billionaires with hidden families, especially if you're overseas and trying to take this "China-made" money abroad, you should probably be sweating right now. It's really interesting what touches people's nerves right now. The same drama would certainly have a completely different reaction in the US & produce an entirely different set of memes But I also think this might be the peak of Zong Fuli's reputation for a while, as soon people will realize that she is, after all, a billionaire, and you don't really need to rush to defend her wealth

Just responded to a European political reporter on a LI post who was like, BYD numbers are fake, I don’t see any of their cars in Europe and we all know Chinese people not spending any money. So, they have to sell cars at discount bc no one will buy it. Wow, what logic …

We just released The State of Chinese AI Applications 2025 Report, created together with one of the leading data providers in China, Unique Research (非凡产研). You can read the full report free of charge — it’s not behind any paywall — and I’d love for you to help us spread it! The infographic below highlights some of the topline findings. A few things really stood out to me: 1/ China’s consumer AI monetization is still strikingly low. Of the top 100 private AI companies globally by ARR, only 4 are Chinese, contributing just 1% of total revenue. I knew willingness to pay was lower domestically, but the gap was still surprising. 2/ Yet Chinese AI apps absolutely dominate on reach. Six of the ten most-used AI apps in the world are Chinese, even if their users don’t always convert to revenue. 3/ Education is the bright spot. In-app monetization is strongest in homework help, tutoring, and language learning—sectors where consumers already expect to pay. 4/ Content is China’s core strength. Nearly half of the country’s top AI products focus on video or text generation, compared to a more diverse mix globally. You can see all seven headline insights in the visual below. 👉 Link to full version in comments! (Authored by @TechBuzzChina, sole data partner Unique Research)

I've been asked in several interviews recently: What makes Chinese tech companies like DeepSeek and ByteDance so special? Honestly, the most important might be that they actually follow the best practices Silicon Valley preaches but doesn’t always practice. Take DeepSeek. Its hiring strategy—favoring young, smart problem solvers with little prior AI experience and leveraging open source to attract top talent—is nearly identical to OpenAI’s. But it also prioritizes research over marketing and sales (just check its job postings), avoids rigid KPIs, and deliberately ignores monetization, opting instead for a breakeven pricing model. Committing to open source? Another principle SV promotes but doesn't always follow. Then there’s ByteDance. It has managed to maintain a flat structure and actively encourage employee-driven innovation—something SV celebrates. The difference? It stuck to these principles even as its workforce scaled into the tens of thousands, proving that agility doesn’t have to be sacrificed for size. At the end of the day, these Chinese companies simply took Silicon Valley’s playbook* (very) seriously and executed it with conviction. SV has great ideas—we just might need to follow our own advice, rather than just talking about it on podcasts. PS: I don’t want to overlook the impact of other ecosystems, like Japan’s, which Chinese entrepreneurs study closely. But there’s no denying that Silicon Valley has an outsized influence.

In China you can pee into this "smart urinal" and get tested for 14 common markers for just 19.9 RMB or $2.75 the price of a cheap coffee! Pee then scan QR code to get your results in a mini program WBC: White Blood Cells UBG: Urobilinogen MALB: Microalbumin PRO: Protein BIL: Bilirubin GLU: Glucose ASC: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) SG: Specific Gravity KET: Ketones NIT: Nitrite CRE: Creatinine PH: Urine pH BLD: Blood (Hidden) CA: Urine Calcium Took this from a friend's Facebook post

Twenty five minutes into the new CNA (Singaporean) documentary on illegal Chinese immigrants crossing the southern border and I’ve learned exactly nothing new. They’re mostly in debt (probably to their friends and family at the amounts being thrown around, low six figures, thus why they “don’t care” about leaving their friends and family behind, more like escape from them??) and no one is escaping due to imminent violence or even any kind of real hardship (other than debt, and not even any kind of violent debt collection). That is, if you even trust their stories. I will bet at least some of them are not in debt for good reasons at all but things like gambling. Debt is a real problem in China due to lack of easy personal bankruptcy laws. And you WILL have to pay it back. That’s what a lot of the “social credit” is really for. But the people who owed $120K (because their “small business” failed) and then maxed out their credit card ($15K) and ran away with the funds? Why are they welcomed here?! Not gonna watch the rest of the series unless you guys tell me there are actually compelling stories in there instead of laolai who don’t want to bear the consequences for their own actions.

People love to say Americans are the risk-takers and Chinese are the cautious optimizers. Americans swing for the fences, Chinese scale and copy fast. Having worked inside both systems for years, I think those stereotypes miss the real story. My theory is that the difference isn’t cultural, it’s structural. Innovation follows capital. How money gets deployed, what incentives are built in, and how exits are rewarded — those are what shape the kinds of startups you see. What follows is about private-level innovation in China: why it looks different from the U.S., why so many founders here feel boxed in, and how state capital fills some of the gaps. People often frame risk-taking as cultural: Americans take more risks, Chinese people take fewer. That might hold at a broad societal level, but among entrepreneurs in China you’re dealing with a self-selected group, contrarian and far away from stereotype. Venture capital in China differs in deep ways from the U.S. It is not just about personal risk appetite but about portfolio construction, exit channels, and what markets reward. •U.S. institutions can put a small slice into very high-risk venture because the rest of the portfolio sits on broad, compounding assets. In China the menu and constraints are different, so average risk capacity and the whole mix look different. •Exit pathways are more conditional. Domestic IPO approvals have slowed at times. Overseas listings add extra review. Even when companies do finally get to go public, investors are less tolerant of long loss-making stretches than in the U.S. •State capital is a core pillar. Guidance funds and policy vehicles shoulder projects private capital will not, because their objectives are also strategic, not only financial. On returns, which set the baseline: 1.CSI 300 price return over the past 10 years was about 1 percent annualized. 2.Over longer horizons, the total return version (including dividends) lands around 6 to 8 percent nominal annualized, depending on the start date. 3.After inflation and with high volatility, the real return has been much thinner — low single digits at best. Contrast that with the S&P 500’s ~10 percent nominal and ~6–7 percent real over decades. The U.S. has a consistent “beta floor.” In China, the floor is shakier, more volatile, and more policy-dependent. The result is that Chinese startups often cluster nearer to market demand: shorter iteration cycles, clearer profitability paths, less emphasis on heavy R&D before fit. It does not mean less innovation. It means different innovation. China has been excellent at short-term, demand-tethered plays like e-commerce, fast retail, and instant delivery. Through state capital it can also underwrite very long-horizon bets such as electric vehicles, batteries, solar scale-up, semiconductors, and nuclear. The U.S., by contrast, excels at the medium band: the five-to-fifteen year bets that are too long for corporates but do not need multi-decade policy scaffolding. Think SaaS, biotech, and AI model labs. And here’s where the human element comes in: entrepreneurs live on the scale of careers, not centuries. On an individual level, many find the U.S. model more appealing — less cutthroat in the short term, and far less demanding of the patience required to wait decades for a payoff. China’s structure may be better at aligning with some of society’s long-term goals, but the U.S. model often feels better aligned with an entrepreneur’s finite lifespan and ambition. And yes, U.S. venture wastes money too. Incentives there create their own distortions. My point is not that one system is absolutely “better.” It is that the systems reward different shapes of innovation. PS I have many more sub points (such as different levels of “state” capital that have different tolerances for losses) that could be expanded but are too much detail for a short post

Good news if you're a foreigner trying to take the high speed rail 🚄 in China, the govt just announced that you do not need to pick up your ticket at a window anymore after in-person passport verification and can do everything online and check in like everyone else. I know on an earlier thread some folks claimed that you didn't need to verify your passport but based on this official announcement and also my personal experience you always did. In practice this wasn't that annoying, but this was usually a separate window from regular ticket purchases and it wasn't always that easy to locate in those ginormous stations. "Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 28 (Reporter Fan Xi) The reporter learned from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. that starting from the 28th, the railway department launched an online identity verification service for foreign passports. Previously, foreign passengers purchasing tickets on the 12306 website were required to bring their original passport to the railway station window to verify their identity information. After the online identity verification service for foreign passports is launched, passengers can log in to the 12306 website and fill in their name, nationality, certificate number and other information according to the system prompts, and the system will automatically complete the identity verification. Passengers can also choose to submit a photo of the passport information page online, which will be manually verified by the backend. In addition to online verification, passengers can still go to the railway station window for verification."

Upgrading rural infrastructure in China sometimes looks like this: A lone $NIO EV charger in the middle of the Guangdong countryside. This photo made me laugh, probably because of the crazy stark contrast

I might be the only Asian American that doesn’t think her parents need to endlessly support her dreams? Let’s be realistic here, this is not a lucrative sport, she’s not a generational talent, while I think she should absolutely feel free to chase after her dreams, unthinking parental cheerleading and investment is not something that should be expected or even lauded. This isn’t the movies where you can get a lucky break, this is elite sports where even if you got a lucky break you better be able to maintain it. I wouldn’t just tell my kid to go study more degrees or whatever (that’s also extremely silly) and give up the sport altogether if that’s what their heart is set on, but by their mid twenties they better have a realistic plan for how they plan to be self sustainable and understand the pros and cons and resources required to be successful in the way they’ve defined it. If they can’t then I’ve failed as a parent. Blind cheerleading not helpful. And quite silly how we increasingly position that behavior as the right thing to do.

I’m super confused by all the confusion around Chinese open source. Besides the official govt stances since 2017 that I quote below, private companies like Alibaba have been encouraging open source internally since 2011. China doesn’t want tech monopolies, it wants tech to enable growth across society China’s Policy on Open Source In 2019, Huaon Intelligence Network published an article titled “The Development Status of China’s Open Source Software Industry in 2018: A Positive Outlook for Overall Growth”, which offered a detailed explanation of domestic open source policies. Below are selected excerpts: In 2017, the Chinese government further deepened its understanding of open source and continued to strengthen policy support for the development of open source software. The Information Industry Development Guidelines explicitly stated: “Support enterprises in forming alliances with universities, research institutions, and others to build industry-academia-research-application ecosystems in key areas, and actively participate in and establish open source communities.” “Support open source and open development models,” with a particular focus on promoting the R&D and application of foundational software products such as cloud operating systems. In the Software and Information Technology Services Development Plan (2016–2020), it was stated: “Leverage open source communities to support and drive innovation, strengthen the application of open source technological achievements in innovation, and build an open, collaborative, and international open source ecosystem that is conducive to innovation.” “Support the development of makerspaces, open source communities, and other new forms of collaborative innovation spaces.” The plan also called for implementing the ‘Soul of Software’ initiative, with a key focus on “building an open source, open, and innovative technology product ecosystem.” ⸻ China’s Open Source Planning On March 12, 2021, Xinhua News Agency released the full text of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, where “open source” was explicitly included for the first time in a national five-year plan. Relevant excerpts are as follows: “Focus on critical areas such as high-end chips, operating systems, key algorithms for artificial intelligence, and sensors. Accelerate breakthroughs in basic theories, foundational algorithms, and equipment materials, along with their iterative application.” “Strengthen the integrated R&D of general-purpose processors, cloud computing systems, and core software technologies.” “Advance the strategic layout of cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing, quantum communication, neural chips, and DNA storage. Promote cross-disciplinary innovation between information science and foundational disciplines like life sciences and materials science.” “Support the development of innovation consortia such as digital technology open source communities, improve the intellectual property and legal systems related to open source, and encourage enterprises to open up software source code, hardware designs, and application services.”

Posting here without comment / speculation: “Chinese foundry SMIC may have broken the 5nm process barrier, as evidenced by a new Huawei laptop listed with an advanced chip with 5nm manufacturing tech — a feat previously thought impossible due to U.S sanctions.”

I caught up with a friend from China who’s been a startup founder there for over a decade. They’ve been spending a few days in the Valley, and I asked what they thought of things here. They laughed and said, “I see convergence.” Apparently, people in China find it hilarious that Silicon Valley has started doing 996 too. But also, my friend thinks that AI has made it so that software innovation everywhere now feels more “like China” — hypercompetitive, moving at breakneck speed, where even long-successful incumbents can be knocked out overnight. “Operational excellence at high velocity is the only moat,” they said. I joked that I saw another kind of convergence too — in founder misbehavior. A decade ago in China, unreliable founders were just accepted as part of the cost of doing business. It seemed that everyone exaggerated, cut corners, or made up numbers. Communication costs were high, due diligence costs were high, and everyone kind of shrugged it off because whatever, the money was flowing. Lately, it feels like Silicon Valley has caught up. I’m not saying it’s all bad, but you can definitely sense more half-truths and storytelling floating around. At the same time, I’ve found many of the Chinese founders I’ve met recently to be surprisingly open and transparent. I asked my friend if I was just really lucky (& discerning!), or if they’d noticed the same. They said, “No, you’re right. People are more honest now. But it’s not because everyone suddenly became virtuous — it’s because there’s no money.” They laughed. “Even for us, we’re not “selling” our existing business anymore, not to our existing investors, because we know they don’t have any money. We just communicate how things are going. No point pretending when there are no buyers.” I thought that was both funny and kind of sad. But it’s also true — when there’s money sloshing around, everyone performs a little. When there isn’t, you’re too busy surviving to make up stories for an empty audience. And right now in China, it’s a mixed picture. There are definite bubbles forming in some areas like robotics, but many other sectors have gone cold. Can we all converge to more doing and less “storytelling”? Or will that take a crash to bring about? 😞

Had a long lunch with a Chinese-American mom today. We both agreed: Mandarin immersion schools on their own = utterly useless. Memorizing grammar rules and playing at celebrating exotic holidays don't build real language or cultural fluency. What does work is real immersion and connection. Her relative’s child learned more in six weeks with a Chinese host family than in eight years of immersion school. So to parents relying only on these programs without arranging real-life exposure: you’re wasting your money.

I think you’re personally attacking me for stating a fact. Good look from you. Is it allowed because I’m not a “journalist”?

Guizhou is very poor, for many reasons, but its difficult geography (which lends itself to stunning landscapes for tourism, sure, but not easy development) is a big one. One of the first kids I sponsored in 2010 was from a very remote part of Guizhou. They didn't have running water in her village so one of her tasks everyday was to get water for her family from a water source on top of a hill. They also just had wired telephones and no cell phones at this time, and we had to write each other snail mail and set a time to chat, which happened infrequently anyways because it was so inconvenient. She came to me from my friend who had done a lot of work with AIDS villages in China and specialized in this kind of aid. Most of her friends ended up getting married right after high school and she asked me if she should do the same. Luckily, she was able to get accepted into Hainan University to study hospitality. The thing is, she had very little experience with this world and felt a lot of trepidation about her studies. By chance, I was friends with one of the owner of one of the most popular bars in Beijing and I asked if he could just have her work there for a summer as just an extra helper. Really just to familiarize her with an industry she had no understanding of so that she could be less fearful. I was gone on a long trip to the US anyways and she could stay at my apartment. This worked out and I think she got a taste of what the hospitality business is all about, although I think it also stressed her out a lot, to come into contact with so much she didn't know. All this "excess" infrastructure helps real people like her to get in touch with the outside world. I know they are anonymous faces and "bad investments" to most people, but if you actually met them and spent time with them, you would do your math quite a bit differently. ROI is easy to calculate -- the question is should that be the metric you are using? What does that say about your values?

People really don’t understand how expensive aging is in America. Not just for the middle class, but even for people who think they’re rich. Unless you’re very very wealthy, you’re probably not prepared. I just read a story about a retired doctor paying $11,000 a month for assisted living and still getting awful care. I completely believe it. I’ve seen it up close with my own grandparents, who are now in their 90s. In the Bay Area, even at the start of the pandemic, the low end of assisted living was over $7,000 a month. That was baseline. We looked into a Mandarin-speaking facility in the East Bay and it started at $12,000 a month to share a room. And there was a two-year waitlist. So even if you’re willing and able to pay that kind of money, you might not even get in. And then there’s the actual quality of care. My grandfather was first placed in a nicer looking place after being discharged from the hospital. It was modern and clean and seemed well run. But he kept getting open sores, which is extremely dangerous for elderly people in diapers. Later I moved him to a much shabbier looking facility that was close to the hospital, the kind of place you’d never choose based on appearances. Dingy, old furniture, fluorescent lights, everything looked like it hadn’t changed since the 60s. But the staff were attentive and kind, and he stopped getting infections. The price was still around $7,000 to $8,000 a month, even at that place. I once talked to someone visiting her mom at that same facility. She had hired three private caregivers to work in rotating 8-hour shifts around the clock. She said even that didn’t guarantee great care. There’s just so much burnout and turnover, and not enough skilled people to go around. And for those who haven’t done this before, a lot of basic tasks like changing, bathing, and lifting someone safely actually require two people. So even if you’ve saved well and think you’re in good shape, you might not be. Medicare might cover 20 percent on average, but are you the average case? And what happens when it’s your parents’ turn? Or your own? These costs are already huge, and we don’t know what they’ll look like in 10 or 20 years. I think a lot of people imagine some kind of peaceful, well-staffed place where their loved ones are safe and well cared for and stimulated and treated with dignity. That might exist for people with tens of millions in the bank. But for everyone else, it’s a lot messier, and a lot more fragile than people think.

The collaboration between Black Myth Wukong and Luckin Coffee* was so successful that it literally flipped the gender split of Luckin's user base from 60/40 Female/Male to 60/40 Male/Female. Wild! 🙈 *Luckin is now the largest Chinese coffee chain at 20,000 stores and yes, it's the same one that got busted for fraud a few years back but has since remade itself.

While China tech might be doing OK you can just go on RedNote & see how Chinese society, specifically the women, are not doing OK. It’s a lot of anti-marriage anti-children yolo consumerist crap. It’s difficult to describe how toxic the thinking is. It wasn’t like this 10 yrs ago

A couple weeks ago I went a little viral for saying that, in China, power for AI is close to a “solved problem." Not just in terms of generation but also transmission. That’s a contrast with Silicon Valley, where the conversation is all about whether we have enough electricity. I mean, @elonmusk agrees, he tweeted like two days ago that "companies in China will be the toughest competitors, because they have so much more electricity than America" and has basically been very consistent about calling electricity a hard limiter for AI. But (!) having a lot of power generation and strong high-voltage transmission lines doesn’t mean the whole “AI infrastructure” problem is solved. I was actually asked some tough follow-up questions to my tweet, which made me dig in deeper and come across a Huawei white paper on AI data centers. It’s technical and dense, but actually pretty clear, and I thought it was worth sharing a summary, most of which will seem intuitive if you just sat there and thought about it for a bit. And oh yeah, if there are experts who disagree, please jump in -- I'm by no means an expert here. So here's what matters to AI DCs (AI data centers) beyond “having power”: 1/ Size and density: Modern AI clusters aren’t just hungry, they’re dense. Instead of racks drawing 20–50kW like before, we’re moving toward 100kW+ per rack. Entire sites are starting to need 200–500MW of steady supply. The challenge isn’t just making electricity, but safely and reliably delivering that much power into a single facility. 2/ Cooling: All that power becomes heat. Traditional air cooling won’t cut it; liquid cooling and more efficient designs are becoming standard. The target is to keep energy efficiency (measured as PUE) extremely tight — 1.15 or below — otherwise costs and stability quickly spiral. 3/ Networking: Buying more GPUs doesn’t guarantee faster AI. If the network fabric connecting them can’t keep up, you leave performance on the table. Data centers are moving from 200G networks to 400G and 800G, with smarter scheduling to get the most out of large clusters. 4/ Operations: Running these sites isn’t “set it and forget it.” The scale is so large that reliability depends on fast, automated monitoring and self-healing — fixing common faults in minutes, not hours. 5/ Real-world performance: Training gets a lot of attention, but inference (actually running the AI for applications) has its own demands: latency, accuracy, concurrency, and efficiency. A data center designed for 30ms recommendations isn’t the same as one designed for 200ms voice applications. China’s strength in power generation and transmission is real, but plenty of challenges remain: how to deliver power at extremely high density, how to cool it, how to wire it together, and how to run it reliably. Those are the practical challenges that will decide who builds the best AI infrastructure, not just who has the most electricity, although having a ton of electricity is obviously a prerequisite to get started on the rest of these engineering problems!