Sinobabble

There’s a lot of outrage currently about China’s attempts to grow its EV market, at the expense of the US economy. But the truth is that the Chinese EV market wouldn't be where it is today without the generous funding it received (and continues to receive) from the US, Western governments, and multinational companies looking to cash in on the next big thing.

So let's talk about the ways in which China's EV industry is funded by the US, both directly and indirectly, partly with the help of your pension fund.

Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(03:15) Timeline of China's EV industry
(12:20) The threat of Chinese made EVs
(15:00) #1: The West was happy with China’s EV development (when it benefited them)
(20:40) #2: China's EV market was funded with US FDI and investor capital
(28:45) #3: China's investment scene is better than Silicon Valley
(39:30) The West as get rich quick scheme

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"Safeguarding National Security Bill", also known as Article 23 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, was passed in March to no public opposition. I read through the whole bill and discussed how it may be used to transgress human rights and common sense in Hong Kong. I also discuss the history of recent protests in Hong Kong, and how they paved the way for Beijing to get its way and increase its control over its people

Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to Article 23
(03:15) Background: protests and new legislation 2019 - 2021
(13:07) Going through Article 23
(16:00) Part 2: Treason
(18:45) Part 3: Sedition
(22:55) Part 4: Espionage
(26:55) Part 5: Sabotage
(27:27) Part 6: External Interference
(31:15) Part 7: Enforcement
(36:08) Foreign commentary


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In the face of economic turbulence, China's youth are struggling to find jobs that are suited to their skills and can give them the life that they want and were promised. While China's government strives to alleviate youth unemployment, societal and cultural factors pose significant challenges. China's young people are reacting in unpredictable ways - finding alternate ways to get jobs, taking time out to become full time kids, or forging their own paths altogether.

Chapters
00:00 Background: Employment in China vs the West
03:50 Reasons for youth unemployment in China
08:55 Crazy job requirements
11:30 Chinese gov helps youth find jobs
17:20 Caveat about youth unemployment
18:37 Chinese social culture and jobs
27:18 Young people's response to joblessness

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The newer and nimbler players in Chinese e-commerce are pushing buttons in the West. Rock-bottom prices, fast fulfilment and addictive interfaces are pushed to their limits to take China's dopamine economy global. What's going on, where does AI fit in the picture and what can we do to take on these new standards of consumption?

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Yoghurt bowls. Lululemon leggings. Ugg slippers. More young Chinese women embrace what they identify as the "white woman aesthetic" as an antidote to the pressures of high maintenance beauty standards and material achievement. As more Chinese women question the grind and settle for less, is the "white woman aesthetic" really an innocent social media fad or a deeper awakening of class consciousness?

Chapters
3:15: Introduction to the "White Woman aesthetic"
12:00 Chinese middle class anxiety
14:31 Defining the Chinese middle class
21:05 Morality and responsibility of the Chinese middle class
27:32 Limitations of the Chinese middle class
37:08 Conclusions

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This is part 2 of 3. In this episode we discuss the gaokao exam, the toll it takes on young people, and the increasing divide between those from richer, more developed areas and students from the margins of society.

In part 1 we explored life for middle schoolers racing to the top of an increasingly steep hill: https://youtu.be/hg86rP15eOE

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Sources
The Mental Health Camp Treating China’s Troubled ‘Gaokao’ Kids, Sixth Tone

Choice of Higher Education Institutions: Perspectives of Students from Different Provinces in China, Ashraf et al.

Fairness in Admission: Voices from Rural Chinese Female Students in Selective Universities in Chinese Mainland, Ma and Wang

Access to Higher Education in China: Differences in Opportunity, WANG Houxiong

Higher education expansion and inequality in educational opportunities in China, Lingli Wu & Kun Yan & Yuqi Zhang

Rural students’ evolving educational aspirations and the sense of ‘ft’ in the changing context of China’s higher education: a life history approach, Jiexiu Chen

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After reading an article on mother's who sacrifice everything to make sure their children get into middle school in China, I was inspired to take a deep dive and learn more about one of the world's biggest school systems. Why has China's education system become so fiercely competitive? How is this impacting children? And who are the people making huge profits from parental anxiety?

This is part 1 of at least 2 episodes (potentially 3)!

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Sources

Education Development in China: Education Return, Quality, and Equity, by Guo, Huang and Zhang

Exploring Compulsory Education Policy of Rural and Urban Area in China, by Yizhong Mao

Hopes and Hurdles: Rural Migrant Children’s Education in Urban China, by Gu and Yeung

The education of China’s migrant children: The missing link in China’s education system, Lai et al.

A Studied Sacrifice: Why China’s Moms Bet All on Education, Sixth Tone 

China Is Cracking Down on ‘Hidden’ Tutoring Schools, Sixth Tone

China’s anxious parents turn to tutoring black market after Xi Jinping’s crackdown, FT

China Tried to Ban Private Tutoring. It Created a Huge Black Market. Sixth Tone

China’s TikTok Launches Campaign to Protect Parents From ‘Anxiety Marketing’ During Summer, Sixth Tone

Zhongkao, Not Gaokao, Now the Make-or-Break Exam, Parents Say, Sixth Tone

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#china #socialism #xijinping #communism 

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a phrase that comes up when discussing Chinese politics. It's a cornerstone of Chinese political theory and heavily relied on by leadership when formulating new internal policies and deciding the direction the country is headed.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is an evolving theory that encapsulates the thoughts of China's major leaders, and is the lens through which the country sees itself and the party sees its mission. It includes concepts like economic prosperity, territorial integrity, social stability, and the continued political leadership of the CCP.

Link to the Youtube poll to vote for the next episode: https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkx_LM44S61UAXDi7zJT-X44KsO-je_K_EU?lc=Ugz2EJGLmmQ6YHZTcip4AaABAg&lc=Ugz2EJGLmmQ6YHZTcip4AaABAg 

The Zhao Ziyang biography that I mention is called Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang

Intro
Definition 1:20
Deng era (1980-1992) 7:52
Jiang Zemin era (90s) 18:12
Hu Jintao era (00s) 22:12
Xi Jinping era (10s-20s) 24:30
Policy application 33:10
The 14th 5 year plan 40:22
Outro 44:45

*My voice changes noticeable at around 21:25. Had to stop recording and restart after a break after which point my cold was significantly worse. Apologies!

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Sources

2012 Full Text of Hu Jintao's Report at 18th Party Congress

2018 Backgrounder_ Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era - Xinhua 

China’s Plan for Economic and Social Development - Jun Yin and Jia Xu

Chinese Economic Statecraft from 1978 to 1989 The First Decade of Deng Xiaoping’s Reforms - Priscilla Roberts eds

Constructing Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics - Fang Cai and Xiaojing Zhang

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics - Roland Boer

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Every nation has to deal with the horrifying issue of human trafficking in one way or another, but the nature of human trafficking in China is relatively unique. While China does have problems with kidnapping and sex trafficking, it also has a black market where women and children are sold and bought by desperate families by middlemen posing as matchmakers or pseudo-adoption agencies.

What is the nature of the trafficking of children and women in China? How does this market interact with Chinese culture and Confucian society? How does the prevalence of social media affect how these cases are dealt with by authorities?

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:30 Background cases: Liu Xuezhou & Xiao Huamei
10:30 Trafficking of Women
24:30 Trafficking of Children
32:00 Justice for victims in the social media age
43:20 Next episode

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Sources

Child Trafficking in China, Quanbao Jiang and Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte

Child trafficking in the Yunnan and Guangdong provinces of China, Songcai Yang , Ling Han & Yingxi Bi

Evidence of Son Preference in the Child Trafficking Market for Illegal Adoption in China, Wanru Xiong

Female Perpetrators in Internal Child Trafficking in China: An Empirical Study, Anqi Shen

Mapping Trafficking of Women in China: Evidence from Court Sentences, Yiwei Xia, Yisu Zhou, Li Du & Tianji Cai

Marriage Trafficking: Demand, Exploitation, and Conducive Contexts—A Study in China–Vietnam Border Areas, Xiaochen Liang

Easy Prey: Illicit Enterprising Activities and the Trafficking of Vietnamese Women in China, Weidi Liu & Geping Qiu & Sheldon X. Zhang

Chained woman case: Six jailed in trafficking case that horrified China, BBC

Liu Xuezhou: Outrage over death of 'twice abandoned' China teen, BBC

China’s Human Trafficking Problem Goes Far Beyond the ‘Chained Woman’, Sixth Tone

As a Long-Lost Son is Found, a Dilemma: Arrest His Other Parents?, Sixth 
Tone

Policymakers, lawmakers respond to opinion voiced online, China Daily

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China's housing market has been shaken by a series of crises in recent years, with events such as the Evergrande default scandal threatening to bring the whole system crashing down. But the truth is the property market in China was built on shaky foundations, and the government has trapped itself in a presale system from which it may not be able to escape. 

Will China's housing bubble pop, bringing the economy down with it? Or will the government and CCP be able to find a solution to a system riddled with corruption and bad practices? More importantly, will those who bought homes through the presale system ever actually get a house to live in?

Check out the previous episode on urbanisation in China: https://youtu.be/LQptYyczH64

Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:03 Boom
14:30 Bust & Evergrande 
22:48 Future
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Sources
Can China Fix Its Broken Housing Market?, Sixth Tone https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1011103

“China’s real estate market”, Chang Liu and Wei Xiong

'No Way Out’: Why China’s Mortgage Strikers Refuse to Back Down, Sixth Tone https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1011767/no-way-out-why-chinas-mortgage-strikers-refuse-to-back-down 

China property recovery will be slow and unevenly distributed amid income insecurity, distrust of debt-laden developers, analysts say, SCMP, https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3215956/china-property-recovery-will-be-slow-and-unevenly-distributed-amid-income-insecurity-distrust-debt?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=article&utm_source=Twitter

Real estate supports rapid development of China's urbanization, Zhaoyang Cai, , Qing Liu, Shixiong Cao

Real Estate Bubble Resolution with Chinese Characteristics: Integrate Fragmented Vacant
Resources, Guangze Wang

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