“‘ The tendency of human nature to do good is like that of water to flow downward .’” 1 This 2,300-year-old statement by Mencius, second only to Confucius in the Confucian pantheon, would have been relatable, yet not, to Daoists Laozi and Zhuangzi who believed that the Way of nature is balanced. This distinction is representative of the freewheeling philosophical “Hundred Schools of Thought” discourse for hearts and minds that blossomed in the Chinese heartland during the hal

(photo by Glenn Carstons Peters, www.unsplash.com ) My mentor often asks me if I have an outline of topics mapped out for future Substack posts. My answer is the same every time. No. There are many good reasons to do so, but it does not come easy for me. So, where do my writing ideas come from? What is my inspiration? I read a lot and something always hits me and sends me down a new path. This past weekend (before a blizzard knocked me back to the stone ages for several days)

“Promote Civility and Cultivate New Social Norms” (Zhengzhou, China) “A successful society is one that is supported by a majority of the people.” This comment during a recent conversation led us down a new path. I would add that a successful society is also one in which the people are proud, confident, and satisfied with their place in the world. By this metric, the People’s Republic of China is currently more successful as a society than the United States of America. In othe

The China Chronicle China’s healthcare revolution lives and breathes on data. Part One  of this series explored how China transformed its domestic healthcare system. Part Two  looked outward at how China is growing and reshaping global healthcare norms. This Part Three examines governmental collection, management, and control of personal information in China’s healthcare model and why this unnerves America. Data Banks in Guizhou Province, China (www.asiatimes.com) Information

Healthcare is part of China’s expanding global footprint of influence and power. Part One  of this series explored how China transformed its domestic system. This Part Two looks outward at how China is growing and reshaping global healthcare norms. Part Three will examine the control mechanisms embedded in the Chinese model. (www.marketingtochina.com) China and Global Health China is a force to be reckoned with in global healthcare. Being active in global health deepens and e

China is a global leader in healthcare innovation. It has been transformative at home, and China is expanding its healthcare influence abroad. In both, China is designing systems that cause admiration and concern to some. This series looks at all three. Part One focuses on what is happening inside China. Part Two will explore how China is spreading its healthcare reach internationally. Part Three will look at embedded control and oversight features and why the West may find t

Chinese ship in Jiangsu, China (photo by Bing Shang on Unsplash.com) The rush of Chinese products in global markets is not caused by dark strategy or deceitful subsidies. It’s driven instead by something more dry and powerful: the fact that China’s tax and financial systems encourage companies to build more and faster over efficiency and profitability. It’s not ideology. It’s incentives, math, and momentum. And, lest I forget, the Chinese also make good stuff. Taxation China’

Fourth Plenum of 20th CPC Central Committee (Photo by Xinhua) “ We must have the courage to face major tests amid high winds, rough waves and even raging storms, and tackle difficulties, risks and challenges with a spirit of historical initiative – focusing on doing our own work well to write a new chapter in sustaining China’s economic growth and long-term social stability. ” — From China’s recently-adopted 15th Five-Year Plan Can you imagine a five-year strategic planning p

The China Chronicle Snow buried tents, Gama Valley, Tibet No one died earlier this month when a rare, off-season blizzard struck remote Gama Valley on the eastern slopes of the Zhumulangma  (“Goddess Mother of the World”) mountain during peak hiking season. Almost 600 hikers and 300 guides and porters who were caught in raging winds and trapped under 3.5 feet of snow were saved. If the same storm had hit the south side of Sagarmatha  (“The Forehead in the Sky”) mountain, as M

The message from China could not have been clearer this week. The People's Republic has re-emerged as a world leader with a goal of...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America , Vol. 3, Issue 32 Michael Pillsbury’s The Hundred Year Marathon  lays out a stark, urgent premise worthy of a John le Carre novel: that China has been quietly and brilliantly executing a long-term, covert strategy to displace the United States as the world’s dominant superpower by 2049. According to Pillsbury, this is not just geopolitical rivalry. It is a methodical, calculated effort rooted in ancient stratagems and cloaked in de

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 30 China has always been molded by its land boundaries. Throughout recorded history, this is where the Han people of China encountered, fought, conquered, were conquered, and co-existed with numerous cultures and civilizations. China’s peripheries are fault lines. Borderlands that have been absorbed, resisted, erased, and reasserted over time. This was as true when a smaller, historic China was centered in the heartla

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 28 A friend and I were discussing the recent temporary tariff pause in the de...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 24 “Another scientist/engineer of Chinese descent, long in America, has...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 23 History. The boring subject school kids dread; the consequential topic that...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 21 I am not the only Substacker writing about China, America, and the changing...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 20 The world order as this second quarter of the twenty-first century begins...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 18 Though America still represents opportunity in certain Chinese circles, a...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 17 Understanding the Chinese and American relationship with a co-emphasis on...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 15 This is the first Issue in a new, occasional series on understanding the...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America - Special Issue Today’s Special Issue is a break in my Bhutan and Buddhism series (it will...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 12 Today’s Part III of III concludes this look deeper into and consideration...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 11 Today is Part II of III looking deeper and considering other sides of...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 10 I wrote recently  that we should dig deeper and consider other sides of the...

My editorial on China and the upcoming U.S. Election in We The People Dispatch . by Andrew Singer , We the People Person “In terms of the...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 9 The slates are set for the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The two main...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 3 gpsnews.ucsd.edu This issue looks at ironies in the U.S.-China...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 1 The Chinese (aka Lunar) New Year arrives this weekend on February 10, 2024....

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 37 Links for the following two articles appeared top-bottom in my Google feed...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 34 Portuguese in India, c. 1548 Frank, Farang , Ferenghi , Folangji ,...

America has been the dominant world power since at least the end of World War II and wants to retain this role. China seeks to reclaim...

China's Claimed Ownership in the South China Sea Taiwan gets most of the attention on our regular news cycles. The Chinese have ratcheted...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 31 China suffered a momentous and disastrous entry into the twentieth century....

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 29 The unusual, the sorrowful, and the disconcerting have been coming fast and...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 24 My son's friend has a college assignment to write about China's political...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 21 Ten days before Christmas 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Chinese...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 20 Chinese Tea. American Ships. British Trade. Boston Harbor. A Faraway King....

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 19 China boasts an energized, under-40 population of more than one half...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 18 The American government, and by extension much of the American populace and...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 16 A Chinese weather/surveillance balloon crossed the continental United...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 15 The strategic dance between China and the United States is afoot. It is...

Guangzhou, China (AP photo, South China Morning Post) The recent protests in China that are not acknowledged by the government nor...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 11 Widespread citizen protests erupted in China this past weekend. What do...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 9 October 2022 will be remembered by chroniclers of the twenty-first century...

Peace (kier-in-sight-WjMNw7dOBB0-unsplash) Humans talk a good game about peace, while exhibiting millennia-long, historical traditions of...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 3 The United States and China are attempting independent engagement with the...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 1, Issue 35 The physical war grinding on in Ukraine is not the only battle being waged...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 1, Issue 30 Happy Year of the Tiger! Today I wrap up my series on attempting to better...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, January Newsletter Welcome 2021! Here's to a safer year than the one just completed. This...

Originally Published by Alex Lo on South China Morning Post The first week of 2021 was one that history will never forget. As we look to...