I was in China the past month. My last day coincided with the Presidents of China and America holding a summit in Beijing on Thursday. Did this summit, potentially the first of several this year, matter? And if so, to whom and why? I see a disconnect between the macro of the political theater on the national and global stages and the micro of the day-to-day concerns of the Chinese middle class. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of

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 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 34 A reflection on peaches in Chinese culture, symbolism, and myth and what...

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 29 Electric vehicles are taking the world by storm. Well, most of the world....

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 27 I recently returned from almost a month in China, primarily spent in Henan...

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 22 Thinking about China. And America. Even when I am not. In today’s issue, a...

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...