Seeing China Clearly | Trans-Pacific tech watcher @tfa.ng joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to take a close look at China—including how the government works (and doesn’t), online censorship, how China sees AI and the chip war, the legacy of the one-child policy, and more.

While “war drones are unlikely to be what most people picture when they think of Silicon Valley,” defense tech startups wrapped in the American flag, complete with self-serving claims of patriotism, are taking over the Valley, @tfa.ng writes. www.noemamag.com/silicon-vall...

"The tech industry’s whiz kids once promised convenience at your fingertips. Now they’re embracing the military-industrial complex to defend the West." — @tfa.ng in @noemamag.com www.noemamag.com/silicon-vall...

The tech industry’s whiz kids once promised convenience at your fingertips. Now they’re embracing the military-industrial complex to defend the West, @tfa.ng writes. #defensetech #siliconvalley #defense

As is often the case with Western narratives about China, these memes are not really meant to paint an accurate picture of life in the country. Instead, they function as a projection of “all of the undesirable aspects of American life—or the decay of the American dream,” says Tianyu Fang @tfa.ng

Sudden vivid memory of the night we launched, hitting 888 followers @tfa.ng. Miss chaoyang trap, miss everyone ❤️❤️

Who doesn’t love a good scam story - a mix of geopolitics, statecraft, crypto and public relations by @tfa.ng asteriskmag.com/issues/11/sc...

important read on startup cities, criminal networks and the growth of special economic zones from @tfa.ng asteriskmag.com/issues/11/sc...

excellent essay on xiaohongshu’s recent popularity and the “digital cold war” positionspolitics.org/lilian-kong-...

Still waiting for the “secret evidence” that supposedly justifies the TikTok ban. Can’t blame your constituents when your case is “trust me bro”

Engaging with #Xiaohongshu ( #RED / #REDnote / #LittleRedBook): A Reading List. @qianhuang.bsky.social and I curated this crowdsourced reading list on Xiaohongshu - qianxeniahuang.super.site/resources/xi... We're happy to add more suggestions! Hosted by Qian to make it accessible in China.

according to this 2019 interview, the red in xiaohongshu/rednote was a reference to the color of stanford graduate school of business and bain capital, where the founder studied and worked, not chairman mao m.36kr.com/p/1724258762...

Remembering Benjamin Kang Lim @initiummedia.bsky.social theinitium.com/article/2024...

Justin Smith on Semafor’s (so far failed) attempt to engage with China www.semafor.com/article/12/2...

important read by former techcrunch china writer rita liao: open.substack.com/pub/chinatal...

Trying to keep a thread of questions arising from the end of birthright citizenship in the US. 1. Is a US passport definitive proof of citizenship? 2. Is an expired passport proof of citizenship when that passport was valid? 3. Is birth in the US legal entry for adjustment of status?

always wear a tie with colors that match the weird jail you’ll stumble upon that day

tsunami warning canceled? the woke mob has gone too far…

The plan: Post your dissertation abstract online to rekindle a decades-long controversy about the utility of the humanities, turning your paper into the most-read publication in the history of your field

it’s great to be back in washington dc

how the turntables

marc andreessen quoting editor of the official guide to the 2010 shanghai expo has been the most successful china soft power win since the invention of the printing press

this is so weird

Here are the revenue numbers from ccTLD domain sales (.ai) in Anguilla, as percentage of total government revenue, since 2015. Data from GovAI (also known as the Government of Anguilla).

I write about Oppenheimer, McCarthyism, Caltech’s Suicide Squad, the perils of a techno-nationalist case for immigration, and China’s brain drain: https://tianyu.co/p/oppenheimer-and-after

Gonna tell my kids this is San Francisco

I talked to Rasheed Griffith about one of my favorite niche topics: citizenship by investment programs in the Caribbean.

don’t thread on me 🐍

PARENTS BE WARNED

view from the four seasons in East Palo Alto

instead of posting/tweeting say “webbing”

a bit saddening that the only thing i'm known for ("random person who tweets") will no longer be a social signal

hey new users, Bluesky is a *public* social network please read about data privacy and more in our User FAQ to help you get oriented! even though we require an invite code to create an account, you should treat any posts here as if it's a public blog https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/5-19-2023-user-faq

one of them is not like the others

wrote about the lost history of tiktok with @tfa.ng in the atlantic today! https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/tiktok-ban-chinese-technology-silicon-valley-influence/674103/

Today’s read: the 2016 PhD monograph “Ius Doni” by Christian Kälin, the Henley and Partners chairman who famously made passports a commodity by pioneering citizenship by investment schemes

Today’s read: the 2016 PhD monograph “Ius Doni” by Christian Kälin, the Henley and Partners chairman who famously made passports a commodity by pioneering citizenship by investment schemes

Unlocking a new airline

what we in america call cookies, the brits say Bsky-it

In the 1980s, Chinese scientists became fascinated with somatic science—magazines and newspapers reported on cases of extrasensory perception, and the public began practicing qigong, seen as a traditionalist form of ESP. Here are 3 geologists writing about locating mines using the sixth sense:

gm

let the record show i was an OG

Tim Hwang and I argue that a comprehensive TikTok ban will be a pyrrhic victory at best: it abandons commitments to an open internet and signifies the triumph of Beijing's security-centric vision of internet governance. https://www.wired.com/story/the-retreat-of-the-open-web/

who’s coach ella? asking for a friend

100 Things To Do Instead of Pot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eyqO3G5zAM

ok I set up custom domain - new handle!!

tempted to set up custom domain but I wouldn’t want anyone else to take @tian.bsky.social from me

guernsey 🇬🇬

first bsky in china

in a monthly writing pact with friends here’s the internal experience: